Dependent personality disorder and physical abuse

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the likelihood of physical spousal abuse is increased in dependent personality disorder (DPD) compared to other personality disorders. The sample consisted of 305 subjects consecutively admitted to an outpatient department of legal medicine for physical abuse. Using the Structured Clinical Interview for Disorders, screen questionnaire (SCID-II-SQ), the subjects were divided into three groups: without personality disorders (WPD, N=108), with non-dependent personality disorders (NDPD, N=179) and with DPDs (DPD, N=18). First,, the three groups were compared to the rate of spouses among the perpetrators. The rate of spouses among the perpetrators was significantly different between the three groups: 44.4% of the perpetrators were the spouse for DPD subjects versus 11.2% for WPD and 20.1% for NDPD. Second, logistic regressions using the status of perpetrators (spouse or others) as dependent variable and socio-demographical variables as well as the rates of DPD, avoidant, obsessive-compulsive and borderline personality disorders as independent variables reported that these four disorders of personality were significant predictors. Moreover, the co-morbidities of DPD with avoidant, obsessive-compulsive or borderline personality disorders were higher than 50%. These results suggest first that DPD subjects are at high risk of physical abuse by their spouses and second that this relationship was found also for the two other cluster C personality disorders as well as for borderline personality disorder.