difficultpersontest

Form DPT-45Scale: Mistrust6 items

Mistrust

Expecting others to have hidden motives or to let you down.

What does mistrust look like?

These are typical examples, written by us to illustrate the statements below — not a checklist for diagnosing anyone.

  • Reading neutral messages as slights or schemes
  • Testing people before you let them close
  • Feeling that being let down is only a matter of time

Where does this trait come from in the research?

Mistrust is one of seven factors that emerged when researchers analyzed 234 antagonism items from seven questionnaires (Sleep et al., 2021) (the study's label was “suspiciousness”). The statements used here come from the “Mistrust” scale of the CAT-PD static form, a personality-disorder trait measure built in a project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (Simms et al., 2011), published in the public-domain International Personality Item Pool.

The item pool reports internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for this scale of 0.83 in a community sample and 0.88 in a patient sample. Values above about .80 mean the statements hang together well; it does not by itself show the scale measures what it claims. Validation studies found the static-form scales relate to other trait measures as expected (Long et al., 2021).

Which statements measure mistrust?

ItemSelf-report wordingScored
1152Feel like people often are out to get something from me.As answered
1212Feel that others are out to get me.As answered
628Believe that, sooner or later, people always let you down.As answered
2460Suspect hidden motives in others.As answered
604Believe that people are basically honest and good.Reversed (6 − answer)
371Am pretty trusting of others' motives.Reversed (6 − answer)

Your mistrust score is the average of these 6 answers, after reversing the 2 items worded in the opposite direction. Item numbers are the item pool's own identifiers.

If you scored high

  • When you suspect a motive, write down the evidence for and against before acting on it.
  • Ask a clarifying question instead of assuming ("What did you mean by…?").
  • Extend trust in small, low-cost ways and keep track of how often it's honored.

If it's someone you deal with

  • Be predictable: do what you said, when you said, and say so.
  • Explain the reason behind requests; missing context fills with suspicion.
  • Don't take repeated suspicion as a reason to hide things — that confirms it.

These suggestions are our editorial judgment, not tested interventions. For the research on whether people can change these traits, read how to be less difficult; for others, dealing with a difficult person.

Take the full testRate someone

The other six traits

  1. 01

    Callousness

  2. 02

    Grandiosity

  3. 03

    Domineering

  4. 04

    Manipulativeness

  5. 05

    Hostile aggression

  6. 06

    Risk taking

Sources

  1. Sleep CE, Crowe ML, Carter NT, Lynam DR, Miller JD (2021). Uncovering the structure of antagonism. Personal Disord 12(4), 300-311. PubMed 34323587 · doiCross-sectional factor analysis. 532 university students answered 234 antagonism items from seven trait measures; a seven-factor solution emerged: callousness, grandiosity, domineering, manipulation, suspiciousness, aggression and risk taking. Limits: One student sample, self-report only. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.
  2. Simms LJ, Goldberg LR, Roberts JE, Watson D, Welte J, Rotterman JH (2011). Computerized adaptive assessment of personality disorder: introducing the CAT-PD project. J Pers Assess 93(4), 380-9. PubMed 22804677 · doiMeasure development. Describes the NIMH-funded project that built the CAT-PD trait model and item pool (59 candidate traits, 2,589 initial items). Limits: Early-phase report. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.
  3. Long TA, Reinhard E, Sellbom M, Anderson JL (2021). An Examination of the Reliability and Validity of the Comprehensive Assessment of Traits Relevant to Personality Disorder-Static Form (CAT-PD-SF). Assessment 28(5), 1345-1357. PubMed 32125172 · doiValidation study. CAT-PD static-form scores related to other personality measures in expected ways and moderately to functional impairment. Limits: The five-factor structure fit only marginally. Checked against the abstract only, October 26, 2026.

Item text and reliability values: International Personality Item Pool (IPIP): CAT-PD-SF v1.1 scale keys, retrieved 2026-10-26. Public domain (IPIP): use for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, is pre-granted.