Cross-cultural Study of the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5) across the Portuguese and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Community and Clinical Populations

AIMS: The present paper focused on compare the PID-5 mean score levels across two matched community and clinical samples of Portugal and the UAE. BACKGROUND: The generalizability and universality of the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders has been thoroughly studied through the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) across countries and languages. However, studies comparing Western and Middle Eastern countries are still limited, in particular those who assess the PID-5 measurement invariance. OBJECTIVES: We examined measurement invariance of the PID-5 scales across matched Emirati and Portuguese clinical and nonclinical groups, as well as compare and contrast the PID-5 mean score levels across both countries and samples. METHODS: The Arabic and the Portuguese versions of the PID-5 was administered to Emirati community participants (N = 300, 80% women and 20% men, M(age) = 27.95) which were matched with Portuguese community participants (N = 300, 80.3% women and 19.7% men, M(age) = 28.96), as well as clinical participants of the UAE (N = 150, 61.3% women and 38.7% men, M(age) = 31.29) and Portugal (N = 150, 52% men and 48% women, M(age) = 44.97). We examined measurement invariance through an unrestricted Factor Analysis based program, and mean scores levels were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: Our findings supported the PID-5 measurement invariance across the Emirati and Portuguese clinical samples pointing to the universality and generalizability of the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders. The Emirati psychiatric sample exhibited somehow higher results than the Portuguese psychiatric participants, albeit the small effect size for most of the PID-5 scales. CONCLUSION: Further research is needed to examine the applicability of the PID-5 across non-clinical representative samples of Portugal and the UAE, and other Middle Eastern countries.