Borderline personality disorder among cannabis users and its association with demographic variables

The abuse and chronic use of cannabis is associated with several physical and psychological adverse effects including depression and anxiety. Substance abuse is likely to be associated with increased frequency of borderline personality disorder. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of borderline personality disorder among engineering students, its severity and association with demographic variables.

This descriptive cross-sectional study included 100 engineering students who were determined as cannabis abusers using DSM-5 criteria. These participants were evaluated for borderline personality disorder with borderline personality inventory (BPI) and based on the score were grouped as low probability of being a borderline personality, average probability of being a borderline personality and very likely to be borderline personality. Demographic information of the participants such as gender, age, town of residence and education were also collected in a research questionnaire for evaluation.

Of 100 participants, 68% were males and 32% were females and the mean age of the participants was 24.1 ± 3.75 years. 54% participants had low probability, 37% had medium and 9% had high probability of borderline personality disorder. The incidence and severity of borderline personality disorder was not significantly associated with the gender, education, and area of residence p > 0.05, however it was significantly associated with the age, respectively.

Our study showed that about 9% of the participants had high probability of borderline personality disorder regardless of their gender, education, and town of residence. Further studies with different age groups and larger sample size are required in this field.