Affective and Sensation-Seeking Pathways Linking Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms and Alcohol-Related...

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and alcohol use disorder often cooccur, yet we know little about risk processes underlying this association. We tested two mechanistic pathways linking BPD symptoms and alcohol-related problems. In the "affective pathway," we hypothesized that BPD symptoms would be associated with alcohol-related problems through affective instability and drinking to cope. In the "sensation-seeking pathway," we proposed that BPD symptoms would be related to alcohol-related problems through sensation seeking and drinking to enhance positive experiences. We tested a multiple mediation model using age-18 cross-sectional data from the Pittsburgh Girls Study. Results supported both pathways: BPD symptoms had an indirect effect on alcohol-related problems by (1) affective instability and coping motives (β = .03, p < .05), and (2) sensation-seeking and enhancement motives (β = .02, p < .05). These results highlight coping and enhancement drinking motives as possible mechanisms that explain co-occurrence of BPD symptoms and alcohol-related problems in young females.