Aim. Although much is known about the association of borderline personality disorder with psychosocial functioning, a dimensional approach to personality disorder in relation to psychosocial functioning has been very little explored with both adults and adolescents. Viewing adolescence as an early developmental period of personality disorder it is crucial to understand the contribution of both the level of personality functioning and maladaptive personality traits to various domains of psychosocial functioning among adolescents, concurrently but particularly over time.
Method. A community-based sample of 855 adolescents aged 11-18 (M = 14.44, SD = 1.60; 62.5% female) was assessed at baseline (T1) and one year later (T2) with 94% retention rate. At both measurement points adolescents filled in the Levels of personality functioning questionnaire 12-18, Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form as well as completed the measures of psychosocial functioning: social difficulties, academic achievement, and life satisfaction. Psychopathology levels were also assessed.
Results. The level of personality functioning and maladaptive personality traits had unique association (controlling for T1 level of internalizing and internalizing problems) with all domains of psychosocial functioning assessed at T1. However, only the level of personality functioning showed the incremental value for social difficulties and life satisfaction at one-year follow-up (above and beyond T1 levels of social difficulties and life satisfaction, respectively). Neither the level of personality functioning nor maladaptive personality traits predicted academic achievement over time.
Conclusion. The findings suggest the distinctive function of the level of personality functioning to capture psychosocial functioning both concurrently and prospectively during adolescence thus extending the knowledge about the dimensional aspects of personality pathology in adolescence. The study was funded by Research Council of Lithuania (No S-MIP-21-20).