Cumulative prevalence of personality disorders between adolescence and adulthood

Objective: To investigate the cumulative prevalence of personality disorder (PD) among adults in the community, based on prospective longitudinal data from a series of psychiatric interviews. Method: Psychiatric interviews were administered to a regionally representative community‐based sample of 568 individuals in 1983 (mean age = 14), 1985–1986 (mean age = 16), 1991–1993 (mean age = 22), and 2001–2004 (mean age 33). Results: The point prevalence of any current DSM‐IV PD, including depressive PD and passive‐aggressive PD, varied between 12.7% and 14.6% across the four diagnostic assessments. The cumulative prevalence of PD increased at each of the follow‐up assessments. At mean age 33, the estimated lifetime prevalence of PD was 28.2%. Conclusion: The cumulative prevalence of PD, based on a series of interviews conducted during adolescence and adulthood, may be substantially higher than the point prevalence of current PD based on a single assessment interview.