Association between childhood invalidation and borderline personality symptoms: self-construal and conformity as moderating factors

Linehan (1993)'s biosocial model posits that borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms develop as a result of a transactional relationship between pre-existing emotional vulnerability and an invalidating childhood environment. Little work, however, has investigated cultural factors that ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation 2018-12, Vol.5 (1), p.19-19, Article 19
Main Authors: Keng, Shian-Ling, Soh, Chang Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Asian Americans
Borderline personality disorder
Childhood
Childhood invalidation
Children
Children & youth
Collectivism
College students
Conformity
Culture
Emotions
Etiology
Families & family life
Fathers
Individualism
Mothers
Parenting
Personality disorders
Psychopathology
Regression analysis
Self-construal
Studies
Young adults
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Summary:Linehan (1993)'s biosocial model posits that borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms develop as a result of a transactional relationship between pre-existing emotional vulnerability and an invalidating childhood environment. Little work, however, has investigated cultural factors that may influence the relationship between childhood invalidation and BPD symptoms. The present study investigated the association between parental invalidation and BPD symptoms, and the role of conformity and self-construal as potential moderators of this association. Two hundred and ninety undergraduate students were recruited from a large university in Singapore and administered questionnaires measuring Asian values, self-construal, parental invalidation, and BPD symptomatology. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated a significant positive association between BPD symptoms and maternal invalidation. Moderation analyses revealed a 3-way interaction, indicating that the maternal invalidation and BPD symptoms association varied by degree of conformity and self-construal. Among participants with interdependent self-construal, maternal invalidation was associated with BPD symptoms only at high conformity levels. No significant moderating effect was found among participants with independent self-construal. Overall, the study found empirical support for aspects of Linehan's biosocial model in an Asian context, and has implications for developing a culturally-informed understanding of BPD.
ISSN:2051-6673
2051-6673
DOI:10.1186/s40479-018-0096-6