Measuring the Core Components of Maladaptive Personality: Severity Indices of Personality Problems (SIPP-118)

This report describes a series of studies among 2231 subjects on the development of the Severity Indices for Personality Problems (SIPP), a self-report questionnaire measuring the core components of (mal)adaptive personality functioning. Results show that the 16 facets have good psychometric properties and test-retest reliability, are generic across various types of personality disorders, and have good discriminative validity between various populations. The facets fit well into a common factor model with five higher-order domains (i.e., self-control, identity integration, responsibility, relational capacities, and social concordance) that are eminently interpretable, and replicable across various populations. Domain scores are strongly associated with interview ratings of the severity of personality pathology. Taken together, the SIPP-118 provides a set of five reliable, robust and valid indices of personality problems.

This report is the first document to describe the development of the SIPP-118: Severity Indices of Personality Problems, 118 items. It provides details about the items selection, validations and reliability studies and norm values. The report is meant as a detailed description of our investigation and is made directly after the data collection in order to allow for fast communication between researchers. Although the report will probably remain the most detailed description of our research effort, it must not be seen as the final interpretation of the results. The report now serves as an easy accessible collection of research data, on which basis we hope to write peer-reviewed articles. This original report will remain available on request, for those researchers who would like to have a detailed description of the research and the data. Note that parts of the report still reveal the early thoughts and interpretations, which are characteristic for a first report written just after finishing the data collection. Up-to-date information, norm scores, and translations of the SIPP-118 in Dutch, English, Norwegian, Argentinean, and Italian language, are freely available at www.vispd.nl.