Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T17:14:17.713Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Predicting borderline personality disorder symptoms in adolescents from childhood physical and relational aggression, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Tracy Vaillancourt ,
Heather L. Brittain ,
Patricia McDougall ,
Amanda Krygsman ,
Khrista Boylan ,
Eric Duku  and
Shelley Hymel
Tracy Vaillancourt*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Heather L. Brittain
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Patricia McDougall
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan
Amanda Krygsman
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Khrista Boylan
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Eric Duku
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Shelley Hymel
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Tracy Vaillancourt, Counselling, Faculty of Education, School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada; E-mail: tracy.vaillancourt@uottawa.ca.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Developmental cascade models linking childhood physical and relational aggression with symptoms of depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; assessed at ages 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14) to borderline personality disorder (BPD) features (assessed at age 14) were examined in a community sample of 484 youth. Results indicated that, when controlling for within-time covariance and across-time stability in the examination of cross-lagged relations among study variables, BPD features at age 14 were predicted by childhood relational aggression and symptoms of depression for boys, and physical and relational aggression, symptoms of depression, and symptoms of ADHD for girls. Moreover, for boys BPD features were predicted from age 10 ADHD through age 12 depression, whereas for girls the pathway to elevated BPD features at age 14 was from depression at age 10 through physical aggression symptoms at age 12. Controlling for earlier associations among variables, we found that for girls the strongest predictor of BPD features at age 14 was physical aggression, whereas for boys all the risk indicators shared a similar predictive impact. This study adds to the growing literature showing that physical and relational aggression ought to be considered when examining early precursors of BPD features.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 26 , Special Issue 3: The Legacy of Nicki R. Crick's Contributions to Developmental Psychopathology , August 2014 , pp. 817 - 830
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. H., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213–232. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.101.2.213 Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Angold, A., Costello, E. J., & Worthman, C. M. (1998). Puberty and depression: The roles of age, pubertal status and pubertal timing. Psychological Medicine, 28, 51–61.Google Scholar
Arens, E. A., Grabe, H. J., Spitzer, C., & Barnow, S. (2011). Testing the biosocial model of borderline personality disorder: Results of a prospective 5-year longitudinal study. Personality and Mental Health, 5, 29–42. doi:10.1002/pmh.143 Google Scholar
Barkley, R. A., Fischer, M., Smallish, L., & Fletcher, K. (2002). The persistence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder into young adulthood as a function of reporting source and definition of disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 279–289. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.111.2.279 Google Scholar
Beauchaine, T. P., Klein, D. N., Crowell, S. E., Derbidge, C., & Gatzke-Kopp, L. (2009). Multifinality in the development of personality disorders: A Biology × Sex × Environment interaction model of antisocial and borderline traits. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 735. doi:10.1017/S0954579409000418 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Belsky, D. W., Caspi, A., Arseneault, L., Bleidorn, W., Fonagy, P., Goodman, M., et al. (2012). Etiological features of borderline personality related characteristics in a birth cohort of 12-year-old children. Development and Psychopathology, 24, 251. doi:10.1017/S0954579411000812 Google Scholar
Bernstein, D. P., Cohen, P., Skodol, A., Bezirganian, S., & Brook, J. S. (1996). Childhood antecedents of adolescent personality disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 907–912.Google Scholar
Bernstein, D. P., Cohen, P., Velez, C. N., Schwab-Stone, M., Siever, L. J., & Shinsato, L. (1993). Prevalence and stability of the DSM-III-R personality disorders in a community-based survey of adolescents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1237–1243.Google Scholar
Birmaher, B., Ryan, N. D., Williamson, D. E., Brent, D. A., & Kaufman, J. (1996). Childhood and adolescent depression: A review of the past 10 years. Part II. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 1575–1583. doi:10.1097/00004583-199612000-00008 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boyle, M., Cunningham, C. E., Georgiades, K., Cullen, J., Racine, Y., & Pettingill, P. (2009). The Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI): 2. Usefulness in screening for child and adolescent psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 424–431. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.01971.x CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, J. D., & Stepp, S. D. (2012). Adolescent disruptive behavior and borderline personality disorder symptoms in young adult men. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40, 35–44. doi:10.1007/s10802-011-9558-7 Google Scholar
