On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support
Abstract Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) have consistently been associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Still, it is not yet entirely understood if and how different types of ACE (emotional, physical, sexual abuse, neglect) relate to different BPD subdomains (affective...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-022-00206-9 |
| _version_ | 1797977608226340864 |
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| author | Anna Schulze Leonie Cloos Monika Zdravkovic Stefanie Lis Annegret Krause-Utz |
| author_facet | Anna Schulze Leonie Cloos Monika Zdravkovic Stefanie Lis Annegret Krause-Utz |
| author_sort | Anna Schulze |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) have consistently been associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Still, it is not yet entirely understood if and how different types of ACE (emotional, physical, sexual abuse, neglect) relate to different BPD subdomains (affective instability, identity disturbance, negative relationships, self-harm). Insecure attachment and lower perceived social support are associated with both ACE and BPD and may therefore contribute to their relationship. No study so far integrated all these variables in one model, while accounting for their mutual influence on each other. We investigated the interplay of BPD subdomains, ACE, attachment, and perceived social support using a graph-theoretical approach. Methods An international sample of 1692 participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Borderline Feature Scale from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI-BOR), the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) via an online survey. We estimated a partial correlation network including subscales of the CTQ and the PAI-BOR as nodes. We extended the network by including subscales of the AAS and MSPSS as additional nodes. Results Emotional abuse was the most central node in both networks and a bridge between other types of ACE and BPD features. All domains of BPD except affective instability were associated with emotional abuse. Identity disturbances was the most central node in the BPD network. The association between ACE and BPD features was partly but not fully explained by attachment and social support. Conclusion Our findings suggest that emotional abuse is an important link in the association between ACE and BPD features, also when taking attachment and social support into account. Findings further suggest an outstanding role of identity disturbance, linking emotional abuse to affective instability and being strongly associated with attachment anxiety. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:09:59Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b3dfcff394fc4678bfa8a9f1f204c781 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2051-6673 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:09:59Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation |
| spelling | doaj.art-b3dfcff394fc4678bfa8a9f1f204c7812022-12-25T12:05:45ZengBMCBorderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation2051-66732022-12-019111410.1186/s40479-022-00206-9On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social supportAnna Schulze0Leonie Cloos1Monika Zdravkovic2Stefanie Lis3Annegret Krause-Utz4Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg UniversityInstitute of Clinical Psychology, Leiden UniversityInstitute of Clinical Psychology, Leiden UniversityDepartment of Clinical Psychology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg UniversityInstitute of Clinical Psychology, Leiden UniversityAbstract Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACE) have consistently been associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Still, it is not yet entirely understood if and how different types of ACE (emotional, physical, sexual abuse, neglect) relate to different BPD subdomains (affective instability, identity disturbance, negative relationships, self-harm). Insecure attachment and lower perceived social support are associated with both ACE and BPD and may therefore contribute to their relationship. No study so far integrated all these variables in one model, while accounting for their mutual influence on each other. We investigated the interplay of BPD subdomains, ACE, attachment, and perceived social support using a graph-theoretical approach. Methods An international sample of 1692 participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Borderline Feature Scale from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI-BOR), the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS), and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) via an online survey. We estimated a partial correlation network including subscales of the CTQ and the PAI-BOR as nodes. We extended the network by including subscales of the AAS and MSPSS as additional nodes. Results Emotional abuse was the most central node in both networks and a bridge between other types of ACE and BPD features. All domains of BPD except affective instability were associated with emotional abuse. Identity disturbances was the most central node in the BPD network. The association between ACE and BPD features was partly but not fully explained by attachment and social support. Conclusion Our findings suggest that emotional abuse is an important link in the association between ACE and BPD features, also when taking attachment and social support into account. Findings further suggest an outstanding role of identity disturbance, linking emotional abuse to affective instability and being strongly associated with attachment anxiety.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-022-00206-9Adverse childhood experiencesBorderline personality disorderAttachmentPerceived social supportNetwork analysis |
| spellingShingle | Anna Schulze Leonie Cloos Monika Zdravkovic Stefanie Lis Annegret Krause-Utz On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation Adverse childhood experiences Borderline personality disorder Attachment Perceived social support Network analysis |
| title | On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support |
| title_full | On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support |
| title_fullStr | On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support |
| title_full_unstemmed | On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support |
| title_short | On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support |
| title_sort | on the interplay of borderline personality features childhood trauma severity attachment types and social support |
| topic | Adverse childhood experiences Borderline personality disorder Attachment Perceived social support Network analysis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-022-00206-9 |
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