Differential effect of childhood emotional abuse on present social support in borderline disorder and depression: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND

Perceived social support (PSS) is a crucial factor in physical and mental health. Previous studies found a negative association between childhood maltreatment (CM) and current PSS.

OBJECTIVE

In this paper, we investigate whether psychopathology moderates this association in a sample of patients with Depressive Disorder (DD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

METHOD: Sixty-nine patients with DD and 110 patients with BPD were recruited to inpatient/day clinic treatment programmes for either DD or BPD. All participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Social Support Questionnaire (F-SozU). Our hypothesis was tested with a moderator analysis in a multiple linear regression model.

RESULTS

We found a significant interaction between diagnosis and CM for the CTQ total score and the emotional abuse subscale. Post hoc analyses revealed a significant negative correlation between CM and PSS only for patients suffering from BPD and not for patients with DD.

CONCLUSION

Our results suggest that the negative association between CM and PSS might be more pronounced in certain patient groups, particularly patients with BPD.