Overlapping genetic influences between creativity and borderline personality symptoms in a large Dutch sample

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Behavioral Genetics
• Psychology

Background:

• Creativity and mental disorders, particularly borderline personality disorder (BPD), are anecdotally linked.
• The precise nature and extent of this relationship, especially underlying genetic influences, remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms and engagement in creative professions.
• To determine the extent to which shared genetic and environmental factors underlie the observed association between BPD and creativity.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the Netherlands Twin Register, including 6745 twins (2378 complete pairs).
• Assessed BPD symptoms using the PAI-BOR questionnaire and creativity via a proxy measure of working in a creative profession.
• Employed a bivariate classical twin design to model genetic and environmental correlations.

Main Results:

• A positive association was confirmed between higher BPD scores and having a creative profession (Cohen's d = 0.16).
• Both BPD (heritability = 0.45) and creativity (heritability = 0.67) were significantly influenced by genetic factors.
• A significant genetic correlation (rG = 0.17) was found between BPD symptom scores and creativity, while environmental influences were not correlated.

Conclusions:

• Evidence supports a common genetic mechanism underlying borderline personality disorder symptoms and creativity.
• These findings suggest that genetic factors contribute to the co-occurrence of BPD traits and creative engagement.
• Further research into these shared genetic pathways may elucidate the complex interplay between personality and creative cognition.