Personality pathology and its relation to couple functioning.
The study aimed at understanding the relationship between personality pathology and couple functioning, both in terms of general functioning and communication specifically, in a sample of 146 psychiatric outpatients. The results indicated that couple communication was best predicted by a combination of the symptoms within each of the three personality disorder clusters and the total number of personality disorder symptoms while general family functioning was best predicted by the total number of Axis I disorders. No demographic variables were found to be related to the level of couple functioning. Future research needs to focus on understanding what makes it difficult for people with personality disorder traits to function in relationships.