Developmental Trajectories of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms and Psychosocial Functioning in Adolescence

• NCJ Number: 251341
• Journal: Journal of Personality Disorders Volume: 30 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2016 Pages: 351-372
• Author(s): A. G C. Wright; M. Zalewski; M. N. Hallquist; A. E. Hipwell; S. D. Stepp
• Date Published: June 2016
• Length: 22 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2013-JF-FX-0058
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Because major gains toward understanding the emergence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) pathology, which is typically first noted during adolescence, have been made, the current study addresses a gap in our understanding of within-person change in BPD symptoms across adolescence and contributes to the limited literature on outcomes associated with adolescent BPD.

Abstract

Using an at-risk community sample of girls (N=2,450), bivariate latent growth curve models were used to analyze the co-development of BPD symptoms with eight domains of psychosocial functioning (e.g., social skills, sexual behavior) across ages 14-17. Findings revealed moderate to strong effect sizes for the associations between BPD symptoms and every domain of psychosocial functioning, suggesting that the development of BPD was coupled with poorer outcomes across development. These results highlight the increased need for extending advancements in the adult PD literature to research on PDs in adolescence, and for greater recognition of adolescent BPD in clinical settings. (Publisher abstract modified)