Validity of a German 16-item version of the Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO-16)

This paper introduces a German short form of the Inventory of Personality Organization (IPO-16). The IPO long form is a self-report instrument for the assessment of personality dysfunction in the domains of identity, defense, and reality testing. The IPO-16 measures general personality dysfunction and is based on 16 items representing the common denominator of several IPO versions currently available in German. Based on the data of 1,300 participants, it is shown that IPO-16 (1) is internally consistent, (2) has an acceptable CFA model-fit, (3) has a high overlap with the IPO long from, (4) shows good convergent and discriminant validity with regard to self-reports, (5) predicts expert ratings of personality pathology over and above general distress, and (6) reaches a diagnostic efficiency comparable to other screening instruments in the field of personality pathology. In sum, the IPO-16 is an economic and valid self-report instrument for the assessment of general personality dysfunction.