Psychiatric patient- and informant-reported personality: predicting concurrent and future behavior

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Accurate personality assessment is crucial for understanding and predicting patient behavior in psychiatric settings.
• The validity of self-reported personality versus informant-reported personality in clinical populations requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the criterion and incremental validity of personality reports from psychiatric patients and knowledgeable informants.
• To assess the predictive accuracy of these personality reports for patient substance use, social behaviors, risky behaviors, and psychological distress.
• To determine the stability of predictive accuracy over a one-year period.

Main Methods:

• Collected patient and informant personality and behavior reports from an adult psychiatric sample (N = 94).
• Utilized hierarchical regressions to analyze the predictive validity of personality reports.
• Assessed concurrent and prospective (1-year follow-up) behavioral outcomes.

Main Results:

• Patient personality reports significantly predicted concurrent (17%-42%) and future (17%-40%) behaviors.
• Informant reports significantly contributed to predicting various behaviors, particularly social behaviors.
• Both self- and informant-based personality reports demonstrated equal predictive accuracy for prospective and concurrent regressions.

Conclusions:

• Both patient self-reports and informant reports of personality are valuable for predicting patient behavior.
• The predictive utility of personality assessments remains stable over a one-year timeframe.
• Integrating both self- and informant-perspectives enhances behavioral prediction in psychiatric populations.