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Predicting borderline personality disorder symptoms in adolescents from childhood physical and relational aggression, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Tracy Vaillancourt ,
Heather L. Brittain ,
Patricia McDougall ,
Amanda Krygsman ,
Khrista Boylan ,
Eric Duku  and
Shelley Hymel
Tracy Vaillancourt*
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Heather L. Brittain
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Patricia McDougall
Affiliation:
University of Saskatchewan
Amanda Krygsman
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Khrista Boylan
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Eric Duku
Affiliation:
McMaster University
Shelley Hymel
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Tracy Vaillancourt, Counselling, Faculty of Education, School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, 145 Jean-Jacques-Lussier, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada; E-mail: tracy.vaillancourt@uottawa.ca.
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Abstract

Developmental cascade models linking childhood physical and relational aggression with symptoms of depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; assessed at ages 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14) to borderline personality disorder (BPD) features (assessed at age 14) were examined in a community sample of 484 youth. Results indicated that, when controlling for within-time covariance and across-time stability in the examination of cross-lagged relations among study variables, BPD features at age 14 were predicted by childhood relational aggression and symptoms of depression for boys, and physical and relational aggression, symptoms of depression, and symptoms of ADHD for girls. Moreover, for boys BPD features were predicted from age 10 ADHD through age 12 depression, whereas for girls the pathway to elevated BPD features at age 14 was from depression at age 10 through physical aggression symptoms at age 12. Controlling for earlier associations among variables, we found that for girls the strongest predictor of BPD features at age 14 was physical aggression, whereas for boys all the risk indicators shared a similar predictive impact. This study adds to the growing literature showing that physical and relational aggression ought to be considered when examining early precursors of BPD features.

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Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 26 , Special Issue 3: The Legacy of Nicki R. Crick's Contributions to Developmental Psychopathology , August 2014 , pp. 817 - 830
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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