Live Poster Session:
Thursday, July 29th 2:45-3:45pm EDT
Zoom link: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/97141221131?pwd=SmlVRm1KWWNpa3VMOW41RkE5aW1Udz09
Abstract: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychological disorder marked by patterns of instability in affect, behavior, interpersonal relationships, and self-concept (Gunderson, 2011). The development of BPD has been linked to temperamental and experiential factors; specifically, personality traits negative affectivity and disinhibition, and childhood physical and sexual abuse (Paris, 1994). BPD often co-occurs with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in ways that are not fully understood. Questions remain as to whether these disorders share common underlying mechanisms, whether one disorder predisposes the other, or whether trauma itself leads to persistent changes in temperament that mimic features of BPD (Gunderson & Sabo, 2003, as cited in Axelrod et al., 2005). In a cross-sectional study using multivariate modeling, Trull (2001) found that temperament partially mediated relations between childhood abuse and BPD symptoms. However, few studies have examined the relations between purported causal factors and the course of BPD symptoms longitudinally. This study serves as a preliminary step to investigating the effects of temperamental and experiential factors on the stability of BPD symptoms over 10 years by examining data over the course of four years. Based on previous research, we hypothesized that temperament would predict BPD symptoms beyond the contributions of childhood abuse. Men and women were examined separately based on the a priori hypothesis that childhood abuse would be more predictive of the variability in BPD symptoms in women than in men. For both men and women, temperamental negative affect was the most significant predictor of BPD symptoms at baseline, two years, and four years. Childhood sexual abuse significantly predicted unique variance in BPD symptoms beyond temperament at baseline, two and four years for women, but not for men, supporting the study hypothesis. Results raise questions about the validity of the BPD diagnosis, and if women in particular may be misdiagnosed with BPD instead of PTSD.