Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences

ABSTRACTYoung adults who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are at increased risk for developing symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet many young adults with ACE exposures do not develop BPD symptoms. As emotion regulation strategies are implicated in BPD symptoms,...

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Main Authors: Sarah Woolgar, David Kealy, Dan Cox, Shelly Ben-David
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Cogent Mental Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/28324765.2024.2313363
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author Sarah Woolgar
David Kealy
Dan Cox
Shelly Ben-David
author_facet Sarah Woolgar
David Kealy
Dan Cox
Shelly Ben-David
author_sort Sarah Woolgar
collection DOAJ
description ABSTRACTYoung adults who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are at increased risk for developing symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet many young adults with ACE exposures do not develop BPD symptoms. As emotion regulation strategies are implicated in BPD symptoms, this study aims to understand the moderating effects of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, regarding the association between ACEs and BPD. Linear regression analyses examined both self-reported cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as moderators in the relationship between ACEs and BPD symptoms in a community-based sample of young adults aged 18–25 years old (n = 172). Childhood adversity was examined at different levels of exposure, in terms of no exposure, exposure to a single ACE, and exposure to multiple ACEs. There was no significant moderation by expressive suppression; however, a significant moderation effect was observed between multiple exposures and cognitive reappraisal. The relationship between multiple exposures to ACEs and BPD symptoms was significant at low levels of reappraisal, with the severity of BPD symptoms significantly decreasing at average and higher levels of reappraisal. These results indicate that cognitive reappraisal may act as a protective strategy against experiencing BPD symptoms despite multiple ACE exposures.
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spelling doaj.art-f4f332c35995447cb446a8efb998f2762024-02-09T12:55:12ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Mental Health2832-47652024-12-013112110.1080/28324765.2024.2313363Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiencesSarah Woolgar0David Kealy1Dan Cox2Shelly Ben-David3Counselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaPsychotherapy Program, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaCounselling Psychology, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, CanadaSchool of Social Work, Faculty of Health and Social Development, University of British Columbia-Okanagan, Kelowna, CanadaABSTRACTYoung adults who have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are at increased risk for developing symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet many young adults with ACE exposures do not develop BPD symptoms. As emotion regulation strategies are implicated in BPD symptoms, this study aims to understand the moderating effects of two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, regarding the association between ACEs and BPD. Linear regression analyses examined both self-reported cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression as moderators in the relationship between ACEs and BPD symptoms in a community-based sample of young adults aged 18–25 years old (n = 172). Childhood adversity was examined at different levels of exposure, in terms of no exposure, exposure to a single ACE, and exposure to multiple ACEs. There was no significant moderation by expressive suppression; however, a significant moderation effect was observed between multiple exposures and cognitive reappraisal. The relationship between multiple exposures to ACEs and BPD symptoms was significant at low levels of reappraisal, with the severity of BPD symptoms significantly decreasing at average and higher levels of reappraisal. These results indicate that cognitive reappraisal may act as a protective strategy against experiencing BPD symptoms despite multiple ACE exposures.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/28324765.2024.2313363Borderline personality disorderadverse childhood experiencesemotion regulationchildhood traumayoung adults
spellingShingle Sarah Woolgar
David Kealy
Dan Cox
Shelly Ben-David
Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences
Cogent Mental Health
Borderline personality disorder
adverse childhood experiences
emotion regulation
childhood trauma
young adults
title Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences
title_full Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences
title_fullStr Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences
title_full_unstemmed Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences
title_short Moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences
title_sort moderating effects of emotion regulation strategies on borderline personality symptoms in young adults with adverse childhood experiences
topic Borderline personality disorder
adverse childhood experiences
emotion regulation
childhood trauma
young adults
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/28324765.2024.2313363
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