Borderline personality disorder symptoms and aggression: A within-person process model

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Aggression in borderline personality disorder (BPD) is linked to emotional reactivity, particularly anger and shame, often triggered by perceived rejection.
• Existing research suggests a process model where perceived rejection influences aggression via negative affect, potentially moderated by BPD symptoms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine a within-person process model of aggression in emerging adult women with BPD.
• To investigate whether BPD symptoms exacerbate the relationship between perceived rejection, negative affect, and aggression.
• To differentiate the role of anger and shame in BPD-related aggression.

Main Methods:

• Utilized intensive repeated measures over 3 weeks using ecological momentary assessment.
• Recruited 117 emerging adult women (ages 18-24) with histories of aggressive behavior.
• Employed multilevel path models to analyze within-person processes and moderated mediation.

Main Results:

• Increased perceived rejection predicted increased negative affect, especially in women with higher BPD symptoms.
• Negative affect, particularly anger, mediated the link between perceived rejection and aggressive urges/behaviors.
• BPD symptoms amplified anger reactivity to rejection, a pathway distinct from antisocial personality disorder symptoms.

Conclusions:

• Anger reactivity to perceived rejection is a key pathway through which BPD symptoms increase aggression risk.
• This anger pathway is distinct from mechanisms associated with antisocial personality disorder.
• Interventions targeting anger management in response to rejection may be crucial for reducing aggression in BPD.