Personality and Individual Differences 79 (2015) 44–49

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Personality and Individual Differences

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate /paid

Personality styles in a non-clinical sample: The role of emotiondysregulation and impulsivity

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.01.0460191-8869/� 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 01020953722; fax: +39 010 20953728.E-mail addresses: patrizia.velotti@unige.it, patrizia.velotti@tin.it (P. Velotti),

carlo.garofalo@uniroma1.it, cgarofalo24@gmail.com (C. Garofalo).

P. Velotti a,⇑, C. Garofalo b

a University of Genoa, Department of Educational Sciences, Corso Andrea Podestà, 2, 16126 Genoa, Italyb Sapienza – University of Rome, Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, via degli Apuli, 1, 00185 Rome, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history:Received 4 November 2014Received in revised form 21 January 2015Accepted 27 January 2015Available online 14 February 2015

Keywords:Emotion dysregulationImpulsivityPersonality disorders NOSSadisticMasochisticPassive-aggressiveDepressive

Theories of personality and personality disorders are increasingly considering the centrality of emotionregulation and its dimensions. Impulsivity as well is recognized as a personality trait underlying diversesymptom presentations. Although research in this field has mainly regarded borderline personality dis-order, recent studies supported the association of both emotion dysregulation and impulsivity with per-sonality styles across all clusters. In the present study, we sought to extend extant research byinvestigating the joint contribution of selected difficulties in emotion regulation and impulsivity to traitsof four personality styles in a community sample (N = 399, mean age = 37.91, 56.6% males). In particular,we focused on depressive, masochistic, passive-aggressive and sadistic personality styles. Multipleregression analyses showed the unique association of several domains of emotion dysregulation withall personality styles examined. Nonacceptance of emotional response was significantly and positivelyrelated with scores of all personality styles. Lack of emotional awareness was also characteristic of differ-ent styles. Beyond these similarities, distinct patterns were able to distinguish between externalizing(sadistic and passive-aggressive), and internalizing (depressive and masochistic) traits. Beyond the roleof emotion dysregulation, trait impulsivity was also related to masochistic, passive-aggressive, and sadis-tic traits, independently explaining a significant amount of additional variance.

� 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Arkowitz-Westen, 1998, p. 1769). Among these, depressive, mas-

Difficulties in emotion regulation and impulse control are con-sidered relevant components of maladaptive personality function-ing and personality disorders (PD), yet research on emotiondysregulation and impulsivity has mainly regarded their influenceon borderline PD and antisocial PD (Scott, Stepp, & Pilkonis, 2014).

Although not recognized as official diagnoses but only listed asPD Not Otherwise Specified (NOS), a handful of other PD styleshave historically been considered for their relevance in the studyof personality functioning, as well as for their contribution to otherPDs, namely: depressive PD, masochistic PD, passive-aggressivePD, and sadistic PD (Kernberg, 1992; Millon, 2006).

Even though they are not included in the official diagnostic sys-tems, the prevalence of PD NOS among all PDs has been reported asranging from 21% to 49% (Verheul & Widiger, 2004). Other authorssuggested that ‘‘the majority of patients with personality pathol-ogy significant enough to warrant clinical psychotherapeuticattention are currently undiagnosable on axis II’’ (Westen &

ochistic, passive-aggressive, and sadistic PD have been the mostdiscussed, even though only sparsely investigated by researchers(Kernberg, 1992; Millon, Grossman, Millon, Meagher, & Ramnath,2004). For instance, Johnson et al. (1999) found in an adolescentsample that PD diagnoses included in the appendix to DSM-IV(i.e., depressive and passive-aggressive PD) were more predictiveof subsequent development of major mental disorders than eithercluster A, B or C PDs. Of note, different measures largely used forpersonality assessment still include these personality styles (e.g.,Millon, 2006), yet results concerning them are rarely presented.

To our knowledge, little is known about whether emotion dys-regulation and impulsivity could also characterize these personal-ity styles. Thus, in the present study we first reviewed the extantliterature, and then empirically tested the associations betweenemotion dysregulation, impulsivity and traits of each of these PDstyles in a large community sample.

