BACKGROUND:

Knowledge of the prevalence and correlates of personality disorders in the community is important for identifying treatment needs and for provision of psychiatric services.

AIMS:

To estimate the prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample and to identify demographic subgroups with especially high prevalence.

METHOD:

Clinical psychologists used the International Personality Disorder Examination to assess DSM-IV and ICD-10 personality disorders in a sample of 742 subjects, ages 34-94 years, residing in Baltimore, Maryland. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between demographic characteristics and DSM-IV personality disorder clusters.

RESULTS:

The estimated overall prevalence of DSM-IV personality disorders was 9%. Cluster A disorders were most prevalent in men who had never married. Cluster B disorders were most prevalent in young men without a high school degree, and cluster C disorders in high school graduates who had never married.

CONCLUSIONS:

Approximately 9% of this community sample has a DSM-IV personality disorder. Personality disorders are over-represented in certain demographic subgroups of the community.