Borderline Personality Features and Implicit Shame-Prone Self-Concept in Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

Abstract

This study tested if children and adolescents with high levels of borderline personality features (BPF) exhibit the same shame-prone self-concept previously found to characterize adults with borderline personality disorder (Rüsch et al., 2007). Self-concept was indexed using the Implicit Association Test, in a community sample of children/adolescents aged 10 to 14 years (48% female; M age = 12.04 years). Common domains of child and adolescent psychopathology and core components of BPF were assessed using self-reports on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children. The identity problems component of BPF was found to significantly predict implicit levels of shame-prone self-concept, but only among girls. This effect was independent of the key dimensions of child and adolescent psychopathology that overlap with BPF—including features hyperactivity/inattention, disruptive behavior problems, and anxiety/depression—none of which were associated with shame-prone self-concept at the bivariate level or otherwise. The current findings provide preliminary evidence that self-schemas related to shame are uniquely associated with a core component of BPF in middle childhood and early adolescence and suggest that this correlate may apply uniquely to female individuals. These findings point to the identity problems component of BPF as a priority for future clinical and developmental research into mechanisms associated with BPF across childhood and adolescence.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Nicolas Rüsch for providing programming files for the Implicit Association Test and to Anthony Greenwald for his advice on the modification of the paradigm for use in the current study. Thanks also to the schools and children and adolescents who participated in this study, and to the valuable feedback provided by the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript.

Notes

Note: Sex-specific means and correlations are available from the authors by request. IAT = Implicit Association Test; SDQ = Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; BPFSC = Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Note: Sex was coded 0 (female), 1 (male); post hoc probing of the Identity Problems × Sex interaction revealed that identity problems were a significant predictor of IAT scores in girls (β = .28, SE = .01, p = .04) but not boys (β = −.13, SE = .01, p = .37).

*p < .05. **p < .01.