Parental care in childhood and borderline personality disorder

Instability in interpersonal relationships is one of the central features of the borderline personality disorder (BPD). Adverse conditions in the family environment in childhood/adolescence, such as parental rejection and neglect and the various forms of abuse, interfere with the formation and maintenance of secure attachment. These difficulties could be an important precursor in the life trajectories of people with BPD. The aim of the study is to compare a group of patients with BPD (n= 31) and a group of patients with various psychopathological conditions (n= 278) in self-reported experiences in childhood and adolescence (up to 17 years) of negative parental care and physical maltreatment, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and witnessing domestic violence. The results indicate a greater burden of family adversity among patients with BPD, who showed father antipathy and physical and sexual abuse as the self-reported experiences with a greater weight in predicting the disorder. We discuss the results within the framework of Bowlby’s attachment theory (1989).