CPAP – Q-Sort: An assessment procedure for personality, traits and disorders in childhood

Aims: The controversy over the possibility to assess childhood personality has continued despite a growing number of studies confirming that it is possible from a developmental perspective. The aim of this work is the validation of the CPAP-Q (Child Personality Assessment Q-Sort; Fortunato, Speranza, Tanzilli, Lingiardi, 2018), a Q-Sort instrument able to assess the childhood personality. Methods: The validation procedure includes: 150 children, from 4 to 11 years old evaluated by 150 clinicians. Children are in treatment from 2 to 12 months. Procedure includes other instruments: an ad-hoc questionnaire for information on the clinician, on the child and his/her family, CPNI (Coolidge, 2002), CBCL (Achenbach, 2001) and PDC-C (Malberg, Rosenberg & Malone, 2017). For the validation procedure it was conducted the Q-Factor analysis to obtain Emerging Personality Patterns empirically derived. Results: 7 factors emerged from the Q-Factor analysis (High Functioning, Inhibited/Withdrawn, Dysphoric/Anxious, Obsessive, Borderline/Dysregulated, Borderline/Impulsive, Schizoid). Validation procedure highlights the Q-Sort’s validity. Discussion: Preliminary data is promising and define that it’s possible to evaluate the developmental pathways for emerging personality patterns in childhood and how these may lead to personality disorders in adolescence and adulthood. Data confirm that the Q-Sort procedure is the best way to assess childhood personality and its elements.