BIS and BAS interact with perceived parental affectionless control to predict personality disorder symptomatology

The objective of this study was to examine if and how two basic dimensions of temperament-behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral approach system (BAS) sensitivity-might interact with exposure to perceived parental affectionless control (AFC) to predict personality disorder (PD) symptomatology. Measures of BIS, BAS, AFC, and PD symptomatology were administered to a large nonclinical sample (n = 318). As predicted, exposure to AFC was positively associated with PD symptoms in general, BIS was positively associated with Cluster A and C symptoms, and BAS was positively associated with Cluster B symptoms. BIS and BAS were also found to interact with each other to predict Cluster B symptomatology. In addition, BIS, BAS, and maternal AFC interacted to predict Cluster A symptomatology. In the latter case, it was found that individuals who reported high BIS, high BAS, and high maternal AFC reported the highest overall level of Cluster A symptoms.