The relationship between impulsivity and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms in female patients with borderline personality disorder

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the patient group and the control group.

		Healthy group (n = 90)		Patient group (n = 90)		p
		25.33 ± 6.35		23.29 ± 5.77		.065
Age		n	%	n	%
Educational status	Elementary School	13	14.40	19	21.11	.924
	Middle school	23	25.56	23	25.56
	High School	31	34.44	41	45.56
	University	23	25.60	7	7.78
Employment	Unemployed	3	3.30	10	1.11	.861
	Housewife	20	22.20	20	20.00
	Civil servant workers	63	70.00	30	25.56
	Student	3	3.30	23	45.56
	Other	1	1.10	7	7.78	.065
Marital status	Single	42	46.67	56	62.22
	Married	41	45.56	27	30.00
	Divorced	7	7.78	5	5.56
	Separated	0	0.00	2	2.22

Table 2. Correlations of age, impulsivity, and ADHD in patient group.

	Age	Total ASRS	Hyperactivity/Impulsivity	Inattention
Age		−.049	−.017	.071
Total BIS	.003	.557**	.399**	.593**
Attentional impulsiveness	.007	.458**	.395**	.419**
Attention	.028	.394**	.317**	.384**
Cognitive instability	−.024	.340**	.323**	.280**
Motor impulsiveness	−.005	.515**	.373**	.543**
Motor	.011	.473**	.370**	.472**
Perseverance	−.024	.273**	.160	.328**
Non-planning impulsiveness	.006	.413**	.240*	.497**
Self-control	.040	.416**	.276**	.464**
Cognitive complexity	−.034	.265*	.115	.360**

Notes: ADHD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; BIS, The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale.

**Correlation is significant at the .01 level (2-tailed).

*Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed).

Table 3. Summary of the crosstab analysis for healthy controls and patients.

ADHD diagnosis	Healthy controls	Patients	Total	χ^2	Fisher’s exact test
Absent	93.3% (84)	46.7% (42)	70% (126)	46.667	0.00
Present	6.7% (6)	53.3% (48)	30% (54)

Notes: Frequencies are shown in parentheses. ADHD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Table 4. Impulsivity and attention-deficit/hyperactivity in patients and healthy controls.

	Patients (n = 90)		Healthy Controls (n = 90)		t (df = 178)	p
Scale	M	SD	M	SD
Total ASRS	38.76	11.468	23.39	9.720	9.697	.000
Hyperactivity/Impulsivity	18.68	6.579	11.21	4.916	8.625	.000
Inattention	20.08	6.348	12.18	5.658	8.814	.000
Total BIS	75.18	12.542	57.37	10.222	10.444	.000
Attentional ımpulsiveness	19.66	3.998	15.18	4.226	7.303	.000
Attention	12.38	2.815	9.59	2.929	6.512	.000
Cognitive ınstability	7.28	2.120	5.59	1.841	5.706	.000
Motor ımpulsiveness	24.70	5.805	18.60	3.600	8.472	.000
Motor	16.47	4.495	12.14	2.713	7.810	.000
Perseverance	8.23	3.145	6.46	1.921	4.577	.000
Non-planning ımpulsiveness	30.82	5.263	23.59	5.143	9.326	.000
Self-control	16.57	3.366	12.27	3.556	8.331	.000
Cognitive complexity	14.26	2.921	11.32	2.689	7.009	.000

Notes: ASRS, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale; BIS, The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale.

Table 5. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression.

	B	SE	β
Model 1
(Constant)	36.481	5.076
Age	0.098	0.212	0.049
Model 2
(Constant)	0.203	7.970
Age	0.085	0.179	0.043
Attention	0.337	0.460	0.083
Motor	0.692	0.302	0.271*
Cognitive complexity	−0.093	0.415	−0.024
Perseverance	0.544	0.350	0.149
Cognitive instability	0.876	0.542	0.162
Self-control	0.693	0.375	0.203
R^2			0.337
F			5.960**

Notes: Dependent variable: total score of adult ADHD self-report scale.

**p < .01.

*p < .05.