Self and peer-perspectives on pathological personality traits and interpersonal problems

This study compares the relationship between personality disorders and interpersonal problems as obtained by self-report and peer-report measures. Participants (N 393) were administered self- and peer-report versions of the Peer Inventory for Personality Disorder and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems–64. Canonical analyses demonstrated similar relationships between personality disorder fea-tures and interpersonal problems as measured by either self or peer. Analyses between self and peer found little shared variance across sources, indicating a large method variance. Results indicate that although similar constructs are identified by self and peers in their understanding of personality pathology and associated interpersonal problems, self-report information overlaps very little with information obtained from peers, underscoring the importance of obtaining multiple sources of information