1. Main facts and figures
- in 2014, there were no meaningful differences between ethnic groups in the percentage of people aged 16 and over who screened positive for a personality disorder
- although the table shows differences between ethnic groups, sample sizes were too small to draw reliable conclusions
- these figures shouldn’t be used as evidence of real differences in the population as a whole
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage of people aged 16 and over in England who screened positive for any personality disorder.
Personality disorders are mental health conditions that affect how people manage their feelings and how they relate to other people. They include borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder.
Percentages have been rounded to 1 decimal point.
You can read more about personality disorders on the NHS website.
Not included in the data
The data does not include:
- people who live in institutional settings (such as hospitals or prisons)
- people who live in temporary housing (such as hostels or bed and breakfasts)
- homeless people
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the following 5 ethnic groups:
- Asian
- Black
- Mixed and Other ethnic groups
- White British
- White Other
This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make reliable conclusions about all of the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
A positive screen for personality disorder indicates that someone is likely to have a personality disorder based on symptoms they have described. A full clinical assessment would be needed for diagnosis.
It is unlikely that everyone who screened positive for a personality disorder responded accurately when surveyed, particularly when interviewed. This may be because of the social stigma that some people attach to these behaviours. People were more likely to report these behaviours in the self-completion section of the survey, but not everyone completed this section.
If someone could not take part in a long interview due to a physical or mental health condition, some information about this was recorded by the interviewer on the doorstep. This information may be biased due to it having been collected from another household member.
The statistics have been age-standardised so comparisons can be made between ethnic groups as if they had the same age profile (the number of people of different ages within an ethnic group). They do not show the actual percentage of people in each ethnic group who screened positive for a personality disorder.
The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:
- interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
- how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied
In the data file
See Download the data for:
- the unweighted number of people surveyed
- confidence intervals for each ethnic group – find out more about how confidence intervals are used to determine how reliable estimates are
3. By ethnicity and sex
| Ethnicity | All | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 17.3 | 22.7 | 10.8 |
| Black | 17.0 | 16.1 | 17.7 |
| Mixed other | 16.7 | 10.2 | 21.9 |
| White British | 13.9 | 13.0 | 14.9 |
| White other | 14.2 | 16.8 | 11.7 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and sex’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and sex’ (CSV)
Summary of Personality disorders By ethnicity and sex Summary
This data shows that:
-
no significant difference between ethnic groups was observed in terms of the likelihood of screening positive for personality disorder
-
the percentage of people aged 16 years and over screening positive for personality disorder ranges from 13.9% to 17.3% depending on their ethnic group (but again these differences are not statistically significant)
4. Data sources
Source
Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey: Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, England, 2014
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
NHS Digital
Publication frequency
Every 7 years (further publications dependent on further surveys being commissioned)
Purpose of data source
The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey provides data on the prevalence of treated and untreated psychiatric disorders in English adults aged 16 and over.
5. Download the data
The percentages of individuals who screened positive for any personality disorder in England, 2014, by sex and broad age group with 95% confidence intervals.