Linking Normal-Range and Maladaptive Personality Traits and Facets to Personality Disorders: A Meta-Analytic Review

This systematic meta-analysis ( k = 99, total N = 69,673) explored the relationships between personality disorders on the one hand, and normal-range Big Five traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and the maladaptive traits assessed with the PID-5 (negative affectivity, detachment, psychoticism, antagonism, and disinhibition) on the other hand. The results revealed a positive correlation between neuroticism and all personality disorders. Significant associations were also observed between extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and personality disorders, while openness was the least predictive trait in relation to personality disorders. These results demonstrated a substantial consistency with earlier meta-analytic studies. The findings also suggested that while maladaptive traits generally showed stronger associations with personality disorders than normal-range traits, their multivariate explanatory power was weaker than expected, implying potential response bias due to item keying. Additionally, while some personality disorders did not exhibit significant associations at the higher-order domain level, we identified strong correlations with specific facets within the corresponding trait domains. This statistical attenuation at the domain level likely resulted from opposing effects on different facets within the same domain. The conclusions of our study provided a comprehensive picture of the interrelations between personality disorders and Big Five personality domains and facets.