Preliminary psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the structured interview of personality organization (STIPO-CH)

Background Kernberg originally proposed the psychoanalytic concept of personality organization (PO), which measures personality pathology from a dimensional approach with multiple scales and can be evaluated using the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO) from six domains: identity, object relations, primitive defenses, coping vs. rigidity, aggression, and moral values. The present study translated the original version into the Chinese STIPO (STIPO-CH) version and evaluated its reliability and validity. Methods The STIPO-CH was administered to 49 non-clinical subjects. They also completed the Chinese version of the Inventory of Personality Organization and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory to evaluate criterion-related reliability. Interrater reliability was assessed with intraclass correlations. An item analysis was carried out to explore the structure and internal consistency. Results Interrater reliability (intraclass correlations) ranged from 0.98 to 0.99. Results suggested acceptable internal consistency for identity and moral values. The correlations between STIPO-CH domains and self-report questionnaires indicated that construct validity and criterion-related validity were acceptable to good. Conclusions Overall, this study presents preliminary psychometric properties of STIPO-CH. Limitations regarding the sample, interviewers, and cultural differences are discussed. Future research is highly recommended.