The Relation Between Childhood Trauma and Borderline Personality Disorder Profile: The Role of Attachment Styles

Abstract

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a severe mental disorder that specifically affects adolescents, who often experience serious interference with psychological wellbeing and acute life-threatening symptoms. There is robust evidence that childhood trauma and attachment styles are associated with BPD, but knowledge on possible interplay of these factors in their relation to BPD is lacking. This paper aims to identify the role of attachment style in the relation between childhood trauma and scores on the BPD-profile. The sample consisted of 529 Dutch outpatient adolescents aged 12-24, that experienced severe, often comorbid psychopathological problems. Pathological personality trait scores of the PID-5-SF are used in this study for the composition of a BPD-profile. Childhood trauma was measured with the Life Events Questionnaire and attachment with the Relationship Questionnaire. Results suggest that both childhood trauma and insecure attachment are related to higher scores on the BPD-profile. More specifically, preoccupied attachment was found to have largest effects on the BPD-profile. In contrast to expectations, no moderating role of any attachment style was found in the relation between childhood trauma and scores on the BPD-profile. This study is one of the first studies that aimed to bridge the gap between the dimensional and categorical approach to diagnosing BPD, by using BPD-profiles that are believed to fit the developmental phase of adolescents much better than traditional approaches. It thereby adds to existing literature by emphasizing the importance of understanding links between various factors that are believed to be separately associated with, but not specifically causative to, BPD.