Childhood Maltreatment and Borderline Personality Pathology Among Young Women: The Buffering Role of Autobiographical Reasoning About Childhood Experiences.

Abstract

According to narrative identity theory, the meaning and importance given to childhood events within one's life story (i.e., autobiographical reasoning [AR]) may help explain why only some individuals who experience childhood maltreatment (CM) develop borderline personality (BP) pathology. We test this hypothesis by examining whether AR about childhood emotional experiences, particularly perceived event centrality and meaning-making, moderate relations between CM and BP symptoms, BP traits, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a diverse sample of 216 young women with a previous mental health diagnosis. Participants wrote recollections of negative emotional childhood events, rated the centrality of each recollection, and described the meaning of these events in their life story. Lower event centrality and positive meaning-making predicted less BP but not PTSD symptoms, with event centrality buffering the impact of CM. Findings highlight the potential utility of narrative identity theory, particularly AR, in understanding and treating BPD in the context of childhood maltreatment.