Burt, K. B., & Roisman, G. I. (2010). Competence and psychopathology: Cascade effects in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 557–567. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000271 Google Scholar
Card, N. A., Stucky, B. D., Sawalani, G. M., & Little, T. D. (2008). Direct and indirect aggression during childhood and adolescence: A meta-analytic review of gender differences, intercorrelations, and relations to maladjustment. Child Development, 79, 1185–1229. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01184.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chabrol, H., Montovany, A., Chouicha, K., Callahan, S., & Mullet, E. (2001). Frequency of borderline personality disorder in a sample of French high school students. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry/La Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 46, 847–849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chanen, A. M., Jackson, H. J., McGorry, P. D., Allot, K. A., Clarkson, V., & Yuen, H. P. (2004). Two-year stability of personality disorder in older adolescent outpatients. Journal of Personality Disorders, 18, 526–541. doi:10.1521/pedi.18.6.526.54798 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chanen, A. M., & Kaess, M. (2012). Developmental pathways to borderline personality disorder. Current Psychiatry Reports, 14, 45–53. doi:10.1007/s11920-011-0242-y CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cicchetti, D., & Rogosch, F. A. (1996). Equifinality and multifinality in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 8, 597–600. doi:10.1017/S0954579400007318 Google Scholar
Cleverley, K., Szatmari, P., Vaillancourt, T., Boyle, M., & Lipman, E. (2012). Physical and indirect aggression trajectories from childhood to adolescents in males and females and association with maladjustment in emerging adulthood. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 51, 1037–1051. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2012.07.010 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, P., Crawford, T. N., Johnson, J. G., & Kasen, S. (2005). The children in the community study of developmental course of personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 19, 466–486. doi:10.1521/pedi.2005.19.5.466 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Côté, S., Vaillancourt, T., LeBlanc, J. C., Nagin, D. S., & Tremblay, R. E. (2006). The development of physical aggression from toddlerhood to pre-adolescence: A nation wide longitudinal study of Canadian children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 68–82. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-9001-z CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, T. N., Cohen, P., & Brook, J. S. (2001a). Dramatic-erratic personality disorder symptoms: I. Continuity from early adolescence into adulthood. Journal of Personality Disorders, 15, 319–335. doi:10.1521/pedi.15.4.319.19182 Google Scholar
Crawford, T. N., Cohen, P., & Brook, J. S. (2001b). Dramatic-erratic personality disorder symptoms: II. Developmental pathways from early adolescence to adulthood. Journal of Personality Disorders, 15, 336–350. doi:10.1521/pedi.15.4.336.19185 Google Scholar
Crick, N. R. (1996). The role of overt aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior in the prediction of children's future social adjustment. Child Development, 67, 2317–2327. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01859.x Google Scholar
Crick, N. R. (1997). Engagement in gender normative versus nonnormative forms of aggression: Links to social-psychological adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 33, 610. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.33.4.610 Google Scholar
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710–722. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00900.x Google Scholar
Crick, N. R., Murray-Close, D., & Woods, K. (2005). Borderline personality features in childhood: A short-term longitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 1051–1070. doi:10.1017/S0954579405050492 Google Scholar
Crick, N. R., Ostrov, J. M., & Werner, N. E. (2006). A longitudinal study of relational aggression, physical aggression, and children's social-psychological adjustment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34, 127–138. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-9009-4 Google Scholar
Crowell, S. E., Beauchaine, T. P., & Linehan, M. M. (2009). A biosocial developmental model of borderline personality: Elaborating and extending Linehan's theory. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 495–510. doi:10.1037/a0015616 Google Scholar
Cunningham, C. E., Pettingill, P., & Boyle, M. (2000). The Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI). Hamilton, ON: McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation, Canadian Centre for the Study of Children at Risk.Google Scholar
Cunningham, C. E., Pettingill, P., & Boyle, M. (2006). The Brief Child and Family Phone Interview (BCFPI-3): A computerized intake and outcome assessment tool. Interviewer manual. Hamilton, ON: BCFPI Works.Google Scholar
Geiger, T. C., & Crick, N. R. (2001). A developmental psychopathology perspective on vulnerability to personality disorders. In Ingram, R. E. & Price, J. M. (Eds.), Vulnerability to psychopathology: Risk across the lifespan (pp. 57–102). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Helgeland, M. I., Kjelsberg, E., & Torgersen, S. (2005). Continuities between emotional and disruptive behavior disorders in adolescence and personality disorders in adulthood. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 1941–1947. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.10.1941 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, J. G., Cohen, P., Kasen, S., Skodol, A. E., Hamagami, F., & Brook, J. S. (2000). Age-related change in personality disorder trait levels between early adolescence and adulthood: A community-based longitudinal investigation. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 102, 265–275.Google Scholar
