Am J Psychiatry 1992; 149:1723-1726
Copyright © 1992 by American Psychiatric Association
Physical and sexual abuse histories among children with borderline personality disorder
SJ Goldman, EJ D'Angelo, DR DeMaso and E Mezzacappa
Children's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA 02115.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to determine whether a history of
physical or sexual abuse is more common in children with borderline
personality disorder than in other children evaluated in the same
outpatient psychiatric clinic. METHOD: The authors contrasted rates of
abuse in 44 children diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and in
100 comparison children. RESULTS: The borderline personality disorder group
had a significantly greater prevalence of physical and combined
physical/sexual abuse. Sexual abuse rates alone did not differ
significantly between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The finding of greater abuse in
the group with borderline personality disorder supports the hypothesis that
a history of trauma is associated with the disorder.
