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The latent structure and stability of 10 common mental disorders were examined in a birth cohort at ages 18 and 21. A 2-factor model, in which some disorders were presumed to reflect internalizing problems and others were presumed to reflect externalizing problems, provided a more optimal fit to the data than either a 1- or a 4-factor model. To a significant extent, persons in the sample retained their relative positions on the latent factors across the 3-year period from age 18 to age 21. Results offer potential clarification of the meaning of comorbidity in psychopathology research by suggesting that comorbidity may results from common mental disorders being reliable, covariant indicators of stable, underlying "core psychopathological processes."

The authors assessed the relation between personality and mental disorder in a representative birth cohort of 897 men and women. Personality was assessed at age 18 with the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; A. Tellegen, 1982), and 4 types of mental disorder (affective, anxiety, substance dependence, and conduct disorder) were assessed at ages 15, 18 and 21, using age-appropriate standardized diagnostic interviews. All disorder groups had MPQ profiles that were very different from those of controls. When comorbid cases were excluded, fewer significant differences between diagnosed cases and controls remained. Relations between personality and mental disorder were not affected by the measurement of disorder as continuous versus discrete, gender, or the age at which disorder was diagnosed. Relations between personality and mental disorders appear to be robust, and individual personality differences may be particularly relevant to understanding the most severe (comorbid) expressions of psychopathology.

Is there a relationship between personality and criminal behavior? We addressed this question in a representative birth cohort of 862 male and female 18-year-olds. Personality was assessed with the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). The MPQ measures 10 relatively independent personality traits and was not designed to identify offenders. Delinquency was assessed via 3 data sources: self-reports, informant reports, and official records. Variable-centered analyses revealed that MPQ scales indexing negative emotionality and behavioral constraint were consistent predictors of delinquency across the 3 data sources. Person-centered analyses revealed that youths abstaining from delinquency were uniquely characterized by low interpersonal potency. Youths involved in extensive delinquency were uniquely characterized by feelings of alienation, lack of social closeness, and risk taking. Advances in understanding criminal behavior can be made through research that places the personality-delinquency link in a developmental context.