Identity style in patients with borderline personality disorder and normal controls

Identity diffusion is one of the essential diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder. Diffuse-avoidant identity style (as conceptualized by Berzonsky, 1989), diffuse identity status (as conceptualized by Marcia, 1966) and Structural identity diffusion (as conceptualized by Erikson, 1959; Kernberg, 1984, 2006; and Akhtar, 1992), are theoretically and to some extent empirically related. In this study, identity style in a group of female borderline patients (n = 66), measured by using the Identity Style Inventory (ISI) developed by Berzonsky, was compared with identity style in a control group of female psychology students (n = 65). Findings revealed that the mean score for diffuse-avoidant identity style was significantly higher in the borderline group: more than half the borderline patients (59%) were classified as primarily diffuse-avoidant in identity style, compared with only 12% in the control group. Similarly, ISI-scores for the more mature and more adaptive information-oriented identity style and for the normative identity style were significantly higher in the control group compared with the group of borderline patients. Finally, the level of commitment in identity functioning was significantly lower in the borderline group than in the group of psychology students.