Am J Psychiatry 1993; 150:1832-1835
Copyright © 1993 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychopathology in the families of children and adolescents with borderline personality disorder
SJ Goldman, EJ D'Angelo and DR DeMaso
Children's Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA 02115.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether rates of
psychopathology differed between the families of a group of children and
adolescents with borderline personality disorder and the families of a
psychiatric comparison group. METHOD: The rates of psychiatric disorders in
the families of 44 child and adolescent outpatients with borderline
personality disorder were compared with the rates in the families of a
psychiatric comparison group of 100 children and adolescents, none of whom
had a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Psychopathology in
family members was ascertained by the family history method with the use of
information from semistructured interviews with the subjects in the two
study groups and with their parents or guardians. The adults were
systematically interviewed regarding specific DSM-III-R disorders in their
families. RESULTS: The families of the patients with borderline personality
disorder had significantly greater rates of psychopathology, particularly
in the areas of depressive, substance abuse, and antisocial disorders.
CONCLUSIONS: The finding of higher rates of psychopathology among the
family members of the group with borderline personality disorder supports
the hypothesis that a history of significant family psychopathology is
associated with the disorder.
