Self-Reported Personality Functioning in Patients With Substance Use Disorders: Similarities and Specifics With Respect to the Czech Community Sample.

Abstract

Objective: Information about the level of general personality functioning could provide benefits for tailoring substance use disorder (SUD) treatment. This study examined self-reported personality functioning among patients with SUD compared to the general population, gender specifics, and the psychometric properties of the Czech Level of Personality Functioning Scale-Self Report (LPFS-SR).

Methods: Two samples were used in this study. Sample 1 (n = 368) consisted of patients with SUD, while Sample 2 (n = 497) comprised volunteers from the general population. All participants, with an age range of 18-75 years, completed a battery of self-assessment tools, including a demographic form, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), and the LPFS-SR, administered via a pencil-and-paper method. Internal consistency and several aspects of the validity of the Czech LPFS-SR were examined.

Results: The LPFS-SR showed high internal consistency as estimated by Cronbach's alpha (α ≥ 0.66) and the high mutual correlation with the PID-5 varied from 0.21 to 0.77. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the four LPFS-SR subscales indicated a single-component structure, accounting for 78.21% of the variance in Sample 1 and 79.20% in Sample 2, supporting previous results regarding the LPFS-SR factorial structure. Furthermore, gender-specific cut-off scores were obtained and are discussed in relation to previous research.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that the Czech LPFS-SR is a valid and reliable tool with acceptable discriminating capacity. It can be used in research and clinical assessments of personality functioning in patients with SUD, particularly when considering gender-specific characteristics.