Borderline Personality and Dating Violence among College Students: A Path Analysis

ABSTRACT

Borderline personality (BP) is an understudied risk factor for dating violence. Based on indications that BP may be an important predictor in non-clinical samples, this study explored theoretically derived pathways in the etiology of college student dating violence (CDV) through BP. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 783 college students from a large Midwestern American university. Participants completed a paper-and-pencil survey that included measures of CDV, childhood maltreatment, maternal relationship quality, attachment insecurity and BP. A fully recursive path model was estimated using the maximum likelihood estimator in Mplus 7.4 to simultaneously examine the pathways to CDV perpetration and victimization. One quarter of the sampled college students reported perpetrating and/or experiencing dating violence in the year prior to the study, with a large proportion of these participants (85%) indicating that they were both perpetrators and victims. BP was positively associated with both CDV perpetration (β = .17; p ≤ .01) and victimization (β = .20; p ≤ .01). Results showed that a lower quality of relationship with one’s mother while growing up was strongly associated with the risk of CDV through developmental pathways involving attachment insecurity and BP. While these findings would not be surprising in a clinical sample of batterers, they are particularly interesting in the context of a non-clinical, generally well-adjusted sample of college students that typically involve less severe forms of situational couple violence. Future research on the etiology of situational couple violence, including CDV, should consider the role of BP and its antecedents.

KEYWORDS:

• Borderline personality
• dating violence
• family violence
• insecure attachment
• maternal relationship quality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Alternatively, BPD itself can be conceptualized as a pattern of dysfunction that exists on a continuum. E.g., see, Zimmerman et al. (2012). Does the presence of one feature of borderline personality disorder have clinical significance? Implications for dimensional ratings of personality disorders. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 73(1), 8–12. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.10m06784

² All respondents in the study reported having a mother/female caregiver.

³ Dating violence perpetration was reported by 27% of females compared to 20% of males (p < .05). Dating violence victimization was reported by 26% of females and 23% of males (NS). Post hoc analyses of gender interactions only revealed one significant difference between men and women and that was for child physical abuse.