Kasen, S., Cohen, P., Skodol, A. E., Johnson, J. G., & Brook, J. S. (1999). Influence of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders on young adult personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 156, 1529–1535.Google Scholar
Kawabata, Y., Tseng, W. L., Murray-Close, D., & Crick, N. R. (2012). Developmental trajectories of Chinese children's relational and physical aggression: Associations with social-psychological adjustment problems. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40, 1087–1097. doi:10.1007/s10802-012-9633-8 Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Klonsky, E. D., Oltmanns, T. F., & Turkheimer, E. (2002). Informant reports of personality disorder: Relation to self-report, and future research directions. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 9, 300–311. doi:10.1093/clipsy.9.3.300 Google Scholar
Knox, M., King, C., Hanna, G. L., Logan, D., & Ghaziuddin, N. (2000). Aggressive behavior in clinically depressed adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 611–618. doi:10.1097/00004583-200005000-00015 Google Scholar
Lewinsohn, P. M., Rohde, P., Seeley, J. R., & Klein, D. N. (1997). Axis II psychopathology as a function of axis I disorders in childhood and adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1752–1759. doi:10.1097/00004583-199712000-00024 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewinsohn, P. M., Rohde, P., Seeley, J. R., Klein, D. N., & Gotlib, I. H. (2000). Natural course of adolescent major depressive disorder in a community sample: Predictors of recurrence in young adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1584–1591. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.157.10.1584 Google Scholar
Lieb, K., Zanarini, M. C., Schmahl, C., Linehan, M. M., & Bohus, M. (2004). Borderline personality disorder. Lancet, 364, 453–461. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16770-6 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, T., Henrich, C., Jones, S., & Hawley, P. (2003). Disentangling the “whys” from the “whats” of aggressive behavior. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 122–133. doi:10.1080/01650250244000128 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loeber, R., Burke, J. D., Lahey, B. B., Winters, A., & Zera, M. (2000). Oppositional defiant and conduct disorder: A review of the past 10 years, part I. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 39, 1468–1484. doi:10.1097/00004583-200012000-00007 Google Scholar
Loeber, R., & Keenan, K. (1994). Interaction between conduct disorder and its comorbid conditions: Effects of age and gender. Clinical Psychology Review, 14, 497–523. doi:10.1016/0272-7358(94)90015-9 Google Scholar
Masten, A. S., & Cicchetti, D. (2010). Developmental cascades. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 491–495. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000222 Google Scholar
Miller, J. L., Vaillancourt, T., & Boyle, M. H. (2009). Examining the heterotypic continuity of aggression using teacher reports: Results from a national Canadian study. Social Development, 18, 164–180. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2008.00480.x Google Scholar
Moilanen, K. L., Shaw, D. S., & Maxwell, K. L. (2010). Developmental cascades: Externalizing, internalizing and academic competence from middle childhood to early adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 635–653. doi:10.1017/S0954579410000337 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray-Close, D., Ostrov, J. M., Crick, N. R., Achenbach, T. M., Edelbrock, C. S., Berndt, T. J., et al. (2007). A short-term longitudinal study of growth of relational aggression during middle childhood: Associations with gender, friendship intimacy, and internalizing problems. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 187–203. doi:10.1017/S0954579407070101 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. (2011). Mplus 6.12 for Windows. Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Nagin, D., & Tremblay, R. E. (1999). Trajectories of boys' physical aggression, opposition, and hyperactivity on the path to physically violent and nonviolent juvenile delinquency. Child Development, 70, 1181–1196. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.39.2.222 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ostrov, J. M., & Houston, R. J. (2008). The utility of forms and functions of aggression in emerging adulthood: Association with personality disorder symptomatology. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37, 1147–1158. doi:10.1007/s10964-008-9289-4 Google Scholar
Paris, J. (1997). Antisocial and borderline personality disorders: Two separate diagnoses or two aspects of the same psychopathology? Comprehensive Psychiatry, 38, 237–242. doi:10.1016/S0010-440X(97)90032-8 Google Scholar
Pepper, C. M., Klein, D. N., Anderson, R. L., Riso, L. P., Ouimette, P. C., & Lizardi, H. (1995). DSM-III-R axis II comorbidity in dysthymia and major depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 239–247.Google Scholar
Rey, J. M., Morris-Yates, A., Singh, M., Andrews, G., & Stewart, G. W. (1995). Continuities between psychiatric disorders in adolescents and personality disorders in young adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 895–900.Google ScholarPubMed
