Carla Sharp1, Amanda Venta2, Salome Vanwoerden3, Andrew Schramm4, Carolyn Ha3, Elizabeth Newlin4, Radhika Reddy5, Peter Fonagy6. 1. University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA; The Menninger Clinic, Houston, TX, USA. Electronic address: Csharp2@uh.edu. 2. Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA. 3. University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA; The Menninger Clinic, Houston, TX, USA. 4. The Menninger Clinic, Houston, TX, USA. 5. University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA. 6. University College London, London, England, UK.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Several developmental models of borderline personality disorder (BPD) emphasize the role of disrupted interpersonal relationships or insecure attachment. As yet, attachment quality and the mechanisms by which insecure attachment relates to borderline features in adolescents have not been investigated. In this study, we used a multiple mediational approach to examine the cross-sectional interplay between attachment, social cognition (in particular hypermentalizing), emotion dysregulation, and borderline features in adolescence, controlling for internalizing and externalizing symptoms. METHODS: The sample included 259 consecutive admissions to an adolescent inpatient unit (Mage=15.42, SD=1.43; 63.1% female). The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) was used to obtain a dimensional index of overall coherence of the attachment narrative. An experimental task was used to assess hypermentalizing, alongside self-report measures of emotion dyregulation and BPD. RESULTS: Our findings suggested that, in a multiple mediation model, hypermentalizing and emotion dysregulation together mediated the relation between attachment coherence and borderline features, but that this effect was driven by hypermentalizing; that is, emotion dysregulation failed to mediate the link between attachment coherence and borderline features while hypermentalizing demonstrated mediational effects. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides the first empirical evidence of well-established theoretical approaches to the development of BPD.
OBJECTIVE: Several developmental models of borderline personality disorder (BPD) emphasize the role of disrupted interpersonal relationships or insecure attachment. As yet, attachment quality and the mechanisms by which insecure attachment relates to borderline features in adolescents have not been investigated. In this study, we used a multiple mediational approach to examine the cross-sectional interplay between attachment, social cognition (in particular hypermentalizing), emotion dysregulation, and borderline features in adolescence, controlling for internalizing and externalizing symptoms. METHODS: The sample included 259 consecutive admissions to an adolescent inpatient unit (Mage=15.42, SD=1.43; 63.1% female). The Child Attachment Interview (CAI) was used to obtain a dimensional index of overall coherence of the attachment narrative. An experimental task was used to assess hypermentalizing, alongside self-report measures of emotion dyregulation and BPD. RESULTS: Our findings suggested that, in a multiple mediation model, hypermentalizing and emotion dysregulation together mediated the relation between attachment coherence and borderline features, but that this effect was driven by hypermentalizing; that is, emotion dysregulation failed to mediate the link between attachment coherence and borderline features while hypermentalizing demonstrated mediational effects. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides the first empirical evidence of well-established theoretical approaches to the development of BPD.
Authors: Gabriele Skabeikyte-Norkiene; Carla Sharp; Paulina Anna Kulesz; Rasa Barkauskiene Journal: Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul Date: 2022-10-19
Authors: Annemieke L Hendriks; Yvonne Barnes-Holmes; Ciara McEnteggart; Hubert R A De Mey; Gwenny T L Janssen; Jos I M Egger Journal: Front Psychol Date: 2016-02-12