Emotional awareness moderates the relationship between childhood abuse and borderline personality disorder symptom dimensions

Objective: To examine pathways to borderline personality disorder (BPD), focusing on childhood abuse and emotional attention and clarity. Method: Among 293 community residents (mean age = 43.1; 53.9% female), measured associations between the BPD symptom dimensions of disturbed relatedness, affective dysregulation, and behavioral dysregulation and (a) childhood abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual); (b) emotional attention and clarity; and (c) negative affect, using structured interviews, the Schedule for Non-Adaptive and Adaptive Personality-2, the Trait Meta Mood Scale, and the Positive and Negative Affect Scale, respectively. Results: All forms of childhood abuse were associated with BPD symptom dimensions. Emotional attention and clarity moderated the effects of childhood physical and emotional abuse on behavioral dysregulation and disturbed relatedness. All results held when controlling for negative affect. Conclusion: The relations between childhood abuse and BPD are robust. Emotional attention and clarity may help elucidate the links between childhood abuse and BPD.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2016

Author dc:creator

• Westbrook, John Lee

Contributors dc:contributor

• Berenbaum, Howard
• Cohen, Joseph R.

• Emotional awareness
• Borderline personality disorder
• Childhood abuse

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2016 John Westbrook

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90575

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/90575