Reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines-Revised.

INTRODUCTION: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the most studied of the axis II disorders. One of the most widely used diagnostic instruments is the Diagnostic Interview for Borderline Patients-Revised (DIB-R). The aim of this study was to test the reliability and validity of DIB-R for use in the Chinese culture. METHODS: The reliability and validity of the DIB-R Chinese version were assessed in a sample of 236 outpatients with a probable BPD diagnosis. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SCID-II) was used as a standard. Test-retest reliability was tested six months later with 20 patients, and inter-rater reliability was tested on 32 patients. RESULTS: The Chinese version of the DIB-R showed good internal global consistency (Cronbach's α of 0.916), good test-retest reliability (Pearson correlation of 0.704), good inter-rater reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.892 and kappa of 0.861). When compared with the DSM-IV diagnosis as measured by the SCID-II, the DIB-R showed relatively good sensitivity (0.768) and specificity (0.891) at the cutoff of 7, moderate diagnostic convergence (kappa of 0.631), as well as good discriminating validity. DISCUSSION: The Chinese version of the DIB-R has good psychometric properties, which renders it a valuable method for examining the presence, the severity, and component phenotypes of BPD in Chinese samples.

Shaping beliefs in experimental markets for expert services: Guilt aversion and the impact of promises and money-burning options.

In a credence goods game with an expert and a consumer, we study experimentally the impact of two devices that are predicted to induce consumer-friendly behavior if the expert has a propensity to feel guilty when he believes that he violates the consumer's payoff expectations: (i) an opportunity for the expert to make a non-binding promise; and (ii) an opportunity for the consumer to burn money. In belief-based guilt aversion theory the first opportunity shapes an expert's behavior if an appropriate promise is made and if it is expected to be believed by the consumer; by contrast, the second opportunity might change behavior even though this option is never used along the predicted path. Experimental results confirm the behavioral relevance of (i) but fail to confirm (ii).

Examining the relationship between lifetime stressful life events and the onset of major depression in Chinese women.

BACKGROUND: In European and US studies, patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) report more stressful life events (SLEs) than controls, but this relationship has rarely been studied in Chinese populations. METHODS: Sixteen lifetime SLEs were assessed at interview in two groups of Han Chinese women: 1970 clinically ascertained with recurrent MDD and 2597 matched controls. Diagnostic and other risk factor information was assessed at personal interview. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated by logistic regression. RESULTS: 60% of controls and 72% of cases reported at least one lifetime SLE. Fourteen of the sixteen SLEs occurred significantly more frequently in those with MDD (median odds ratio of 1.6). The three SLEs most strongly associated with risk for MDD (OR>3.0) preceded the onset of MDD the majority of the time: rape (82%), physical abuse (100%) and serious neglect (99%). LIMITATIONS: Our results may apply to females only. SLEs were rated retrospectively and are subject to biases in recollection. We did not assess contextual information for each life event. CONCLUSIONS: More severe SLEs are more strongly associated with MDD. These results support the involvement of psychosocial adversity in the etiology of MDD in China.