Childhood maltreatment and its link to borderline personality disorder features in children: A systematic review approach (original) (raw)
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Importance of Childhood Maltreatment on Borderline Personality in Adults: Meta-analysis
2021
Early childhood maltreatment (CM) is a risk factor for later psychopathology specifically Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). CM has been found to negatively affect social, emotional, and psychological development as well as the ability to foster and sustain interpersonal relationships throughout all stages of life. There are evidence-based interventions for different kinds of CM including Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT), Alternatives for Families - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT), relaxation training, and social skills training. The current study is a meta-analysis of published research into CM as it contributes to BPD in adults and is designed to examine the effect size of childhood maltreatment as it contributes to adults diagnosed with BPD. Glaser’s theory of emotional abuse and neglect and Linehan’s theory of etiology of impulsivity form the theoretical framework for understanding the definition and recognition of emotional abuse and neglect, and the...
Journal of Personality Disorders, 2012
Evidence points to an independent relationship among childhood maltreatment, impairments in executive functions (EF) and disruptive behavior disorders (DBD). However, it is still not fully understood how these three factors are interrelated. This study evaluated the association between childhood maltreatment and DBD testing the role of EF performance as a mediator or moderator. We studied a probabilistic school-based sample of 2016 children from 6 to 12 years. Mental disorders were assessed using the Development and Well-Being Assessment with parents and children. Children answered questions about exposure to child maltreatment and were evaluated with a set of cognitive tasks addressing inhibitory control, working memory, cognitive flexibility and planning. Childhood maltreatment was strongly associated with DBD (OR = 7.7, CI 95% 4.5-12.9). No association was found between childhood maltreatment and EF performance. Children with DBD showed worse performance in cognitive flexibility, which was not identified as a mediator or moderator of the association between childhood maltreatment and DBD. Results indicate that the association between maltreatment and disruptive behavior occurs regardless of performance in executive function in a community sample. Future studies are essential to confirm these findings and elucidate the cognitive mechanisms involved in this association.
American Journal of …, 1997
Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess a full range of pathological childhood experiences reported by patients with criteria-defined borderline personality disorder and comparison patients with other personality disorders. Method: The pathological childhood experiences reported by 467 inpatients with personality disorders were assessed by interviewers who used a semistructured research interview and were blind to clinical diagnosis. Results: Of the 358 patients with borderline personality disorder, 91% reported having been abused, and 92% reported having been neglected, before the age of 18. The borderline patients were significantly more likely than the 109 patients with other personality disorders to report having been emotionally and physically abused by a caretaker and sexually abused by a noncaretaker. They were also significantly more likely to report having a caretaker withdraw from them emotionally, treat them inconsistently, deny their thoughts and feelings, place them in the role of a parent, and fail to provide them with needed protection. The borderline patients with a childhood history of sexual abuse were significantly more likely than those without such a history to report having experienced all but one of the types of abuse and neglect studied. When all significant risk factors were considered together, four were found to be significant predictors of a borderline diagnosis: female gender, sexual abuse by a male noncaretaker, emotional denial by a male caretaker, and inconsistent treatment by a female caretaker. Conclusions: The results suggest that sexual abuse is neither necessary nor sufficient for the development of borderline personality disorder and that other childhood experiences, particularly neglect by caretakers of both genders, represent significant risk factors.
Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry = Journal de l'Academie canadienne de psychiatrie de l'enfant et de l'adolescent
The present study utilized a prospective, longitudinal design to examine the role of temperament and maltreatment in predicting the emergence of borderline (BPD) and antisocial (ASPD) personality disorder symptoms during adolescence. Two hundred and forty-five children aged between 11 and 13 years were recruited from primary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Participants completed temperament, maltreatment, BPD and ASPD symptom measures, and approximately two years later, 206 participants were again assessed for BPD and ASPD symptoms. The findings indicate that childhood neglect is a significant predictor of an increase in BPD symptoms, while childhood abuse is a significant predictor of an increase in ASPD symptoms. Moreover, abuse and neglect acted as moderators of the relationship between temperament dimensions and increase in BPD and ASPD symptoms, respectively. Abuse was associated with an increase in BPD symptoms for children with low Affiliation, while neglect was associated w...
Development & Psychopathology, 2012
It has been reported that borderline personality related characteristics can be observed in children, and that these characteristics are associated with increased risk for the development of borderline personality disorder. It is not clear whether borderline personality related characteristics in children share etiological features with adult borderline personality disorder. We investigated the etiology of borderline personality related characteristics in a longitudinal cohort study of 1,116 pairs of same-sex twins followed from birth through age 12 years. Borderline personality related characteristics measured at age 12 years were highly heritable, were more common in children who had exhibited poor cognitive function, impulsivity, and more behavioral and emotional problems at age 5 years, and co-occurred with symptoms of conduct disorder, depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Exposure to harsh treatment in the family environment through age 10 years predicted borderline personality related characteristics at age 12 years. This association showed evidence of environmental mediation and was stronger among children with a family history of psychiatric illness, consistent with diathesis-stress models of borderline etiology. Results indicate that borderline personality related characteristics in children share etiological features with borderline personality disorder in adults and suggest that inherited and environmental risk factors make independent and interactive contributions to borderline etiology.