1.1. Emotion dysregulation, impulsivity and personality styles

According to their description (see Table 1), people with traitsof all personality styles considered in this study could somehow

P. Velotti, C. Garofalo / Personality and Individual Differences 79 (2015) 44–49 45

suffer from difficulties in emotion regulation and impulse control.Nonetheless, despite several clinical observations and influentialtheoretical works (Millon, 2006), there is a dearth of empiricalresearch addressing the role of emotion dysregulation and impul-sivity in explaining features of these PD styles. For instance,research has shown that people with depressive PD traits are proneto both negative affectivity and emotional lability (Huprich, 2009),with an associated lack of confidence in their own ability to mod-ulate intense emotional experience (Chen, Huprich, & Hsiao, 2011).People with masochistic PD traits often experience complex mix ofnegative emotions that they struggle to describe, with the associ-ated belief that little can be done to feel better (Millon et al.,2004). Leith and Baumeister (1996) also reported how self-defeat-ing behavior was associated to bad moods and co-occurringimpairment in self-regulation.

In addition, passive-aggressive strategies are often regarded as amaladaptive way to cope with unwanted emotions, especiallyanger and sadness (Millon et al., 2004; Rivers, Brackett, Katulak,& Salovey, 2007). Further, Fossati et al. (2007) found in a clinicalsample that trait impulsivity was uniquely and positively relatedto passive-aggressive PD.

Sadistic features were also related to poor affect regulation(Ruiz, Salazar, & Caballo, 2012), whose violent acts may representan extremely dysfunctional form to regulate feelings of humiliation,weakness or anger (Meloy, 1997). Sadistic personality traits havealso been linked with the inability to cope adaptively with thoseemotions that drive their vicious behaviors (Millon et al., 2004).Indeed, the atmosphere of fear usually created by violent and sadis-tic individuals could be considered as a frantic effort to cope withunbearable negative feelings (Elison, Garofalo, & Velotti, 2014;Velotti, Elison, & Garofalo, 2014). Finally, individuals with sadisticPD traits are described as deriving pleasure through subjugating,controlling and causing pain to others as an affect-driven impulse,which has received little empirical attention (Meloy, 1997).

Unfortunately, to our knowledge only one study has directlyinvestigated the link between emotion dysregulation facets andthese personality styles. Indeed, Ruiz et al. (2012) found that differ-ent dimensions of emotion dysregulation were positively related tosadistic, masochistic, depressive and passive-aggressive PD. Nota-bly, the strongest correlation coefficients were found with respectto depressive PD, with effect sizes comparable to those regardingborderline PD. However, Ruiz et al. (2012) only considered zero-

Table 1Description and last appearance in DSM nosography of personality disorders included in t

Personality disorder Last appearance in DSM

Depressive Appendix of the DMS-IV-TR (APA, 2000) among PD NOS

Masochistic Appendix of the DSM-III-R (APA, 1987) among PD NOS

Passive-aggressive Appendix of the DMS-IV-TR (APA, 2000) among PD NOS

Sadistic Appendix of the DSM-III-R (APA, 1987) among PD NOS

order correlations, thus failing to account for the high degree ofshared variance among dimensions of emotion dysregulation(Gratz & Roemer, 2004). This prevent us from understandingwhether these PDs are characterized by specific, as opposed to gen-eral, difficulties in emotion regulation, as well as to distinguish dif-ferent PDs in terms of impairment in distinct emotion regulationfacets.

As a whole, the evidence reviewed above seems to confirm thatboth emotion dysregulation and impulsivity are relevant to under-stand features of depressive, masochistic, passive-aggressive, andsadistic personality styles. However, some scholars argued thatimpulsivity in PDs could only represent a facet of underlying emo-tion dysregulation (Sebastian, Jacob, Lieb, & Tüscher, 2013). In thiscase, when controlling for the variance explained by emotion dys-regulation, impulsivity should no longer be significantly associatedwith PDs traits. Other studies showed that impulsivity only par-tially mediated the relationship between emotion dysregulationand alcohol misuse (Garofalo & Velotti, 2014), and that impulsivityadditionally and independently predicted borderline PD and otherPDs after controlling for emotion dysregulation (Garofalo et al.,2014). These findings suggested that, in spite of their partial over-lapping, both emotion dysregulation and impulsivity could play anindependent role in explaining traits of PDs.

