Borderline personality disorder symptoms and newlyweds' observed communication, partner characteristics, and longitudinal marital outcomes.

ABSTRACT: Given borderline personality disorder's (BPD) relation with interpersonal dysfunction, there is substantial interest in understanding BPD's effect on marriage. The current study used data from a community sample of 172 newlywed couples to examine spouses' BPD symptoms in relation to their observed communication, partner BPD symptoms, 4-year marital quality trajectories, and 10-year divorce rates. BPD symptoms were correlated cross-sectionally with more negative skills during observational problem-solving and social support tasks, and spouses reporting more BPD symptoms were married to partners reporting more BPD symptoms. Longitudinally, hierarchical linear modeling of newlyweds' 4-year marital trajectories indicated that BPD symptoms predicted the intercept of marital quality for spouses

SUBMITTER: Lavner JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4658245 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature