title: Mothers with borderline personality and their young children: Adult Attachment Interviews, mother-child interactions, and children's narrative representations.
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.
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Macfie
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Swan
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
authors.forename: Katie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
authors.forename: Christopher D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.affiliation: University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
authors.forename: Elaine M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Rivas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D033262:Narration; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology