title: The interaction between rejection sensitivity and emotional maltreatment in borderline personality disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder associated with significant distress, dysfunction, and treatment utilization. Though, theoretically, BPD is posited to arise from a combination of trait and environmental risk factors, few studies have tested trait-by-environment interactions in BPD. We investigated the roles of rejection sensitivity (RS) and childhood emotional neglect and abuse (ENA) as well as their interaction in BPD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-five adults with a lifetime mood disorder who were recruited for outpatient studies in a psychiatric clinic were assessed for ENA using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and for RS with the Adult Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire. BPD diagnoses were made by consensus using data collected on the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Hierarchical logistic regression was used to test associations between RS, ENA, their interaction and BPD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RS and ENA interacted to predict co-occurring BPD in our sample of mood-disordered patients, with the strength of the relationship between RS and BPD depending on the severity of ENA. In the context of little or no ENA, RS and BPD were more strongly related than when ENA was more severe.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results extend previous findings suggesting RS and ENA are risk factors for BPD. They also provide preliminary support for contemporary theories of BPD positing trait-by-environment interactions in the development of BPD. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology, Columbia University, New York, N.Y., USA.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chesin
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fertuck
authors.forename: Jeanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goodman
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lichenstein
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stanley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012059:Rejection, Psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult