Structural Equation Modeling of Borderline Personality Disorder Based on Cognitive Fusion, Acceptance and Action, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation with the Mediating Role of Self-Differentiation

This study aimed to model structural equations of borderline personality disorder based on cognitive fusion, acceptance and action, and difficulties in emotion regulation with the mediating role of self-differentiation. This correlational study involved a sample of 200 students from Sanandaj Islamic Azad University, selected using convenience sampling. Data were collected using the Borderline Personality Disorder Questionnaire, Garnefski's Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Bond's Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, Gillanders' Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire, and Skowron's Self-Differentiation Questionnaire. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, questionnaires were distributed in both printed (30 participants) and electronic forms (170 participants). Data analysis was performed using correlation methods, structural equations, confirmatory factor analysis, and Cronbach's alpha with SPSS20, LISREL8, and AMOS8 software.The findings indicated significant relationships between acceptance and action, self-differentiation, cognitive emotion regulation, and cognitive fusion with borderline personality disorder. Acceptance and action, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and cognitive fusion, mediated by self-differentiation, could predict borderline personality disorder. The results highlight the interconnected nature of psychological damages; indeed, cognitive emotion regulation and cognitive fusion, aided by self-differentiation, challenge borderline personality disorder. Therefore, in predicting the factors of borderline personality disorders, special attention should always be given to the variables of cognitive emotion regulation, acceptance and action, cognitive fusion, and self-differentiation.