Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T21:58:46.620Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Childhood abuse and aggression in girls: The contribution of borderline personality disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Mandi L. Burnette  and
N. Dickon Reppucci
Mandi L. Burnette*
Affiliation:
University of Rochester
N. Dickon Reppucci
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: M. L. Burnette, Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, RC Box 270266, Rochester, NY 14627-0266; E-mail: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The authors tested whether emerging borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms mediated the association between childhood physical abuse (CPA) and aggression among incarcerated girls. Participants were 121 incarcerated adolescent girls (13–19 years old). Three forms of aggression (relational, overt, and violent offending behavior) and exposure to CPA by a parental figure were assessed using self-report inventories, whereas BPD symptoms were evaluated using a structured interview. Mediation models, including tests of indirect effects, were conducted in which each form of aggression was predicted from CPA with BPD symptoms entered as a mediator. A divergent pattern emerged in which BPD symptoms mediated the relationship between CPA and violent offending, but not less severe forms of overt aggression. Relational aggression, although correlated with CPA, was not associated with BPD symptoms. Implications for the conceptualization and treatment of girls' aggression within the context of interpersonal functioning are discussed.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 309 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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. (1991). Manual for the Youth Self-Report and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders—Text revision. (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Archer, J. (2000). Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 651–680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bandura, A. (1978). Social learning theory of aggression. Journal of Communication, 28, 12–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical consideration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Chanen, A. M., Jackson, H. J., McGorry, P. D., Allot, K. A., Clarkson, V., & Yuen, H. P. (2004). Two-year stability of adolescent personality disorder in older adolescent patients. Journal of Personality Disorders, 18, 526–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chesney-Lind, M., & Shelden, R. G. (1992) Girls, delinquency, and juvenile justice. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Chodorow, N. (1978). Mothering, object-relations, and the female oedipal configuration. Feminist Studies, 4, 137–158.CrossRefGoogle 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, 2317–2328.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crick, N. R., & Grotpeter, J. K. (1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social–psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710–722.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crick, N. R., & Rose, A. J. (2000). Toward a gender-balanced approach to the study of social–emotional development: A look at relational aggression. In Miller, P. H. & Kofsky Miller, E. (Eds.), Toward a feminist developmental psychology. Florence, KY: Taylor & Francis/Routledge.Google Scholar
DeFrancesco, J. J., Armstrong, S. S., & Russolillo, P. J. (1996). On the reliability of the youth self-report. Psychological Reports, 79, 322–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dembo, R., Williams, L., & Schmeidler, J. (1993). Gender differences in mental health service needs among youths entering a juvenile detention center. Journal of Prison and Jail Health, 12, 73–101.Google Scholar
Dodge, K. A., Petit, G. S., Bates, J. E., & Valente, E. (1995). Social information-processing patterns partially mediate the effect of early physical abuse on later conduct problems. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 632–643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
English, D. J., & Widom, C. (2002). Childhood victimization and delinquency. Adult criminality, and violent criminal behavior: A replication and extension: Final Report (Doc. No. 192291). Rockville, MD: National Criminal Justice Reference Service.Google Scholar
Fergusson, D. M., & Lynskey, M. T. (1997). Physical punishment/maltreatment during childhood and adjustment in young adulthood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 21, 617–630.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women's development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haugaard, J. J. (2004). Recognizing and treating uncommon behavioral and emotional disorders in children and adolescents who have been severely maltreated: Borderline personality disorder. Child Maltreatment, 9, 139–145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herrera, V. M., & McCloskey, L. A. (2001). Gender differences in the risk for delinquency among youth exposed to family violence. Child Abuse and Neglect, 25, 1037–1051.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huizinga, D., Esbensen, F., & Weiher, A. (1991). Are there multiple paths to delinquency? Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 82, 83–118.Google Scholar
Hyde, J. S. (2005). The gender similarities hypothesis. American Psychologist, 60, 581–592.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, J. G., Cohen, P., Smailes, E., Kasen, S., Oldham, J. M., & Skodol, A. E. (2000). Adolescent personality disorders associated with violence and criminal behavior during adolescence and early adulthood. American Journal of Psychiatry 157, 1406–1412.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levy, K. N. (2005). The implications of attachment theory and research for understanding borderline personality disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 959–986.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Little, T., Jones, S. M., Henrick, C. C., & Hawley, P. (2003). Disentangling the “whys” from the “whats” of aggressive behavior. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 122–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linehan, M. M., Cochran, B. N., & Kehrer, C. A. (2001). Dialectical behavior therapy for borderline personality disorder. In Barlow, D. H. (Ed.), Clinical handbook of psychological disorders: A step-by-step treatment manual (3rd ed., pp. 470–522). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
McCabe, K. M., Lansing, A. E., Garland, A., & Hough, R. (2002). Gender differences in psychopathology, functional impairment, and familial risk factors among adjudicated delinquents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 860–867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLean, L. M., & Gallop, R. (2003). Implications of childhood sexual abuse for adult borderline personality disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder [Brief Report]. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 369–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Odgers, C. L., & Moretti, M. M. (2002). Aggressive and antisocial girls: Research update and challenges. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 1, 103–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odgers, C. L., Moretti, M. M., & Reppucci, N. D. (2005). Examining the science and practice of violence risk assessment with female adolescents. Law and Human Behavior, 29, 7–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pfohl, B., Blum, N., & Zimmerman, M. (1997). Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality (SIDP-IV). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.Google Scholar
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36, 717–731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rennison, C. M., & Welchans, S. (2000). Intimate partner violence: Bureau of Justice statistics special report. Washington, DC: Office of Justice Programs, US Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Rogosch, F. A., & Cicchetti, D. (2005). Child maltreatment, attention networks, and potential precursors to borderline personality disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 1071–1089.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Snyder, H. N., & Sickmund, M. (1999). Juvenile offenders and victims: 1999 national report. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, US Department of Justice.Google Scholar
Sobel, M. E. (1982). Asymptotic confidence intervals for indirect effects in structural equation models estimated by maximum likelihood. Psychometrika, 55, 337–352.Google Scholar
Song, L.-Y., Singh, J., & Singer, M. (1994). The youth self-report inventory: A study of its measurement fidelity. Psychological Assessment, 6, 326–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Straus, M. A. (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: The conflict tactics (CT) scales. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 75–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Straus, M. A. (1995). Manual for the Conflicts Tactics Scales. Durham, NH: University of New Hampshire, Family Research Laboratory.Google Scholar
Timmons-Mitchell, J., Brown, C., Schulz, C., Webster, S. E., Underwood, L. A., & Semple, W. E. (1997). Comparing the mental health needs of female and male incarcerated juvenile delinquents. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 15, 195–202.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warren, J. I., Burnette, M. L., South, S. C., Chauhan, P., Bale, R., & Friend, R. (2002). Personality disorders and violence among female prison inmates. Journal of the Academy of Psychiatry and Law, 30, 502–509.Google ScholarPubMed
Wonderlich, S. A., Crosby, R. A, Mitchell, J. E., Thompson, K., Smyth, J. M., Redlin, J., et al. (2001). Sexual trauma and personality: Developmental vulnerability and additive effects. Journal of Personality Disorders, 15, 496–504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed