There also is extensive evidence that neuroticism is correlated with a number of Axis II personality disorders (Clark et al., 1994; Costa & Widiger, 2002; Krueger & Markon, 2001; Saulsman & Page, 2004; Sher & Trull, 1994). As shown in Table 2, a meta-analytic review of this literature (Saulsman & Page, 2004) found medium effect sizes for associations between neuroticism and borderline, avoidant, and dependent personality disorders, and smaller effect sizes for schizotypal, paranoid, and antisocial personality disorder. It should be noted that a number of modifications of the taxonomy of personality disorders in DSM-V have been proposed that could make the definitions of personality disorders more consonant with either three or five-factor models of personality that include the trait of neuroticism (McCrae, Lockenhoff, & Costa, 2005; Widiger & Trull, 2007). Thus, neuroticism may be even more strongly linked to future diagnostic definitions of personality disorders.
