Biparental failure in the childhood experiences of borderline patients

The purpose of this study was to assess the role of biparental abuse and ne glect in the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD). A semist ructured research interview was used to blindly assess the childhood experi ences of biparental abuse and neglect reported by 358 borderline inpatients and 109 axis II controls. Eighty-four percent of borderline patients repor ted having experienced some type of biparental abuse or neglect before the age of 18; 55% reported a childhood history of biparental abuse; 77% report ed a childhood history of biparental neglect. These experiences were also r eported by a substantial percentage of Axis II controls (biparental abuse o r neglect [61%], biparental abuse [31%], and biparental neglect [55%]). How ever, borderline patients were significantly more likely than axis II contr ols to report having been verbally, emotionally, and physically but not sex ually abused by caretakers of both sexes. They were also significantly more likely than controls to report having caretakers of both sexes deny the va lidity of their thoughts and feelings, fail to provide them with needed pro tection, neglect their physical care, withdraw from them emotionally, and t reat them inconsistently, It was also found that female borderlines who rep orted a previous history of neglect by a female caretaker and abuse by a ma le caretaker were at significantly higher risk for having been sexually abu sed by a noncaretaker, Taken together, the results of this study suggest th at biparental failure may be a significant factor in the etiology of BPD. T hey also suggest that biparental failure may significantly increase a prebo rderline girl's risk of being sexually abused by someone other than her par ents.