The Dutch DAPP-BQ: improvements, lower- and higher-order dimensions, and relationship with the 5DPT

After modifying 53 items in a previous Dutch translation of the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Basic Questionnaire (DAPP-BQ; Livesley & Jackson, 2002), the present DAPP-BQ scales (with or without Self-Harm included) were subjected to a principal components analysis with oblimin or varimax rotation in a general population sample of 478 subjects, retaining four factors. All four (higherorder) factors (Emotional Dysregulation, Dissocial, Inhibition, and Compulsivity) proved identical to the factors originally derived in Canada, with Tucker coefficients of factor similarity approaching unity. Particularly the (unexpected) finding that the present Dutch version of the DAPP-BQ also resulted in an Inhibition factor (and not, like the former Dutch version, in an Intimacy Problems factor) was considered positive. In addition, a principal components analysis with oblimin rotation was conducted on the 282 items contained in the 18 DAPP-BQ scales, investigating the lower-order structure of the DAPP-BQ; in this case, 18 factors were retained. Although the structure originally derived by Livesley and colleagues could not be recovered completely, the degree of similarity was of such a magnitude that the 18 DAPP-BQ scales were considered to give a dependable account of the "true" lower-order structure of disordered personality. Moreover, based on the finding that the 18 scales are sufficiently reliable (Cronbach's alpha) and correlate as predicted in a subsample of 284 subjects with the normal personality scales of Van Kampen's 5DPT (or, Five-Dimensional Personality Test), the DAPP-BQ appears to be a valuable instrument.