Early family environments and vulnerability factors associated with borderline personality disorder

Childhood trauma experiences (sexual abuse, physical abuse, witnessed violence, and early separation experiences) and family environment characteristics were assessed via questionnaire from a sample of depressed borderline (N=17) and depressed nonborderline (N=19) female inpatients. Significantly more borderline individuals than nonborderlines gave histories of sexual abuse (76%) and physical abuse (93%) and these traumatic experiences were more severe in nature as demonstrated by significantly greater composite scores. While the presence of witnessed violence did not differentiate the two groups, borderline individuals witnessed violence more frequently than nonborderline individuals if there was violence in the home. Early separation experiences were relatively common in both groups suggesting that these experiences may be associated with both BPD and depression. The BPD group was also distinctive on family environment measures, evidencing significantly less family cohesiveness and expressiveness and significantly more conflict and control.

The two groups were similar on indices of current stressors, typically associated with onset of depression, providing more support for the role of childhood trauma in the etiology of BPD.