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Towards the understanding of the core of general personality disorder factor: g-PD and its relation to hostile attributions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 March 2024

Anna Zajenkowska Open the ORCID record for Anna Zajenkowska [Opens in a new window] ,
Iwona Nowakowska ,
Jan Cieciuch ,
Łukasz Gawęda ,
Radosław Rogoza ,
Amy Pinkham  and
Katarzyna Czajkowska-Łukasiewicz
Anna Zajenkowska*
Affiliation:
The University of Economics and Human Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Iwona Nowakowska
Affiliation:
The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland
Jan Cieciuch
Affiliation:
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, Warsaw, Poland
Łukasz Gawęda
Affiliation:
Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Radosław Rogoza
Affiliation:
The University of Economics and Human Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Amy Pinkham
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA
Katarzyna Czajkowska-Łukasiewicz
Affiliation:
The University of Economics and Human Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
*
Corresponding author: Anna Zajenkowska, Emails: zajenkowska@gmail.com, a.zajenkowska@vizja.pl
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Abstract

There is a general consensus that personality disorders (PDs) share a general factor (g-PD) overlapping with the general factor of psychopathology (p-factor). The general psychopathology factor is related to many social dysfunctions, but its nature still remains to some extent ambiguous. We posit that hostile attributions may be explanatory for the factor common for all PDs, i.e., interpersonal problems and difficulty in building long-lasting and satisfying relationships of all kinds. Thus, the main objective of the current project was to expand the existing knowledge about underlying factors of g-PD with regard to hostile attributions. We performed a cross-sectional study on a representative, community sample of Poles (N = 1031). Our hypotheses were primarily confirmed as hostile attributions predicted p-factor. However, the relation was positive only for hostile attributions related to ambiguous situations involving relational harm and physical harm done by female authorities and negative in case of hostile attributions in situations involving physical harm done by peers. Additionally, paranoia-like thoughts strongly related to hostile attributions and independently predicted g-PD. The results contribute to the current discussion on the nature of the g-PD, confirm that hostile attributions and paranoia are a crucial aspect of personality pathology, and indicate the importance of working on these cognitions in the course of therapeutic work.

Keywords

general personality disorders factor (g-PD)hostile attributionsparanoiaauthorityharm
Type
Regular Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , May 2025 , pp. 696 - 704
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© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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