In the present study, we sought to examine features of depres-sive, masochistic, passive-aggressive, and sadistic PD, in terms oftheir associations with emotion dysregulation and impulsivity.Accordingly, we examined the unique association between dimen-sions of emotion dysregulation and impulsiveness with traits of theabove mentioned personality styles, controlling for their sharedvariance. We expected that emotion dysregulation was associatedwith all personality styles considered. However, according toGarofalo et al.’s (2014) findings, we expected that nonacceptanceof emotional responses and lack of emotional awareness confirmedtheir associations with all PDs. Further, we hypothesized thatdepressive PD features were associated with a lack of confidencein personal ability to regulate emotions by accessing to effectivestrategies (Chen et al., 2011). We also expected that depressivePD was the most affected by difficulties in emotion regulation, interms of total amount of explained variance (Ruiz et al., 2012).Finally, we expected that impulsivity additively predicted sadisticand passive-aggressive PD features (Fossati et al., 2007; Meloy,1997).

he present study.

Description (APA, 1987, 2000; Millon, 2006)

A pervasive pattern of depressive cognitions and behaviors beginning byearly adulthood and occurring in a variety of contexts, which occurs before,during, and after major depressive episodes, representing a distinctdiagnosis not included in the definition of either major depressive episodesor dysthymic disorder.

A pervasive pattern of self-defeating behavior, beginning by earlyadulthood and present in a variety of contexts. These persons often avoid orundermine pleasurable experiences, be drawn to situations or relationshipsin which they will suffer, and prevent others from helping them.

A pervasive pattern of negativistic attitudes and passive resistance todemands for adequate performance, beginning by early adulthood andpresent in various contexts. Characteristic of these persons is an intenseconflict dependence on other and the desire for self-assertion. They areoften overtly ambivalent, wavering indecisively from one course of actionto its opposite. They may follow an erratic path that causes endlesswrangles with others and disappointment for themselves.

A pervasive pattern of cruel, demeaning and aggressive behavior, beginningby early adulthood, not been directed toward only one person and has notbeen solely for the purpose of sexual arousal (as in sexual sadism). Thesepersons are characterized by callous, vicious, manipulative, and degradingbehavior expressed towards other people.

Table 2Mean, standard deviation (S.D.), skewness, kurtosis and Cronbach’s alpha of all studyvariables (N = 399).

Mean S.D. Skewness Kurtosis Cronbach’s a

DERS Nonacceptance 13.51 5.67 0.74 �0.20 .87DERS Goals 13.58 4.77 0.42 �0.36 .85DERS Impulse 12.05 4.92 0.93 0.98 .84DERS Awareness 14.06 4.32 0.52 0.24 .63DERS Strategies 16.70 6.95 0.95 0.70 .89DERS Clarity 10.03 3.88 0.97 0.98 .78BIS-11 63.13 8.11 0.59 0.88 .80Sadistic 52.49 22.51 �0.69 �0.17 .82Passive-aggressive 53.69 24.42 �0.39 �0.90 .84Masochistic 40.07 29.66 �0.03 �0.91 .80Depressive 41.59 30.75 0.03 �0.93 .87

Note: DERS = Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, subscale scores. BIS-11 = Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, total score. Sadistic to Depressive are all scales ofthe Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III.

46 P. Velotti, C. Garofalo / Personality and Individual Differences 79 (2015) 44–49

2. Methods

2.1. Participants and procedure

The sample consisted of 399 community participants, who vol-unteered to participate in the study providing written informedconsent. Of them, 226 (56.6%) were males. Mean age of partici-pants was 37.91 years (S.D. = 12.27). All procedures met the officialdirections established by the Research Ethics Board of the ItalianAssociation of Psychology (AIP) and the American PsychologicalAssociation (APA).