Reynolds, C. R., & Kamphaus, R. W. (2004). Behavior assessment system for children manual (2nd ed.). Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson.Google Scholar
Rubio-Stipec, M., Canino, G. J., Shrout, P., Dulcan, M., Freeman, D., & Bravo, M. (1994). Psychometric properties of parents and children as informants in child psychiatry epidemiology with the Spanish Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC. 2). Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 22, 703–720. doi:0091-0627/94/1200-0703507.00 Google Scholar
Rubio-Stipec, M., Fitzmaurice, G., Murphy, J., & Walker, A. (2003). The use of multiple informants in identifying the risk factors of depressive and disruptive disorders. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 38, 51–58. doi:10.1007/s00127-003-0600-0 Google Scholar
Saudino, K. J., Ronald, A., & Plomin, R. (2005). The etiology of behavior problems in 7-year-old twins: Substantial genetic influence and negligible shared environmental influence for parent ratings and ratings by same and different teachers. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 113–130. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-0939-7 Google Scholar
Schmeelk, K. M., Sylvers, P., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2008). Trait correlates of relational aggression in a nonclinical sample: DSM-IV personality disorders and psychopathy. Journal of Personality Disorders, 22, 269–283. doi:10.1521/pedi.2008.22.3.269 Google Scholar
Sharp, C., Mosko, O., Chang, B., & Ha, C. (2011). The cross-informant concordance and concurrent validity of the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children in a community sample of boys. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 16, 335–349. doi:10.1177/1359104510366279 Google Scholar
Siever, L. J., & Davis, K. L. (1991). A psychobiological perspective on the personality disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 1647–1648.Google Scholar
Stepp, S. D., Burke, J. D., Hipwell, A. E., & Loeber, R. (2012). Trajectories of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant disorder symptoms as precursors of borderline personality disorder symptoms in adolescent girls. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 40, 7–20. doi:10.1007/s10802-011-9530-6 Google Scholar
Stepp, S. D., Pilkonis, P. A., Hipwell, A. E., Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2010). Stability of borderline personality disorder features in girls. Journal of Personality Disorders, 24, 460. doi:10.1521/pedi.2010.24.4.460 Google Scholar
Tremblay, R. E. (2000). The development of aggressive behaviour during childhood: What have we learned in the past century? International Journal of Behavioral Development, 24, 129–141. doi:10.1080/016502500383232 Google Scholar
Underwood, M. K., Beron, K. J., & Rosen, L. H. (2011). Joint trajectories for social and physical aggression as predictors of adolescent maladjustment: Internalizing symptoms, rule-breaking behaviors, and borderline and narcissistic personality features. Development and Psychopathology, 23, 659–678. doi:10.1017/S095457941100023X Google Scholar
Vaillancourt, T. (2013). Do human females use indirect aggression as an intrasexual competition strategy? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 368B, 20130080. doi:10.1098/rstb.2013.0080 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaillancourt, T., Brittain, H. L., McDougall, P., & Duku, E. (2013). Longitudinal links between childhood peer victimization, internalizing and externalizing problems, and academic functioning: Developmental cascades. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 1203–1215. doi:10.1007/s10802-013-9781-5 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaillancourt, T., Hymel, S., & McDougall, P. (2003). Bullying is power: Implications for school-based intervention strategies. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 19, 157–176. doi:10.1300/J008v19n02_10 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaillancourt, T., Miller, J. L., Fagbemi, J., Côté, S., & Tremblay, R. E. (2007). Trajectories and predictors of indirect aggression: Results from a nationally representative longitudinal study of Canadian children aged 2–10. Aggressive Behavior, 33, 314–326. doi:10.1002/ab.20202 Google Scholar
Vaillancourt, T., Miller, J. L., & Sharma, A. (2010). “Tripping the prom queen”: Female intrasexual competition and indirect aggression. In Österman, K. (Ed.), Indirect and direct aggression (pp. 17–32). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Werner, N. E., & Crick, N. R. (1999). Relational aggression and social-psychological adjustment in a college sample. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 615. doi:10.1037/0021-843X.108.4.615 Google Scholar
Wolke, D., Schreier, A., Zanarini, M. C., & Winsper, C. (2012). Bullied by peers in childhood and borderline personality symptoms at 11 years of age: A prospective study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53, 846–855. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02542.x Google Scholar
Wolraich, M. L., Lambert, E. W., Bickman, L., Simmons, T., Doffing, M. A., & Worley, K. A. (2004). Assessing the impact of parent and teacher agreement on diagnosing attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 25, 41–47. doi:10.1097/00004703-200402000-00007 Google Scholar
Zanarini, M. C., Horwood, J., Wolke, D., Waylen, A., Fitzmaurice, G., & Grant, B. F. (2011). Prevalence of DSM-IV borderline personality disorder in two community samples: 6,330 English 11-year-olds and 34,653 American adults. Journal of Personality Disorders, 25, 607–619. doi:10.1521/pedi.2011.25.5.607 Google Scholar