Destructive pattern of parenting in parents with children suffering from borderline personality disorder: A Qualitative Study

Theories and empirical studies in the development of BPD posit that adverse family context, in which dysfunctional parenting is obvious, is associated with symptoms of BPD. So far, most studies in this area have been focused on retrospective reports of BPD patients from their childhood environment. Due to the limitations of this type of studies and the lack of in-depth study in this area, the present study was conducted to discover and describe parenting in families with offspring suffering from BPD. A qualitative study design using a content analysis approach was used to gather and analyze data. A purposive sample of family members of BPD patients was made. Data were collected by conducting fifteen in-depth unstructured interviews. The recorded conversations of the interviews were written word by word and data analysis was done by administering coding and categorizing strategies. After analyzing the data, "Destructive pattern of parenting" was extracted as the main theme. This theme includes 6 categories: "Physical and emotional maltreatment of children", "Over strict control", "Lack of parental care", "Instability in dealing with children", "Child-centered treatment" and "Prevention of children's autonomy". The results showed that, it seems the dominant behavioral patterns of parents of these people have been inappropriate and destructive which indicates the link between destructive parenting and BPD in offspring. The results, on one hand, emphasize the role of parental behavioral and interactive patterns in the emergence of BPD traits and on the other hand, it highlights the presence of traumatic characteristics in these patients’ families.