Development and Psychopathology, 2021
Adverse childhood experiences are significant risk factors in the development of adolescent borderline personality disorder symptoms (BPDs). Theorists have posited that two personality vulnerabilities factors, self-criticism and dependency, may inform our understanding of this relationship. However, no research has examined the associations between early negative experiences, personality vulnerabilities, and adolescent BPDs. The current study aimed to identify profiles of dependency and self-criticism to examine the associations of these profiles with cumulative forms of childhood maltreatment (CM) and BPDs as well as to explore the mediating and moderating role of vulnerable personality profiles in the relationship between cumulative CM and BPDs. Two hundred and forty-one nonclinical and clinical adolescents participated in the study (Mage = 16.37, SD = 1.84). The findings indicated three different profiles: average dependent profile, dependent and self-critical profile, and self-c...
Etiological features of borderline personality related characteristics
Development and Psychopathology, 2012
It has been reported that borderline personality related characteristics can be observed in children, and that these characteristics are associated with increased risk for the development of borderline personality disorder. It is not clear whether borderline personality related characteristics in children share etiological features with adult borderline personality disorder. We investigated the etiology of borderline personality related characteristics in a longitudinal cohort study of 1,116 pairs of same-sex twins followed from birth through age 12 years. Borderline personality related characteristics measured at age 12 years were highly heritable, were more common in children who had exhibited poor cognitive function, impulsivity, and more behavioral and emotional problems at age 5 years, and co-occurred with symptoms of conduct disorder, depression, anxiety, and psychosis. Exposure to harsh treatment in the family environment through age 10 years predicted borderline personality related characteristics at age 12 years. This association showed evidence of environmental mediation and was stronger among children with a family history of psychiatric illness, consistent with diathesis-stress models of borderline etiology. Results indicate that borderline personality related characteristics in children share etiological features with borderline personality disorder in adults and suggest that inherited and environmental risk factors make independent and interactive contributions to borderline etiology.
Development and Psychopathology, 2019
One generation's experience of childhood maltreatment is associated with that of the next. However, whether this intergenerational transmission is specific to distinct forms of maltreatment and what factors may contribute to its continuity remains unclear. Borderline personality pathology is predicted by childhood maltreatment and characterized by features (e.g., dysregulated emotion, relationship instability, impulsivity, inconsistent appraisals of others) that may contribute to its propagation. Among 364 older adults and 573 of their adult children (total n=937), selfreported exposure to distinct forms of childhood maltreatment (i.e., emotional, physical and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect as assessed by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) showed homotypic and heterotypic associations across generations with little evidence that latent factors unique to specific forms of maltreatment show generational continuity. General nonspecific indices of childhood maltreatment showed evidence of intergenerational transmission after accounting for demographic factors and parent socioeconomic status (b = 0.126, p = 9.21x10-4). This continuity was partially mediated by parental borderline personality pathology (assessed longitudinally through a variety of measures and sources, indirect effect: b = 0.031 [95% CI 0.003, 0.060]. The intergenerational continuity of childhood maltreatment may largely represent general risk for non-specific maltreatment that may, in part, be propagated by borderline personality pathology and/or shared risk factors.
Child maltreatment, attention networks, and potential precursors to borderline personality disorder
Development and Psychopathology, 2005
Potential precursors to borderline personality disorder (BPD) were investigated in a sample of 185 maltreated and 175 nonmaltreated school-aged children attending a summer camp research program. Self-report, peer-report, and counselor-report measures were utilized to assess developmental constructs conceptualized to constitute vulnerability for later emerging BPD. These areas, including personality features, representational models of self, parent, and peers, interpersonal relationship difficulties with peers and adults, and suicidal/self-harm behavior, were used to develop a BPD precursors composite. Additionally, the efficiency of three attention networks was assessed with a computerized task. Maltreated children had higher mean scores on the BPD precursors composite, and children classified as having high levels of these precursors were more prevalent in the maltreatment group. No maltreatment group differences were found for the efficiency of the three attention networks; however, children with high levels of BPD precursors evinced less efficient processing of the conflict attention network, comparable to findings observed among adult patients with BPD. Child maltreatment and efficiency of the conflict attention network independently predicted scores on the BPD precursors composite. Experiential and biological contributions to risk for BPD and recommendations for prevention and intervention are discussed.