Date of Award

Spring 5-1-1996

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Veanne N. Anderson

Second Advisor

Michael J. Murphy

Abstract

Passive-aggressive personality disorder has a long history in the literature and has been present in all versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. However, there have been many different conceptualizations of the disorder over time, and there is not a clear consensus concerning what symptoms constitute the disorder. The purpose of this study was to examine the criteria that clinicians consider most representative of a prototypic patient with passive-aggressive personality disorder. This research also examined differences in symptom presentation of male versus female passive-aggressive individuals. Finally, this study examined symptom overlap with other personality disorders. A list of symptoms from four conceptualizations of passive-aggressive (negativistic) personality disorder and other symptoms found to overlap with passive-aggressive was constructed and mailed to clinical psychologists. They were asked to identify a prototypic passive-aggressive client, then rate how typical each criterion was of that client. They were also asked to provide demographic information on the client and themselves. Based on symptoms rated as most typical, exemplars were contructed for passive-aggressive males, females, and passive-aggre~:sive personality disorder in general. Implications for the diagnosis and classification of passiveaggressive personality disorder are discussed.

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