“Holding in Anger” as a Mediator in the Relationship between Attachment Orientations and Borderline Personality Features (original) (raw)
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Anger, Preoccupied Attachment, and Domain Disorganization in Borderline Personality Disorder
Journal of Personality Disorders, 2009
Emotional dysregulation and attachment insecurity have been reported in borderline personality disorder (BPD). Domain disorganization, evidenced in poor regulation of emotions and behaviors in relation to the demands of different social domains, may be a distinguishing feature of BPD. Understanding the interplay between these factors may be critical for identifying interacting processes in BPD and potential subtypes of BPD. Therefore, we examined the joint and interactive effects of anger, preoccupied attachment, and domain disorganization on BPD traits in clinical sample of 128 psychiatric patients. The results suggest that these factors contribute to BPD both independently and in interaction, even when controlling for other personality disorder traits and Axis I symptoms. In regression analyses, the interaction between anger and domain disorganization predicted BPD traits. In recursive partitioning analyses, two possible paths to BPD were identified: high anger combined with high domain disorganization and low anger combined with preoccupied attachment. These results may suggest possible subtypes of BPD or possible mechanisms by which BPD traits are established and maintained.
journal of Adolescent and Youth Psychological Studies
ARTICLE INFORMATION Background and Aim: Borderline personality disorder is a complex and serious mental disorder that is characterized by a pervasive pattern of problems in regulating emotions and controlling impulses, and instability in interpersonal relationships and self-concept. The aim of the present study was to model borderline personality symptoms based on attachment: the mediating role of self-differentiation and mentalization. Methods: The current research is descriptive and correlational (using structural equation modeling). The statistical population studied in this research included all the female and male students of the undergraduate and postgraduate courses of Tehran Azad University who were studying in the academic year 2019-20. The sample of the present study included 370 people who were selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected using the Borderline Personality Questionnaire (Lishnernig, 1999), the Revised Close Relationships-Relationship Structure Questionnaire (Fraley, Valero Brennan, 2000), the Self-Differentiation Questionnaire of Skowron and Friedlander (1998) and the Reflective Action Scale of Fonagy et al. 2015) was obtained. In the present study, the mean, standard deviation, correlation and normality of the distribution of research variables were investigated using descriptive statistics. Also, in order to analyze the data and answer the research questions, the structural equation modeling method is used, which after confirmatory factor analysis-in the measurement model part, in the structural equation model part, the existing causal relationships between the variables are examined. In the part of the structural function model, the intensity of the causal relationships (direct, indirect and total) between the underlying variables and the amount of variance explained in the whole model is specified. SPSS and Amos version 21 software were used for this purpose. Results: The results showed that attachment (β=0.41), self-differentiation (β=0.24), and mentalization (β=0.28) have a direct effect on borderline personality symptoms (P<0.001). Self-differentiation and mentalization had a mediating role in the relationship between borderline personality symptoms and attachment. Conclusion: As a result, it can be concluded that the modeling of borderline personality symptoms based on attachment with the mediating role of self-differentiation, and mentalization has a favorable fit.
Personality disorders, 2014
While studies have documented significant associations between insecure attachment, emotion dysregulation, and borderline personality disorder (BPD) features, no research to date has empirically delineated the specific mechanisms by which these constructs are related. The present study brings together 2 lines of research that have hitherto separately examined attachment disturbance and emotion dysregulation as they respectively manifest in the pathogenesis of BPD, and explores the complex relations between the 2 well-established correlates of borderline traits in a clinical sample of adolescents (N = 228). We examined the adolescents' use of positive and negative emotion regulation strategies, along with their maternal and paternal attachment security. Results indicated that positive and negative emotion regulation strategies were differentially implicated in the link between attachment insecurity and BPD features. Attachment security functioned as a buffer against adolescent BP...
Journal of Personality Disorders, 2013
Emotional dysregulation and impaired attachment are seen by many clinical researchers as central aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Alternatively, these constructs may represent general impairments in personality that are nonspecific to BPD. Using multitraitmultimethod models, the authors examined the strength of associations among preoccupied attachment, difficulties with emotion regulation, BPD features, and features of two other personality disorders (i.e., antisocial and avoidant) in a combined psychiatric outpatient and community sample of adults. Results suggested that preoccupied attachment and difficulties with emotion regulation shared strong positive associations with each other and with each of the selected personality disorders. However, preoccupied attachment and emotional dysregulation were more strongly related to BPD features than to features of other personality disorders. Findings suggest that although impairments in relational and emotional domains may underlie personality pathology in general, preoccupied attachment and emotional dysregulation also have specificity for understanding core difficulties in those with BPD.
Comprehensive Psychiatry, 2015
Objective: Several developmental models of borderline personality disorder (BPD) emphasize the role of disrupted interpersonal relationships or insecure attachment. As yet, attachment quality and the mechanisms by which insecure attachment relates to borderline features in adolescents have not been investigated. In this study, we used a multiple mediational approach to examine the cross-sectional interplay between attachment, social cognition (in particular hypermentalizing), emotion dysregulation, and borderline features in adolescence, controlling for internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Methods: The sample included 259 consecutive admissions to an adolescent inpatient unit (M age = 15.42, SD = 1.43; 63.1% female). The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) was used to obtain a dimensional index of overall coherence of the attachment narrative. An experimental task was used to assess hypermentalizing, alongside self-report measures of emotion dyregulation and BPD. Results: Our findings suggested that, in a multiple mediation model, hypermentalizing and emotion dysregulation together mediated the relation between attachment coherence and borderline features, but that this effect was driven by hypermentalizing; that is, emotion dysregulation failed to mediate the link between attachment coherence and borderline features while hypermentalizing demonstrated mediational effects.
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2018
Attachment insecurity has been associated with dysfunctional strategies for emotion regulation, leading to inflexible or maladaptive responding. Currently, application of the attachment framework to anger is underspecified. This study presents a preliminary investigation of attachment-related differences in the dispositional regulation of anger and aggressive outcomes. Two hundred seventy participants completed measures of adult attachment (attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance), anger regulation processes (anger suppression, unregulated anger, and anger control), and aggressive outcomes (physical aggression, verbal aggression, and hostility). While those high in attachment anxiety have been found to under-regulate other negative emotions, our results postulate that these individuals may implement a suppression strategy when faced with the experience of anger. Mediation models indicate that anger suppression is implicated in the relationship between attachment dimensions and h...