Childhood Trauma as a Risk Factor for High Risk Behaviors in Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder

Childhood trauma is associated with many major short-term and lifelong consequences, such as deterioration of mental health, higher frequency of affective dysregulation, changes in consciousness and attention, personality disorders, etc. Therefore, this study aims to examine childhood trauma as a possible factor in the incidence of high risk behaviors in adolescents with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

120 individuals aged 12-18 years were selected based on purposive sampling and included in the research group (including 60 BPD adolescents and 60 non-BPD adolescents). After receiving ethical approval from official institutions, data was collected from the participants through demographic, childhood trauma, sexual addiction screening, eating attitudes, RAFFT, and suicidal behavior questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using chi-square test, independent t-test, prevalence, odds ratio and correlation analyses using the SPSS V21.0 software.

All adolescents with BPD had experienced some forms of psychotraumatic events in childhood. The BPD group experienced more traumatic events than the non-BPD group (P < 0.05). After controlling for gender, age and years of education, all differences remained significant. Furthermore, statistically significant correlations were found between the scores of the emotional abuse and eating disorders scales in the group of girls with BPD (r = 0.788, P < 0.01). Moderate correlations were discovered between emotional abuse and suicidal behaviors in boys with BPD (r = 0.641, P < 0.01). Moreover, it was found that the most significant factors in the formation of addictive behaviors among adolescents with BPD were emotional abuse (r = 0.527) and emotional neglect (r = 0.513, P < 0.05).

These findings reinforce the role of childhood trauma in the formation of BPD symptoms during adolescence. Successful detection of the earliest risk factors in the form of childhood trauma and its different forms can provide specific high risk behavior targets for early intervention.