(PS10-C63) Investigating the Association Between Family Environment Risk Factors and Borderline Personality Disorder

For decades researchers have speculated that certain parental conditions are risk factors for borderline personality disorder (BPD; Chapman, 2019; Crowell et al., 2009). For example, previous research has indicated that parental abuse (Infurna et al., 2016), parental divorce (Plakun, 1991), and parental invalidation (Fruzzetti et al., 2005) are associated with BPD symptoms. Using a large treatment-seeking sample (N = 1145; Female N = 635; Caucasian N = 587; African American N = 370), we used multinomial logistic regression to test whether there was a relationship between BPD diagnosis (versus other personality disorder (OPD) or non-psychiatric control (NPC)) and markers of parental conflict (e.g., parental violence directed at the participant, witnessing intimate partner violence, being raised by someone other than one’s biological parent, and parental separation). We found that reports of witnessing higher levels of intimate partner violence was associated with an increased likelihood of being in the BPD group comparatively to OPD (OR = 0.65, p <  .001) or NPC (OR = 0.36, p < .001). Similarly, parental separation was associated with an increased likelihood of being in the BPD group comparatively to the OPD (OR = 0.68, p = .03) or the NPC group (OR = 0.47, p < .001).  Interestingly, parental separation moderated the relationship between BPD diagnosis and reports of witnessing intimate partner violence; however, the interaction was associated with a decreased likelihood of being in the BPD group comparatively to the NPC (OR = 1.70, p =.02) and OPD groups (OR = 1.37, p = .03).  These findings corroborate earlier research that has posited that certain family environments may be risk factors for BPD. Perhaps our most surprising finding was that parental separation moderated the relationship between BPD diagnosis and violence between parents in the opposite direction of what we expected. In other words, it appears that those with BPD are more likely to report that they had parents who are physically violent towards each other but stay together. These findings also suggest that those who develop BPD report that they observe incongruent behavior from their parents, such as staying in a relationship that perpetuates physical harm. However, these findings should be interpreted cautiously as these data are cross-sectional and retrospective reports, and as such, we are unable to make any causal inferences.