OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to test clinical hypotheses
about the role of emotional neglect and overprotection in the childhood of
patients with borderline personality disorder. METHOD: The subjects were
male and female borderline (N = 62) and nonborderline (N = 99) patients
from a general hospital psychiatric clinic and a university student mental
health clinic. Both groups were administered the Parental Bonding
Instrument, which measures subjects' recollections of parenting on
dimensions of care and protection. RESULTS: The findings showed that the
patients with borderline personality disorder remembered both their fathers
and their mothers as having been significantly less caring and more
controlling than did the nonborderline patients. The results were the same
for male and female subjects and for subjects from both sites. CONCLUSIONS:
The recollections provide support for psychodynamic theories about the
childhood of borderline patients and for a theory of biparental failure in
the development of borderline pathology.Abstract Teaser