Borderline Personality Disorder in Young People: Associations with Support and Negative Interactions in Relationships with Mothers and a Best Friend

Abstract

Background:Impaired interpersonal functioning has been highlighted as a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Adolescence and young adulthood form important developmental stages within both the emergence of BPD and the development of interpersonal functioning, which takes place mostly in relationships with parents and friends. This study aimed to: (i) investigate relations between BPD symptoms and both supportive and negative interactions with mothers and best friends; (ii) investigate whether the relations were moderated by age; (iii) test the robustness of our findings by comparing the results based on self-reports with results from a subsample in which supportive and negative interactions with mothers were rated by the mother.Methods312 young people referred to mental healthcare completed self-report measures on BPD and supportive and negative interactions. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relations between BPD features and perceived supportive and negative interactions with mothers and best friend, and to investigate whether these relations were moderated by age. Robustness of our findings was studied in a subsample (n = 104) by using a multi-informant design in maternal report on supportive and negative interactions with mothers. ResultsMultiple regression analyses demonstrated that negative interactions with mothers as well as with a best friend were related to more BPD symptoms in young people. Supportive interactions were not related to BPD symptoms. Both BPD and quality of relations were not related to age. In a subsample in which supportive and negative interactions with mothers were rated by the mother, the maternal report showed slightly different results. In this model, both supportive and negative interactions with a best friend were positively related, whereas interactions with mothers were not related to BPD symptoms in young people.ConclusionsResults highlight the importance of relationships with mothers and a best friend during adolescence and young adulthood. Given that BPD often emerges during this developmental phase, future research is needed to clarify how quality of relationships could alter pathways toward BPD in young people.

Personality pathology in adolescence: relationship quality with parents and peers as predictors of the level of personality functioning

“…Next, as expected, we found that negative interactions with parents were related to the more severe level of personality functioning, independently from adolescents' age. This is comparable to previous research showing an association between negative experiences in relationships with parents such as parental control or coercive parenting and aspects of personality pathology [14,26,30]. Thus, discordant qualities of relationship with parents stand out as a potentially important factor for the prediction of higher levels of impairment in personality functioning.…”

“…Authors explain that adolescents at risk for a personality disorder might experience the interactions with a best friend at a more extreme level with friendships providing a ground for both supportive and negative interactions. Since personality disorders are marked by serious disturbances in interpersonal functioning, this was considered as a marker of BPD in the studied sample [30]. However, we investigated a community-based sample so we hypothesize that intense involvement in peer relationships might also be the marker of the normative shift from parent to peer influence that is common for this developmental stage [20,58].…”

“…Evidence from different studies suggests that poor social functioning in both parental and peer relationships, peer rejection, or victimization creates a powerful threat to mental health [22][23][24][25]. Poor relationships with parents, including coercive parenting, parent-child discord [26,27], diminished attachment [28], impaired boundaries [29], and negative interactions with peers and mothers [30] are associated with the development of a borderline personality disorder (BPD) in adolescence. Data suggest that being exposed to relational, psychological, or sexual violence is associated with increases in borderline personality disorder symptoms throughout adolescence [31][32][33].…”

“…Data suggest that being exposed to relational, psychological, or sexual violence is associated with increases in borderline personality disorder symptoms throughout adolescence [31][32][33]. Researchers indicate that personality disorders are associated with poorer social and occupational functioning [34,35], and while the symptoms of a personality disorder may wax and wane through adolescence, problems in social functioning are relatively stable and have long-term consequences [30]. Given that personality disorders are interpersonal in origin, it is reasonable to hypothesize that social problems may not only be seen as the consequence of a disorder but also as a risk factor for further impairments in the development of personality.…”