Relationships of Borderline Features to Parental Mental Illness, Childhood Abuse, Axis I Disorder, and Current Functioning

Although a number of studies have investigated single, putative etiological factors for borderline personality disorder (BPD), few studies have assessed the relations between multiple etiological factors and borderline features within the same study. Borderline features, parental psychopathology, childhood physical and sexual abuse, lifetime Axis I disorder, and current functioning were assessed in 65 nonclinical participants, a portion of which exhibited significant BPD features. Multivariate models were tested and results indicated that parental mental illness and lifetime Axis I disorder were significant and unique predictors of borderline scores. Borderline features accounted for significant variance in current functioning beyond what was accounted for by other predictors; borderline scores mediated the relations between lifetime Axis I disorder and current functioning.