Validation of a Brief Internet-Based Self-Report Measure of Maladaptive Personality and Interpersonal Schema: Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Abstract

Background: Existing digital mental health interventions mainly focus on the symptoms of specific mental disorders, but do not focus on Maladaptive Personalities and Interpersonal Schemas (MPISs). As an initial step toward considering personalities and schemas in intervention programs, there is a need for the development of tools for measuring core personality traits and interpersonal schemas known to cause psychological discomfort among potential users of digital mental health interventions. Thus, the MPIS was developed.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to validate the MPIS by comparing 2 models of the MPIS factor structure and to understand the characteristics of the MPIS by assessing its correlations with other measures.

Methods: Data were collected from 234 participants who were using web-based community sites in South Korea, including university students, graduate students, working professionals, and homemakers. All the data were gathered through web-based surveys. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare a single-factor model with a 5-factor model. Reliability and correlation analyses with other scales were performed.

Results: The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the 5-factor model (χ²₅₅₀=1278.1; Tucker-Lewis index=0.80; comparative fit index=0.81; and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation=0.07) was more suitable than the single-factor model (χ²₅₆₀=2341.5; Tucker-Lewis index=0.52; comparative fit index=0.54; and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation=0.11) for measuring maladaptive personality traits and interpersonal relationship patterns. The internal consistency of each factor of the MPIS was good (Cronbach α=.71-.88), and the correlations with existing measures were statistically significant. The MPIS is a validated 35-item tool for measuring 5 essential personality traits and interpersonal schemas in adults aged 18-39 years.

Conclusions: This study introduced the MPIS, a concise and effective questionnaire capable of measuring maladaptive personality traits and interpersonal relationship schemas. Through analysis, the MPIS was shown to reliably assess these psychological constructs and validate them. Its web-based accessibility and reduced item count make it a valuable tool for mental health assessment. Future applications include its integration into digital mental health care services, allowing easy web-based administration and aiding in the classification of psychological therapy programs based on the obtained results.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05952063; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05952063.

Keywords: digital mental health care; internet-based measure; interpersonal schema; maladaptive schema; measure of schema; self-report measure.