The classification of disturbed personality functioning in early adolescence.

This study describes disturbed personality functioning in early adolescence. A non-clinical sample of 63 thirteen year olds underwent a semi-structured psychiatric interview as part of a longitudinal study investigating the relationship between competence in personality functioning and development. The presence of personality disturbance was determined by two psychiatrists who rated the adolescents on a personality functions scale. The raters then described the type of disturbance using Axis II of DSM-III as a guideline. Forty-six percent of the sample were found to have some degree of disturbed personality functioning. Of these, over one-half fell into a cluster comprised of avoidant, dependent, compulsive, or passive-aggressive types, while another third were characterized by antisocial tendencies. Severity of disturbance was not related to type of disturbance. Ratings of behaviour by teachers and parents supported the division of subjects with personality dysfunction into two broad groups: an anxious, fearful, "quiet" cluster; and a group of more "acting out", disturbing individuals. However, parents and teachers could not distinguish the "quiet" group from teenagers who were free of disturbed personality functioning. These data indicate that it is possible to classify a segment of a non-clinical population of young adolescents who had personality dysfunction using Axis II of DSM-III as a guideline. Furthermore, such a group of teenagers is not homogeneous. They distribute themselves into internalizing and externalizing clusters.