Exposure to physical intimate partner violence in childhood and borderline personality disorder traits: the mediating role of insecure attachment.

BACKGROUND

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental illness that severely impacts a person's ability to regulate emotions and involves traits such as unstable interpersonal relationships, negative self-image, and marked impulsivity (National Institute of Mental Health, 2022). Extensive research has implied that childhood trauma is associated with BPD traits as well as insecure attachment (Peng et al., 2020). The current study aims to examine the mediating role of insecure attachment in the association between exposure to physical intimate partner violence (IPV) in childhood and BPD traits.

METHODS

A total of 156 adults who had previous childhood exposure to physical IPV were recruited using Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants were administered questionnaires measuring the level of violence exposed in childhood, anxious and avoidant attachment in adulthood, and BPD traits in adulthood.

RESULTS

The results of the study indicated that exposure to physical IPV was positively associated with anxious attachment and BPD traits (medium effect), anxious attachment was positively associated with avoidant attachment and BPD traits (large effect), and avoidant attachment was positively associated with BPD traits (medium effect). The mediation analysis revealed a positive indirect effect of childhood exposure to physical IPV on BPD traits through anxious attachment. However, the indirect effect of exposure to physical IPV on BPD traits through avoidant attachment was not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight the importance of addressing the role of exposure to physical IPV in childhood as it relates to attachment-related challenges and personality pathology. Interventions for this population should focus on enhancing secure attachment patterns that may be associated with healthier adult relationships and life satisfaction. Given the cross-sectional design, conclusions regarding directionality are limited. Therefore, longitudinal research is necessary to replicate these findings.