Sensation seeking scales and traits delineating personality disorders in a sample of Chinese students

Abstract

Scores on the Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scales (SSS) are consistently elevated in samples of psychopathic patients or prisoners suggesting that sensation seeking is an aspect of antisocial personality disorder. This was investigated in a sample of 171 Chinese university students (102 women and 69 men) who also completed the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology – Basic Questionnaire (DAPP) which assesses four broad domains of personality dysfunction. Factor Analysis clearly identified five-factors, four of which were labeled as “Emotional Dysregulation”, “Dissocial”, “Bored” and “Inhibition”, similar to those detected in the previous studies. Contrary to expectations, except the Boredom Susceptibility was loaded on the factor “Bored” in women, the four SSS subscales were loaded on a fifth factor in both gender samples, suggesting that the SSS does not clearly measure an important feature of personality disorder.