title: Impulsivity and emotion dysregulation in Borderline Personality Disorder.
abstract: This study examined the association of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and negative emotional states with impulsivity in the laboratory. Undergraduate participants who were high in BPD features (high-BPD; n = 39) and controls who were low in BPD features (low-BPD; n = 56) completed measures of negative emotional state before a laboratory measure of impulsivity--a passive avoidance learning task. Controlling for psychopathology, high-BPD participants committed a greater number of impulsive responses than did low-BPD participants. Negative emotional state moderated the effect of BPD on impulsive responses. High-BPD participants who were in a negative emotional state committed fewer impulsive responses than high-BPD participants who were low in negative emotional state. Fear, nervousness, and shame negatively correlated with impulsivity among high-BPD participants but not among low-BPD participants. In addition, high-BPD participants reported greater emotion dysregulation in a variety of domains, compared with low-BPD participants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada. alchapma@sfu.ca
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: Debbie W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Lynch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012752:Shame