Subtypes of borderline personality disorder, associated clinical disorders and stressful life-events: a latent class analysis based on the British Psychiatric Morbidity Survey.
OBJECTIVE
The current study examined the types of borderline personality profiles, associated psychological disorders and stressful life-events.


METHODS
Data from the British Psychiatric Morbidity Survey were used to examine homogeneous subtypes of participants based on their responses to nine borderline personality disorder (BPD) criteria.


METHODS
Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify homogeneous groups, or classes, of individuals. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between classes and associated psychological disorders and stressful life-events.


RESULTS
A 4-class solution provided the best fit, ranging from a class with a low probability of showing any BPD symptoms to a class whose members had a relatively high probability of endorsing all criteria. Severity of BPD was associated with higher co-morbidity and higher stressful life-events.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that four discrete classes make up the borderline continuum.
Shevlin
Mark
M
School of Psychology, University of Ulster at Magee, UK. m.shevlin@ulster.ac.uk
Dorahy
Martin
M
Adamson
Gary
G
Murphy
Jamie
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology