title: The role of childhood trauma in differences in affective instability in those with personality disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study examined the relationship of self-reported histories of childhood trauma to measures of affective instability in a sample of unmedicated outpatients with various personality disorders (n=174).
  
  
  METHODS
  Childhood trauma was measured by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Affective instability comprises at least two dimensions: affective lability, assessed using the Affective Lability Scale, and affective intensity, assessed using the Affective Intensity Measure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A history of emotional abuse was the only trauma variable that significantly correlated with the affect measures in the total sample (r=.21-.30). More fine-grained analyses revealed that the relationship of emotional abuse and affective instability measures varied as a function of both gender and personality disorder type. In subjects with borderline personality disorder, the correlation for emotional abuse was greatly attenuated for both Affective Lability Scale (r=.10) and Affective Intensity Measure (r=.15) total scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This suggests that nontrauma-related factors may be more predominant in affective dyscontrol in individuals with borderline personality disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Harold
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koenigsberg
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kotlyarevsky
authors.forename: Antonia S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: New
authors.forename: Vivian
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mitropoulou
authors.forename: Jeremy M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Flynn
authors.forename: Larry J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Siever
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires