Distress Tolerance, Impulsivity and Aggression: The Role of Emotional Dysregulation and Reward Sensitivity in Individuals With Borderline Personality Disorder Features

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to predict distress tolerance, impulsivity, and aggression based on emotional dysregulation and reward sensitivity among individuals with BPD features.

The study population was undergraduate students of Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year 2017-18. A total of 1005 male and female students were chosen based on the available sampling method and were screened according to the personality assessment inventory-borderline scale. Finally, 146 subjects (50 males and 96 females) could reach the second phase of the research, and all of them completed the difficulties in emotion regulation scale, distress tolerance scale, Balloon analog risk task as well as aggression questionnaire. To analyze the data, we used multivariate regression analysis.

Results of the current research showed that emotional dysregulation and its components had a predictive role in distress tolerance and aggression. On the other hand, only reward sensitivity could have an essential role in predicting impulsivity in individuals with BPD features.

This study reflects the remarkable role of emotional regulation mechanisms in distress tolerance and aggression, and in contrast, the role of biological mechanisms such as sensitivity to reward in impulsivity among individuals with BPD features. Furthermore, the present research results can have clinical implications considering both etiology and treatment of BPD patients.