2.2. Measures

2.2.1. Personality disorders traitsPersonality disorder traits were assessed with the Italian ver-

sion of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III (MCMI-III;Millon, 2006). The MCMI-III is a 175-item True/False questionnairewhich provides individuals’ profile on 14 personality patterns and10 clinical disorders according to Millon’s personality theory(Millon et al., 2004). Items were designed according to diagnosticcriteria listed in the DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000). Given the purposeof the present study, only the scores of the following PDs wereincluded in the analyses: depressive, masochistic, passive-aggres-sive, and sadistic PD. The Italian version of the MCMI-III (Millon,2006) showed good overall reliability, with Cronbach’s alphasranging from .66 and .90, with twenty scales showing a Cronbach’salpha higher than .80.

2.2.2. Emotion dysregulationThe Italian version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation

Scale (DERS; Giromini, Velotti, de Campora, Bonalume, &Zavattini, 2012; Gratz & Roemer, 2004) was used to assess emotiondysregulation. The DERS is a comprehensive measure of emotiondysregulation composed of 36 items tapping six dimensions ofemotion dysregulation: nonacceptance of negative emotionalresponses; difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior whendistressed; difficulties in controlling impulsive behavior whenemotionally upset; lack of emotional awareness; limited accessto emotion regulation strategies perceived as effective; and lackof emotional clarity. Participants had to indicate the extent towhich each statement applied to them on a Likert scale rangingfrom 1 (almost never) to 5 (almost always), with higher score indi-cating greater emotion dysregulation. The DERS has good psycho-metric properties (Gratz, Rosenthal, Tull, Lejuez, & Gunderson,2006), and all dimensions of the Italian version of the DERS showeda Cronbach’s alpha higher than .77 (Giromini et al., 2012).

2.2.3. Trait impulsivityThe Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11; Patton, Stanford, &

Barratt, 1995) was used to assess individuals’ impulsivity. TheBIS-11 is a 30-item self-report questionnaire asking participantsto respond by indicating how often each statement was character-istic of them on a five-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1(rarely/never) to 4 (almost always/always), with higher scoresmeaning greater impulsivity. The BIS-11 has good reliability (withCronbach’s alphas ranging from .79 to .83; Patton et al., 1995) andits psychometric properties were confirmed in the Italian adapta-tion of the scale (a = .79; Fossati, Di Ceglie, Acquarini, & Barratt,2001).

2.3. Data analytic approach

Preliminary analyses of skewness and kurtosis were performedin order to assess the normality of distribution for each measure.

Cronbach’s alphas and descriptive statistics were computed forall study variables. Pearson’s r coefficients were calculated in orderto investigate the relations between emotion dysregulation, PDtraits and impulsivity. Multicollinearity was tested by means ofvariance inflation factors (VIF). Finally, hierarchical multipleregression analyses were carried out to examine the unique contri-bution of the six DERS dimensions and impulsivity on PDs styles.Since gender showed significant associations with several vari-ables, whereas age was not related with any of them (allps > .05), only gender was used as a covariate by entering it inthe first step of each regression model. Semi-partial correlationcoefficients (sr2) were evaluated in order to measure the contribu-tion of each variable to the overall model.

3. Results

Table 2 shows means, standard deviations, skewness, kurtosisand reliability coefficients for each dimension.

Skewness and kurtosis values between �1 and 1 suggested thatall study variables were reasonably normally distributed, thusparametric analyses methods could be performed. Cronbach’salphas of the six DERS dimensions showed a good internal consis-tency for five of the six scale, with an almost adequate coefficientfor Awareness (consistent with recent research conducted withthe Italian version of the DERS; Fossati, Gratz, Maffei, & Borroni,2013). Both the BIS-11 total score and the MCMI-III scales showedgood internal consistency.

All DERS dimensions and the BIS-11 total score were signifi-cantly and positively related with MCMI-III scales for sadistic,passive-aggressive, masochistic, and depressive PD styles (seeTable 3).

Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were carried out inorder to explore the effects of emotional dysregulation and impul-sivity on PDs styles. Gender was entered in Step 1 as control vari-able, whereas Step 2 included the six DERS dimensions and BIS-11total score as independent variables (results are shown in Table 4).VIF values ranging between 1.31 and 3.26 suggested that leastsquares method could be used since multicollinearity did not biasregression findings.

