We attempted, in this study, to identify those disorders and traits that optimally reflect the underlying genetic risk to internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. These results have potential practical implications in clinical or research settings where it might be of importance to assess an individual’s vulnerability to these two important psychopathological dimensions. Disorders differed widely in the degree to which they indexed the underlying genetic risk. For the externalizing trait, the best indices were four disorders: ASPD, AAD, DAD and CD. For the internalizing trait, the best indices were two disorders: MD and GAD. Importantly, the disorders and traits that optimally indexed the genetic liability to externalizing and internalizing disorders in the general population differed meaningfully in men and women. Finally, in both sexes, these genetic spectra are better assessed by psychiatric disorders than by personality traits.
