Attachment Styles and Criterion B Domains of the Alternative Model for Personality Disorders: A Naturalistic Study of Inpatient Men and Women

The integration of personality theory, attachment, and sex differences in recent years has promoted useful insights when assessing and treating personality pathology. Lesser attention has explored the salience of attachment style and sex differences in the relationship between personality pathology within the emerging Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD). This naturalistic study addresses these gaps in the literature by using a large inpatient sample (N = 1512; 49.7% female) of men and women residing in the United States who were administered the Relationships Questionnaire and Personality Inventory for the DSM-5. Results demonstrated significant effects across several AMPD Criterion B domains, attachment styles, and sex, with attachment most consistently linked with Criterion B domains. Furthermore, an interaction effect between attachment style and sex was not demonstrated across any Criterion B domain. Limitations and future directions are offered with clinical implications for this research as applied to clinical practice and the application of theory to understand personality pathology.