The relationships among childhood abuse, borderline personality, and self-harm behavior in psychiatric inpatients.

The current study was undertaken to explore the relationships among childhood abuse subtypes (sexual, physical, and emotional abuse; witnessing violence), three diagnostic screenings for borderline personality disorder (BPD), and self-harm behavior. Psychiatric inpatients (N = 77) were evaluated for childhood abuse histories through a survey. Participants also underwent assessment for BPD using a self-report measure, clinical diagnosis, and a DSM-IV checklist. Finally, each was assessed for self-harm behavior using the 22-item Self-Harm Inventory (SHI). Compared with non-abused participants, those with abuse histories (with the exception of witnessing violence) had a significantly greater number of BPD confirmations (i.e., self-report, clinical diagnosis, DSM-IV checklist) as well as self-harm behaviors. When examining the total number of endorsed abuse subtypes, there was a significant correlation with the number of self-harm behaviors, but not the number of BPD diagnoses. Among psychiatric inpatients, childhood abuse demonstrates a complex relationship to BPD diagnoses and self-harm behavior.