Examining Associations Between Low MMPI-3 Disconstraint Scale Scores and Facets of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality

The Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) trait Disconstraint is a personality dimension associated with behavioral control. Conceptualizations of this construct posit under-controlled, antisocial personality and over-controlled, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) features to manifest at its high and low poles, respectively. Robust empirical support has been reported for the posited high-end manifestations of this trait, as measured across versions of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) by the Disconstraint (DISC) scale. Empirical findings related to low-end manifestations of DISC scores have been inconsistent across studies that have relied on broadband OCPD-related measures. The current study examined associations between MMPI-3 DISC scores and narrowband OCPD-related constructs measured by the Five-Factor Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (FFOCI) in a sample of 300 university students (125 men, 167 women, 8 another gender; aged 18-53 years [M = 19.94, SD = 4.40]). Results of zero-order correlation and locally weighted regression smoothing (LWRS) analyses indicated that several OCPD features are associated with low MMPI-3 DISC scores (but not all). Risk aversion, ruminative deliberation, and punctiliousness emerged as the primary relevant (negative) correlates, with perfectionism, workaholism, and doggedness yielding somewhat weaker associations with low DISC scores. Theoretical and practical implications pertaining to the Disconstraint construct and MMPI-3 DISC scale are discussed.