Nonacceptance, Awareness and Strategies scales of the DERSwere uniquely related to depressive PD, explaining an additionalportion (35%) of total variance. Nonacceptance, Goals, Impulse,and Awareness scales of the DERS and BIS-11 total score wereuniquely related to sadistic PD, explaining 25% of total variance.DERS’ Nonacceptance, Impulse, and Awareness scales, and BIS-11total score showed their unique association with passive-aggres-sive PD, adding the 28% to the overall amount of variance

Table 3Correlation coefficients of the six DERS subscales and BIS-11 total score with MCMI-III scales for personality disorders considered in this study (N = 399).

Nonacceptance Goals Impulse Awareness Strategies Clarity BIS-11

Sadistic .34** .35** .41** .11* .33** .23** .40**

Passive-aggressive .41** .37** .45** .18** .43** .30** .38**

Masochistic .47** .41** .46** .16** .51** .38** .35**

Depressive .49** .38** .44** .16** .54** .33** .32**

Note: Nonacceptance to Clarity are scales of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). BIS-11 = Barratt Impulsiveness Scale total score. Sadistic to Depressive are allscales of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III. For ease of interpretation, medium effect sizes (i.e., P.30) are bolded and large effect sizes (i.e., P.50) are bolded anditalicized.

* p < .05.** p < .01.

P. Velotti, C. Garofalo / Personality and Individual Differences 79 (2015) 44–49 47

explained. Finally, Nonacceptance and Strategies scales of theDERS, as well as BIS-11 total score, were uniquely related to mas-ochistic PD, explaining 33% of additional variance. All coefficientswere positive, indicating that higher scores on both emotion dys-regulation dimensions and impulsivity were associated withgreater levels of PD traits.

4. Discussions

Our findings confirmed the relevance of both emotion dysregu-lation and impulsivity in explaining traits of depressive, masochis-tic, passive-aggressive, and sadistic PD, with a greater proportionof shared variance explained for depressive traits. Depressive andmasochistic PD traits were the mostly affected by difficulties inemotion regulation and impulse control, followed by passive-aggressive and sadistic PD traits. Notably, if compared with find-ings on traits of the officially recognized PD diagnoses (Garofaloet al., 2014), only borderline PD traits showed a greater influenceof emotion dysregulation and impulsivity. Thus, our findingsseemed to suggest that these dimensions are likely relevant in per-sonality pathology more generally, rather than being distinctivefeatures of selected PDs, such as borderline and antisocial PD(Scott et al., 2014).

Moreover, some facets of emotion dysregulation showed theirunique association with different traits of the PDs considered here.As expected, nonacceptance of emotional responses contributed tofeatures of all PD traits considered in the current study, as it hasbeen reported for cluster A, B, and C PD traits (Garofalo et al.,2014), thus corroborating the relevance of emotional nonaccep-

Table 4Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examining the unique associations between em

Sadistic Passive-aggressive

b sr2 b sr

Step 1: R2 .00 .01Gender 0.03 0.00 �0.08 0.Step 2: R2 .25** .30**

Gender 0.06 0.00 �0.08 0.Nonacceptance 0.13* 0.01* 0.14* 0.Goals 0.14* 0.01* 0.10 0.Impulse 0.21** 0.02** 0.15* 0.Awareness 0.13* 0.01* 0.13** 0.Strategies �0.07 0.00 0.09 0.Clarity �0.05 0.00 �0.01 0.BIS 0.23** 0.04** 0.17** 0.DR2 .25** .28**

Note: Nonacceptance to Clarity are scales of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scalescales of the MCMI-III. sr2 = squared semipartial correlation coefficient (i.e., the uniqueregression coefficients are reported. In each regression equation, DR2 indicates the proporand the BIS-11 total score, whereas Step 1 R2 and Step 2 R2 indicate the proportion of varrespectively. Gender was dichotomized as follows: 0 = male; 1 = female. For ease of inte

* p < .05.** p < .01.

