Frequency of borderline personality disorder in a sample of French high school students.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the frequency of borderline personality disorder (BPD) in French high school students.


METHODS
A random sample of high school students (n = 1363) ranging in age from 13 to 20 years agreed to complete a questionnaire, the Screening Test for Comorbid Personality Disorders (STCPD); 107 of them volunteered to be interviewed. We assessed this group using the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R). We conducted a regression analysis to determine a cut-off for BPD diagnosis with the STCPD.


RESULTS
We estimated the overall frequency of BPD to be 10% for boys and 18% for girls. After a peak of frequency at age 14 years for both sexes, the frequency increased significantly again in late adolescence.


CONCLUSIONS
This study found a high frequency of BPD in French adolescents, which adds to questions regarding the validity of diagnosing this disorder in adolescents.
Chabrol
H
H
Université de Toulouse-Le Mirail, Toulouse, France. chabrol@univ-tlse2.fr
Montovany
A
A
Chouicha
K
K
Callahan
S
S
Mullet
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data