Perceptions of parental bonding in patients with various personality disorders, lifetime depressive disorders, and healthy controls.

The aims of the present study was (a) to examine the relationship between parental bonding and various personality disorders, when the effect of a lifetime depressive disorder was statistically controlled for, and (b) to examine the relationship between parental bonding and a lifetime depressive disorder when the effects of various personality disorders were accounted for. The study included 135 psychiatric outpatients and 41 healthy controls. The patients were diagnosed according to DSM-III-R axis I and axis II. Results indicated that obsessive-compulsive personality disorder was associated with reports of lower levels of paternal care and higher levels of paternal overprotection, while cluster B personality disorder was associated with reports of high parental overprotection. Avoidant, dependent, and cluster A personality disorders were not associated with abnormal parental bonding. Lifetime depressive disorders were associated with reports of low maternal care and high maternal overprotection when the effect of a personality disorder was accounted for.