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Mothers with borderline personality and their young children: Adult Attachment Interviews, mother–child interactions, and children's narrative representations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2014

Jenny Macfie ,
Scott A. Swan ,
Katie L. Fitzpatrick ,
Christopher D. Watkins  and
Elaine M. Rivas
Jenny Macfie*
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Scott A. Swan
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Katie L. Fitzpatrick
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Christopher D. Watkins
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Elaine M. Rivas
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Jenny Macfie, Department of Psychology, 301E Austin Peay, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-0900; E-mail: macfie@utk.edu.
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Abstract

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) involves disruptions in attachment, self, and self-regulation, domains conceptually similar to developmental tasks of early childhood. Because offspring of mothers with BPD are at elevated risk of developing BPD themselves (White, Gunderson, Zanarini, & Hudson, 2003), studying them may inform precursors to BPD. We sampled 31 children age 4–7 whose mothers have BPD and 31 normative comparisons. We examined relationships between mothers' Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) representations (George, Kaplan, & Main, 1984), mothers' observed parenting, and children's narrative representations. Replicating previous studies, mothers with BPD were more likely to be classified as preoccupied and unresolved on the AAI. In a larger sample, which included the current one, we also replicated two underlying AAI dimensions found in normative samples (Roisman, Fraley, & Belsky, 2007; Whipple, Bernier, & Mageau, 2011). Controlling for current mood, anxiety, and other personality disorders, mothers with BPD were significantly higher than were comparisons on the preoccupied/unresolved, but not the dismissive, dimension. Children's narrative representations relevant to disruptions in attachment (fear of abandonment and role reversal), self (incongruent child and self/fantasy confusion), and self-regulation (destruction of objects) were significantly correlated with the preoccupied/unresolved, but not the dismissive, dimension. Furthermore, mothers' parenting significantly mediated the relationship between the preoccupied/unresolved dimension and their children's narrative representations of fear of abandonment.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 539 - 551
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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