Prevalence of DSM-III personality disorders in the community

A community sample of adults with a standardized DSM-III, Axis II self-report instrument yielded an age adjusted community prevalence of 11.1% of DSM-III personality disorders. When those with personality disorders (PDs) (n = 26) were compared to those without personality traits (n = 167) the PD group had less education 14.9 (3.0) years vs 16.5 (3.3) years, p = 0.02) and a greater percentage with difficulty with alcohol (19% vs 0.6%, p = 0.0001). Of those married, more PDs reported marital difficulties (29% vs 3.5%, p = 0.002). There was a trend for the PD group to have longer unemployment (p = 0.07).