Findings from the present study further indicated that an overarching latent factor representing general personality dysfunction provided strong discrimination between the externalizing and internalizing factors, particularly the internalizing fear factor. The presence of multidimensionality in PDs associations and the need for hierarchical modeling of PDs (Cox et al., 2012; Jahng et al., 2011) may pose a challenge for proposals to relocate DSM-IV PDs with Axis I disorders in the forthcoming DSM-5, but the problem might be averted with the use of psychiatric symptoms (Markon, 2010) or personality traits (Krueger and Eaton, 2010).
