Borderline personality: Traits and disorder

Although the 5-factor model (FFM) has been advocated as an alternative to r epresenting the construct of borderline personality. some argue that this d iagnosis carries essential information that is not well captured by the FFM . The present study examined antecedent. concurrent, and predictive markers of construct validity in a sample of 362 patients with personality disorde rs. The results indicated that neuroticism best distinguished borderline an d nonborderline patients, whereas the FFM as a whole captured a sizable pro portion of the variance in the borderline diagnosis. However, the residual of the borderline diagnosis that was not explained by the FFM was found to be significantly related to childhood abuse history, family history of mood and substance use disorders, concurrent symptoms, and 2-year and 4-year ou tcomes. Thus. some elements of the borderline diagnosis may not be fully ca ptured in a 5-factor representation.