Affective and Behavioral Characteristics of Adolescent and Adult Borderline Personality Disorder

Abstract

Adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD) report greater affective lability, impulsivity, and aggression compared to same-age peers, but no studies have examined whether these findings are replicable among adolescents with BPD and their peers, or whether adolescents and adults with BPD report symptoms of comparable severity. One hundred and one adolescent (age 13-17) BPD inpatients and 60 age-matched, psychiatrically healthy adolescents completed self-report measures for affective lability, impulsivity, and aggression. Comparison samples included 29 and 41 adult outpatients with BPD and 127 community adults with BPD. Adolescents with BPD reported greater severity of all symptoms except nonplanning impulsiveness compared to peers. They reported similar symptom severity to adults but reported less severe verbal aggression and anger. Adolescents with BPD are distinguishable from typically developing adolescents on self-reported, dimensional affective and behavioral symptom measures, and may experience these symptoms at comparable severity to adult counterparts.

Keywords: adolescence; affective lability; aggression; borderline personality disorder; impulsivity.