The association between locus of control, emotion regulation and borderline personality disorder features

Locus of control (LOC) represents individuals' beliefs about how much control they have over outcomes in their life. Previous research has found an association between external LOC and psychopathology. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by mood instability, identity disturbance and difficulties in impulse control.

The aims of this study are to evaluate the relationship between BPD features and LOC in a non-clinical sample and to assess whether external LOC is associated with BPD features after controlling for symptoms of depression and anxiety.

In a cross-sectional study of 328 university students, we assessed LOC, BPD features, depression and anxiety, as well as difficulties in emotion regulation and cognitive emotion regulation as potential mediators.

We found an association between external LOC and BPD features after controlling for symptoms of depression, anxiety and demographic covariates. Assessing for indirect effects through potential mediators, we found that difficulties in emotion regulation, but not cognitive emotion regulation, partially mediated the relationship between external LOC and BPD features.

Findings provide support for a unique association between external LOC and BPD features and suggest a role for external LOC in related emotion regulation problems. Future investigations using experimental designs should examine potential causal associations and the effect of changing LOC on emotion regulation and features of BPD. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.