Association of Adolescent Dimensional Borderline Personality Pathology with Past and Current Nonsuicidal Self-Injury and Lifetime Suicidal Behavior: A Clinical Multicenter Study.
Descriptive diagnoses of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts (SAs) may detract from underlying dimensional borderline personality pathology (D-BPP). This study aimed to investigate D-BPP in adolescent inpatients with NSSI and SAs. A consecutive sample of 359 adolescent inpatients was assessed for current and past NSSI and life-time SAs. D-BPP and current mental health problems were measured using the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, respectively. D-BPP was significantly associated with both current (p < 0.001) and past NSSI (p = 0.025) and life-time SAs (p < 0.001) compared to their non-self-harming peers. Patients with current and past NSSI did not differ in terms of D-BPP or current mental health problems. A multivariate model did not show any additional influence of current mental health problems over and above D-BPP in predicting NSSI and SAs. It can be hypothesized that D-BPP underlies adolescent self-harm and may persist even after its termination, promoting a higher burden of mental health problems.
Section for Translational Psychobiology in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Michael
M
Kaess
Romuald
R
Brunner
Peter
P
Parzer
Manju
M
Edanackaparampil
Johannes
J
Schmidt
Melek
M
Kirisgil
Gloria
G
Fischer
Christoph
C
Wewetzer
Gerd
G
Lehmkuhl
Franz
F
Resch
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data