Passive-aggressive (negativistic) personality disorder: a population-based twin study

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Behavioral Genetics
• Twin Studies

Background:

• Passive aggressive personality disorder (PAPD) is a complex condition.
• Understanding its etiology, including familial aggregation, is crucial for diagnosis and treatment.
• Previous research has not fully elucidated the genetic and environmental contributions to PAPD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the familial aggregation of passive aggressive personality disorder (PAPD).
• To explore the overlap of PAPD with other personality disorders.
• To examine the influence of genetic and environmental factors on PAPD in a Norwegian twin sample.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from 2,794 Norwegian twins from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Twin Panel.
• Employed the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality (SIDP-IV) for diagnostic assessment.
• Applied structural equation twin models to analyze familial aggregation and dimensional representations of PAPD.

Main Results:

• Significant familial aggregation was observed for passive aggressive personality disorder (PAPD).
• PAPD showed the highest overlap with paranoid and borderline personality disorders.
• Results indicated genetic and shared environmental effects for females, and shared environmental effects for males, though prevalence was low.

Conclusions:

• Passive aggressive personality disorder (PAPD) demonstrates significant familial aggregation.
• Both genetic and shared environmental factors appear to contribute to PAPD in females, while environmental factors are more prominent in males.
• Further research with larger sample sizes is needed to confirm the precise interplay of genetic and environmental influences due to the low prevalence observed.