Structure of Pathological Personality Traits through the Lens of the CAT-PD Model

Personality pathology is increasingly conceptualized within hierarchical, dimensional trait models. The Comprehensive Assessment of Traits Relevant to Personality Disorders (CAT-PD; Simms et al., 2011) is a pathological-trait measure with potential to improve on currently prevailing instruments because it has wider content coverage; however, its domain-level structure, which is of scientific and clinical interest, is not established. In this pre-registered study, we investigated the structure and construct validity of the CAT-PD’s domain level to facilitate wider use of the measure. We estimated five- and six-factor models with exploratory factor analysis in a pooled sample of 8 independent subsamples (N=3,987) and found that both models fit the data well; each had interpretable factors that were invariant across gender, sample type, and black/white racial groups; and the factors had good convergent validity with other measures of maladaptive traits, Big Five personality, and interpersonal problems. Our results support the validity of the CAT-PD for assessing multiple levels of the pathological trait hierarchy.