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Personality problems are not always well recognised in teenage boys, because research on personality pathology mainly focuses on girls. "In boys, problem behaviour is often much more prominent, think aggression, or addiction. As a result, personality vulnerabilities perhaps stand out less," mentions psychologist-researcher Roos Leenhouts. "Possibly because of this, treatments do not always connect well. Early intervention could prevent long-term problems."

Whether boys would have as many personality problems is still unclear. "Perhaps there are fewer personality problems in boys, or they manifest differently. There is too much unknown about this. This is exactly why we are doing research into this," Leenhouts mentions. 

Dimensional approach

For personality problems, most psychologists currently use a categorical approach: you either have a personality disorder or you do not. The researchers advocate using a dimensional approach: this method identifies the degree of different personality traits, such as aloofness, psychoticism or uninhibitedness. This approach is "much more nuanced," according to Leenhouts. "You look at personality more on a dimensional level: where and to what extent are there vulnerabilities in someone's personality?"

Development

The advantage of this dimensional approach is that the development of certain traits is tracked. Leenhouts: "For example, if someone scores a bit higher on a certain trait, but according to the criteria does not meet a personality disorder, you can still help them." Earlier intervention is important, but difficult at the moment: "In general, psychologists have been reluctant to diagnose young people in recent years, because their personality is still developing." These classifications were often delayed to avoid stigma. "This is because society sees a personality disorder as something very intense, but that is a good reason to intervene earlier while the adolescent is still developing."

Another disadvantage of the categorical approach is that personality disorders overlap. Leenhouts mentions: "Different personality disorders, such as avoidant and dependent personality disorder, often occur together. As a result, these classifications do not yet adequately tell us what the client is up against. By looking more specifically at the underlying personality traits, you can intervene in a more targeted way."

By looking more specifically at the underlying personality traits, you can intervene in a more targeted way.

Invigoration grant

The researchers, Roos Leenhouts (researcher and psychologist), Odilia Laceulle (associate professor of developmental psychology) and Hilde Schuiringa (associate professor of developmental psychology), started this project thanks to the Dynamics of Youth invigoration grant. One of the conditions of this grant is collaboration with a social partner. In this case, that is the cooperation with mental health institutions. Leenhouts: "Thanks to this cooperation, we can extract additional information from their files (with the young people's consent). We can see what classification and corresponding treatment they have received in practice. We then look at what traits would emerge if you used the dimensional approach. We are curious to see if similarities, or differences, can be found here."