tance as possible hallmark of personality pathology across clusters.The role of emotional nonacceptance seems consistent with extanttheories highlighting the role of mentalization deficits as transdi-agnostic features underlying personality pathology (e.g., Allen &Fonagy, 2006). Accordingly, difficulties in being able to think ofand reflect on own emotions could undermine individuals’ abilityto regulate emotions before they become overwhelming. Further,difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior when upset wasonly related to sadistic PD traits. Thus, though presenting difficul-ties in regulating emotions, individuals with masochistic, passive-aggressive, and depressive PD traits could be able to show anacceptable level of functioning in their social context, being ableto pursue individual goals even if this implies emotional distress.Then, as expected, poor emotional awareness was associated withtraits of depressive, passive-aggressive and sadistic PD. Theabsence of a significant association with masochistic traits is partlysurprising. However, since emotional awareness was correlated tomasochistic traits at the zero-order level, we cannot conclude thatthey are not related. The fact that lack of emotional awareness didnot emerge as unique predictor of masochistic traits could insteadmean that their association is largely due to other factors. Again,referring to the mentalizing framework (Allen & Fonagy, 2006),one may argue that lack of emotional awareness in individualswith high levels of masochistic traits may stem from an underlyingand more general deficit in mentalized affectivity (Jurist, 2005). Toconfirm this hypothesis, future research should aim at clarifyingwhether difficulties in the identification, differentiation and ver-balization of emotion (i.e., alexithymic features; Jurist, 2005) mayexplain masochistic traits, in turn resulting in a secondary lack of

otion dysregulation dimensions, impulsivity and personality styles (N = 399).

Masochistic Depressive

2 b sr2 b sr2

.00 .01*

08 �0.05 �0.05 �0.11* 0.01*

.33** .36**

08 �0.07 �0.07 �0.14** 0.02**

09* 0.18** 0.12** 0.22** 0.02**

07 0.11 0.08 0.02 0.0009 0.06 0.04 0.01 0.0012** 0.08 0.07 0.10* 0.0105* 0.18* 0.10* 0.35** 0.04**

00 0.08 0.06 0.00 0.0015** 0.10* 0.09* 0.06 0.00

.33** .35**

(DERS). BIS-11 = Barratt Impulsiveness Scale total score. Sadistic to Depressive areamount of variance that the predictor variable brings to the model). Standardizedtion of variance in the dependent variable accounted for by the six DERS scale scoresiance accounted for by the covariate (i.e., gender), and by the all variables together,rpretation, large effect sizes (i.e., Cohen’s f2 P .30) are bolded.

1 We are indebted to an anonymous reviewer for suggesting this framework tointerpret our results.

48 P. Velotti, C. Garofalo / Personality and Individual Differences 79 (2015) 44–49

emotional awareness. For instance, Millon et al. (2004) suggestedthat individuals with a masochistic style were more prone to expe-rience and describe negative emotions than positive ones, thus fail-ing to differentiate and experience a wide array of emotions.

Two other dimensions of emotion dysregulation distinguishedsadistic and passive-aggressive traits from depressive and masoch-istic traits. Indeed, difficulties in controlling impulsive reactionswhen distressed were uniquely associated with traits of sadisticand passive-aggressive, whereas a lack of adaptive emotion regula-tion strategies was related to depressive and masochistic traits.Accordingly, depressive and masochistic traits seemed to be asso-ciated with a diminished sense of self-efficacy regarding the abilityto regulate emotions. It could be expected that individuals withmasochistic traits tend to stay in negative moods, whereas peoplewith depressive traits could believe that little can be done toimprove their mood. On the other hand, sadistic and passive-aggressive features did not show significance associations with alack of confidence in the ability to rely on effective emotion regu-lation strategies. Individuals with sadistic and passive-aggressivetraits may either tend to externalize and to act out their emotions,or to overestimate their own capacity to regulate emotions, thusavoiding to incur in the risk of consciously struggling with emotionregulation. An indirect support for this interpretation is providedby the fact that sadistic and passive-aggressive features were bothrelated to difficulties in refraining from impulsive behavior whenupset. Again, it is easy to understand how people with masochistictraits have no reason to react impulsively when experiencing neg-ative emotions. Further, impulsive behavior in the context ofdepressive personality features could be better explained as stem-ming from other dimensions of emotion dysregulation. Finally, lackof emotional clarity was the only dimension of emotion dysregula-tion which was not associated with any PD styles considered here.A possible explanation is that the correlation between lack of emo-tional clarity and PD traits (e.g., Ruiz et al., 2012) could only repre-sent the effect of the shared variance with other emotiondysregulation facets. For example, poor emotional clarity couldbe a consequence of poor emotional awareness (which indeedshowed its association with PD traits) rather than representing aprimary deficit.

