The Hierarchical Structure of Work-Related Maladaptive Personality Traits

A brief pathological personality measure, the G-50, was designed to study substantive developments from clinical psychology in occupational settings. Responses to item-pools assessing DSM-5 domain traits were collected from 696 working adults in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Exploratory factor analyses supported a structure comprised of Antagonism, Compulsivity, Detachment, Negative Affect, Disinhibition, and Psychoticism. Gender differences were observed following invariance analyses while five-factor indicators projected into latent space defined by pathological indicators revealed each big-five construct related to multiple pathological traits. Latent profile analyses revealed a maladaptive class that experienced worse outcomes on a range of job performance and health indicators. Support for a hierarchical structure was observed where domain traits are lower order indicators of internalizing and externalizing factors. Mixed evidence for a generalized psychopathology factor was observed. Because lower-level maladaptive traits are described in the organizational sciences as ‘Dark’, we describe this generalized psychopathology factor as ‘Black’.