Prospective Associations Among Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms, Interpersonal Problems, and Aggressive Behaviors

Abstract

This study examined the prospective relationships among borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms, interpersonal problems, and types of aggressive behaviors (i.e., experiencing psychological and physical victimization and perpetrating psychological and physical aggression) in a psychiatric sample (N = 139) over the course of 2 years. We controlled for other PD symptoms and demographic variables. BPD symptoms at baseline were associated with interpersonal sensitivity, interpersonal ambivalence, interpersonal aggression, need for social approval, and lack of sociability 6 months later. In turn, interpersonal sensitivity predicted not experiencing physical aggression, interpersonal aggression predicted experiencing physical aggression and perpetrating both psychological and physical aggression, need for social approval predicted experiencing both psychological and physical aggression, and lack of sociability predicted perpetrating physical aggression 2 years later. Results demonstrated that interpersonal problems mediated the relationship between BPD and later violent behaviors. Our findings suggest the importance of distinguishing between these groups of aggressive behaviors in terms of etiological pathways, maintenance processes, and treatment interventions.

Impact of Interpersonal Problems in Borderline Personality Disorder Inpatients on Treatment Outcome and Psychopathology

“…Long-term symptomatic ameliorations are related with interpersonal variables (quality of the relationship with partner or parents) [51]. Stepp et al [52] found that interpersonal problems mediated the relationship between BPD and later violent behaviors. The interpersonal difficulties of BPD patients are of vital relevance in general psychiatric hospitals; hospitalized BPD patients feel hostilely repulsed by staff members and affronted by other patients [53].…”

Romantic Relationships of People with Borderline Personality: A Narrative Review

“…Within their romantic relationships, various cross-sectional studies have reported that the partners of people with borderline personality disorder or traits are more likely to be subjected to physical and verbal hostility than the partners of people with other personality disorders [15,74,75] . Also, a 4-month follow-up study found that 37% of the partners of people with borderline personality were victims of their partner's physical or psychological violence [67] .…”

“…Hostility by the Partners of People with Borderline Personality Within their romantic relationships, several studies reported that the perception of domestic abuse by BPD women was higher than that observed among women without BPD [7,15] . Because of this, people with BPD or BPD traits are at great risk of revictimisation; that is, reliving childhood trauma through their adult romantic relationships [15,74,77] .…”

“…systemic approach, which includes other members engaged in close relationships with people with BPD, is taking shape [15] .…”

“…With regard to this issue, several longitudinal studies have shown that people with BPD display greater interpersonal dysfunction (e.g., conflicts with peers) than people without BPD [9,16] . In addition, there are also studies suggesting that factors such as fear of abandonment, emotional dysregulation, impulsivity and hostility predict interpersonal dysfunction in people with BPD [10,14,15,17] . Several psychological theories have been used in attempts to explain interpersonal dysfunction among BPD patients.…”