Borderline symptoms and suicidality/self-injury in late adolescence: prospectively observed relationship correlates in infancy and childhood

Karlen Lyons-Ruth*, Jean-Francois Bureau, Bjarne M Holmes, Ann Easterbrooks, Nancy Hall Brooks

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    106 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The primary objective was to assess whether prospectively observed quality of parent-child interaction in infancy and middle childhood contributed to the prediction of borderline symptoms and recurrent suicidality/self-injury in late adolescence. Adolescents (mean 19.9 years) from 56 families participating in a longitudinal study since infancy (retention rate 74%) were assessed on the SCID-II for symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD), including suicidality/self-injury. Early clinical risk was indexed by clinical referral to parent-infant services. Attachment security and parent-child interaction were assessed from videotape at 18 months and 8 years. Severity of childhood abuse was rated from interview and self-report measures. Maternal withdrawal in infancy was a significant predictor of both borderline symptoms and suicidality/self-injury in late adolescence. Disorganized controlling child behavior at age 8 contributed independently to the prediction of borderline symptoms. The effect of maternal withdrawal was independent of, and additive to, variability explained by severity of childhood abuse. Borderline symptoms and suicidality/self-injury may be preceded developmentally by disturbed interactions as early as 18 months of age. A parent-child transactional model is proposed to account for the findings. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)273-281
    Number of pages9
    JournalPsychiatry Research
    Volume206
    Issue number2-3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 30 Apr 2013

    Keywords

    • Borderline personality disorder
    • Suicide
    • Longitudinal
    • Attachment
    • Maltreatment
    • COMPULSIVE PERSONALITY-DISORDER
    • MATERNAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS
    • NATIONAL COMORBIDITY SURVEY
    • CONFLICT-TACTICS-SCALES
    • DISORGANIZED ATTACHMENT
    • FUNCTIONAL IMPAIRMENT
    • PSYCHOMETRIC DATA
    • MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
    • RISK-FACTORS
    • BEHAVIOR

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