The Epidemiology of Personality Disorders in the U.S. Navy

This study evaluated the incidence of first hospitalizations for personality disorders and their association with career outcomes for Navy enlisted personnel. Gender differences, rates for subtypes, and changes in hospital admission rates over time also were examined. Personnel who were first hospitalized with a personality disorder between 1980-1988 were followed through 1992 and were compared with a control group that did not manifest such pathology. Hospitalized personality disorder cases demonstrated pathology very early in their military careers, which was judged to have been present prior to enlistment in more than one-half of the cases. Women were more likely than men to have a first hospitalization for personality disorders. Rates in both men and women increased during the latter one-half of the 1980s and decreased during the early 1990s.