Sexual Attitudes and Activities in Women with Borderline Personality Disorder Involved in Romantic Relationships

Abstract

Women with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are prone to have sexual relationship difficulties and dysfunctional attitudes toward sexuality. A sample of 34 heterosexual couples composed of women meeting BPD criteria was compared to a sample of dating or married women from the general population. A short form of the Sexual Activities and Attitudes Questionnaire (SAAQ) was used to measure six types of sexual attitudes. Women diagnosed with BPD did not differ from controls on the frequency of three types of sexual activities in the last year but their subjective sexual experiences differed: they showed stronger negative attitudes, felt sexually pressured by their partners, and expressed ambivalence toward sexuality. Regression analyses suggest that anxious attachment mediates the association between BPD and feeling pressured to engage in sex.

Impairments of Interpersonal Functioning: Empathy and Intimacy in Borderline Personality Disorder

“…When compared to patients with avoidant personality disorder (n = 27) and individuals with no personality disorder (n = 64), patients with BPD (n = 46) displayed elevated scores for romantic dysfunction [95]. In a study which was based on self-report measures of couple functioning including questionnaires for both partners every 6 months, the majority (68.7%) of 35 heterosexual couples with a woman suffering from BPD reported frequent episodes of breakups and reconciliations [106]. Over an 18-month period, 28.6% of these couples dissolved their relationship.…”

Sexual Dynamics of Married Women with Interpersonal Dependency: A Qualitative Study on Iranian Women

“…In particular, given the possible associations between anxious attachment style and sexual dynamics of dependent women, it is necessary to conduct further research to examine whether the results can only be attributed to interpersonal dependency, or whether they are common in other personality styles associated with insecure attachment such as borderline personality [42] .…”

Factors Associated with African American Women’s Sexual Health and Risk Behavior: A Mixed Methods Study

“…Predictive and discriminant validity were confirmed while assessing sexual attitudes and activities using responses on the SAAQ for 77 sexually abused women and a comparison group of 89 women (Bouchard, Godbout, & Sabourin, 2009;Noll et al, 2003). Results revealed childhood sexual abuse and anxiety as significant predictors of sexual preoccupation ( .…”

“…For both of these reasons, cohabitation/marital status and age were statistically controlled by using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) in conducted analyses . After controlling for these variables, the SAAQ was found to be a consistent and valid instrument to assess sexual activities and attitudes in participants of varying ages (Bouchard et al, 2009;Noll et al, 2003).…”

“…In the current study the risky sexual behavior subscale demonstrated good internal consistency as a reliable measure of sexual risk behavior with Cronbach's alpha of .79. Study participants had a mean sexual risk behavior score of 10.12 (SD = ± 5.2), indicating participation in relatively lower risk behavior (Bouchard et al, 2009). (72) 10 (20) 1 (2) 3 (6) 16 ( 0 (0) Note.…”