As regards trait impulsivity, our findings were largely in linewith the expectations. Indeed, confirming previous studies(Fossati et al., 2007; Meloy, 1997), impulsivity additively explainedfeatures of passive-aggressive and sadistic PD. Our results alsoextended previous research by attesting the unique associationbetween trait impulsiveness and masochistic traits. Thus, theaction component of emotion dysregulation (i.e., difficulties con-trolling impulsive acts when distressed) seemed to only partiallyoverlap with other components of trait impulsivity. Longitudinalstudies seem needed to better understand if emotion dysregulationand impulsivity mutually interact by exacerbating each other intheir contribution to PD traits.

As a whole, our findings seem to suggest that emotion dysreg-ulation and impulsivity may help in differentiating externalizing(here, sadistic and passive-aggressive) and internalizing (here,masochistic and depressive) personality styles. Indeed, emotionalnonacceptance seemed to underlie all styles considered in thepresent study, providing support for the relevance of mentalizationdeficits in personality functioning. However, emotional nonaccep-tance may manifest itself and be associated with other dimensionsof emotion dysregulation differentially, in the context of internal-izing versus externalizing personality traits. Accordingly, external-izing styles such as sadistic and passive-aggressive werecharacterized by emotional nonacceptance along with lack of emo-tional awareness and difficulties in controlling behaviors refrainingfrom impulsive acts when distressed. On the other hand, internal-izing styles such as depressive and masochistic resulted associated

with nonacceptance of emotions, combined with a lack of per-ceived efficacy in utilizing contextually-appropriate strategies tomodulate emotions. Thus, mentalizing deficits implying a lack ofemotional acceptance may result in a tendency to act uponimpulses in the externalizing disorders, and in the perceived inef-ficacy to handle emotions in more internalizing individuals.Finally, a combination of trait impulsivity and impulse control def-icits on a behavioral plan seemed to play a role in externalizingpersonality styles only1.

4.1. Limitations and future directions

Some limitations of the present study warrant mention. First,we used a correlational and cross-sectional design, which preventus from making definite statements in terms of causality amongvariables examined. Moreover, all measures used were self-reportquestionnaires. Finally, we recruited a nonclinical sample, whichdid not allow for assuming the generalizability of our results toclinical populations, notwithstanding their relevance for under-standing PD traits. Future research, possibly adopting longitudinaldesign with clinical samples, is needed to investigate whetherimprovement in emotion regulation and impulsivity are able topredict improvement in personality functioning. Furthermore,future studies could benefit from an expanded assessment meth-odology for the evaluation of emotion dysregulation and impulsiv-ity (e.g., physiological measures, or experimental procedures), aswell as for the diagnostic assessment of PDs (e.g., clinical inter-views). In particular, if internalizing personality traits can be reli-ably assessed using self-report, other traits which could havebeen relevant for the personality styles investigated in the presentstudy appeared to be better assessed by other informants (e.g., forexternalizing and/or antagonistic traits; Carlson, Vazire, &Oltmanns, 2013).

4.2. Clinical and research implications

Despite its limitations, the present study may be helpful inunderstanding factors associated with PD features in nonclinicalsamples. As a whole, our findings seemed to support the centralityof both mentalization and emotion regulation to personality func-tioning (Allen & Fonagy, 2006; Fossati et al., 2013; Velotti,Zavattini, & Garofalo, 2013). Indeed, difficulties in the mental rep-resentation of emotions, as well as the inability to effectively reg-ulate emotional arousal were uniquely associated with PD stylesexamined in the current study. Furthermore, also impulsivitymay represent a core mechanism underlying the development ofdysfunctional personality traits, at least with regard to sadistic,passive-aggressive, and masochistic features in community indi-viduals. In conclusion, regardless the inclusion of these PDs inthe official diagnostic system, our findings could have interestingclinical implication, supporting the potential importance of explor-ing specific dimensions of emotion dysregulation, as well as impul-sivity, to provide a more comprehensive assessment and clinicalformulation of maladaptive personality styles, as well as to con-tribute in informing therapeutic efforts.

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