Medical psychometrics: A psychometric evaluation of Type D personality and its predictive value in medical research

Type D personality–a combination of high negative affectivity and high social inhibition–has been identified as a risk factor for adverse outcome in various patient populations. However, common methods used to establish the predictive value of Type D personality have been criticized and several recent studies were not able to replicate previous findings. To explain these inconsistencies, this interdisciplinary dissertation brings together experts from the fields of medical psychology and psychometrics. It presents a psychometric evaluation of the construct Type D personality and illustrates how it can best be modeled in medical and psychological research. Based on thousands of computer-simulated datasets, as well as empirical data from patients with various types of diseases, this dissertation shows why most published research testing a Type D personality effect should be reanalyzed using modern psychometric and statistical methods. It also presents a first attempt at this endeavor by reanalyzing various earlier published datasets, showing that coronary artery disease patients with Type D personality are at increased risk for adverse outcome.