The Relationship Between Maternal Personality Pathology and Parent Emotion Socialization: The Moderating Effect of...

While abundant research has examined parent emotion socialization (PES) in mothers, only two studies have examined PES in mothers with borderline personality disorder (BPD), and none has looked at its relationship with level of personality functioning-defined personality disorder (PD). Further, no study has assessed the moderating effect of reflective functioning (RF) in this context, which may help elucidate the mentalizing conditions under which mothers with PD engage in certain types of PES. The present study aims to examine the relationship between maternal level of personality functioning (LPF) and PES, group differences between mothers with PD and mothers without PD on PES, and the moderating effect of RF on the relationship between LPF and PES. The study sample was comprised of 149 mothers (M_age = 34.88). Of those mothers, 42 met clinical criteria for PD. Study measures included the Level of Personality Functioning Scale Brief Form 2.0, the Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale, and the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire-8 item form. Maternal LPF was negatively correlated with supportive PES and positively correlated with nonsupportive PES. Mothers with PD and mothers without PD demonstrated significant differences on supportive and nonsupportive PES. Finally, RF had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between maternal LPF and nonsupportive PES. Taken together, findings suggest similar challenges for mothers with LPF-defined PD to those previously found for mothers with BPD. Results further indicate that increasing supportive PES, decreasing nonsupportive PES, and improving RF capacity could be helpful treatment targets for mothers with PD.