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A Preliminary Examination of the Role of Emotion Differentiation in the Relationship Between Borderline Personality and Urges for Maladaptive Behaviors

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Abstract

Impulsive, maladaptive, and potentially self-damaging behaviors are a hallmark feature of borderline personality (BP) pathology. Difficulties with emotion regulation have been implicated in both BP pathology and maladaptive behaviors. One facet of emotion regulation that may be particularly important in the relation between BP pathology and urges for maladaptive behaviors is emotion differentiation. Over 1 day, 84 participants high (n = 34) and low (n = 50) in BP pathology responded to questions regarding state emotions and urges to engage in maladaptive behaviors using handheld computers, in addition to a measure of emotion-related difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors. Results revealed that individuals high in BP pathology reported greater emotion-related impulsivity as well as daily urges to engage in maladaptive behaviors. However, the association between BP group and both baseline emotion-related impulsivity and daily urges for maladaptive behaviors was strongest among individuals who had low levels of positive emotion differentiation. Conversely, negative emotion differentiation did not significantly moderate the relationships between BP group and either emotion-related difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors or state urges for maladaptive behaviors. Limitations to the present study include the reliance upon an analogue sample and the relatively brief monitoring period. Despite limitations, these results suggest that, among individuals with high BP pathology, the ability to differentiate between positive emotions may be a particularly important target in the reduction of maladaptive behaviors.

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Notes

  1. When BP group is examined as the moderator, tests of the slopes of the regression lines revealed that the relationship between positive emotion differentiation and DERS-IMPULSE was significant for the high-BP group (b = −2.71, SE = 0.96, t = −2.83, p = 0.01), but not the low-BP group (b = −0.31, SE = 0.38, t = −0.81, p = 0.42).

  2. When BP group is examined as the moderator, tests of the slopes of the regression lines revealed that the relationship between positive emotion differentiation and state urges for maladaptive behaviors was significant for the high-BP group (b = −0.15, SE = 0.07, t = −2.07, p = 0.04), but not the low-BP group (b = 0.01, SE = 0.03, t = 0.20, p = 0.84).

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by a President’s Research Grant from Simon Fraser University and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Small Research Grant awarded to the second author, and a grant from the National Institutes of Health (T32DA019426) awarded to the third author. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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This study received approval by the university’s Research Ethics Board.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State St., Jackson, MS, 39216, USA

    Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon

  2. Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive (RCB5246), Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6

    Alexander L. Chapman

  3. School of Medicine, Yale University, 389 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT 06511, USA

    Nicole H. Weiss

  4. Duke University, DUMC (3026), 2213 Elba St., Durham, NC, 27710, USA

    M. Zachary Rosenthal

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  1. Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon
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Correspondence to Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon.

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Dixon-Gordon, K.L., Chapman, A.L., Weiss, N.H. et al. A Preliminary Examination of the Role of Emotion Differentiation in the Relationship Between Borderline Personality and Urges for Maladaptive Behaviors. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 36, 616–625 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-014-9423-4

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