On the relationships between DSM-5 dysfunctional personality traits and social cognition deficits: A study in a sample of consecutively admitted Italian psychotherapy patients

Abstract

This study aims at testing the hypothesis that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) alternative model of personality disorder (AMPD) traits may be significantly associated with deficits on 2 different social cognition tasks, namely, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition, in a sample of consecutively admitted inpatients and outpatients. The sample was composed of 181 consecutively admitted participants (57.5% women; mean age = 38.58 years). Correlation coefficients and partial correlation coefficients were computed in order to assess the associations among social cognition tasks, DSM-5 AMPD traits, and dimensionally assessed DSM-5 Section II personality disorders. Specific maladaptive traits listed in the DSM-5 AMPD were significantly associated with Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test scores and Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition scores, even when the effect of selected DSM-5 Section II personality disorders was controlled for. Our results support the relevance of studying social cognitive functioning in subjects suffering from personality disorders.