Methodological challenges in identifying parenting behaviors as potential targets for intervention: commentary on Stepp et al. (2011).

Comments on an article Children of mothers with borderline personality disorder: Identifying parenting behaviors as potential targets for intervention by Stepp, Whalen, Pilkonis, Hipwell, and Levine (see record 2011-05873-001). The authors have offered us an extremely timely paper, given the surge of interest in borderline psychopathology in general, and its parenting correlates in particular. This is an ambitious overview that assesses the current state of knowledge concerning the parenting of mothers with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The authors also grapple with what we can make of this literature in setting directions for prevention/intervention strategies for children of parents with BPD. This was a comprehensive and thoughtful review. This commentary elaborate on three issues brought to the fore by the current paper.