Relationships of borderline features to parental mental illness, childhoodabuse, axis I disorder, and current functioning

Although a number of studies have investigated single, putative etiological factors for borderline personality disorder (BPD), few studies have assess ed the relations between multiple etiological factors and borderline featur es within the same study. Borderline features, parental psychopathology, ch ildhood physical and sexual abuse, lifetime Axis I disorder, and current fu nctioning were assessed in 65 nonclinical participants, a portion of which exhibited significant BPD features. Multivariate models were tested and res ults indicated that parental mental illness and lifetime Axis I disorder we re significant and unique predictors of borderline scores. Borderline featu res accounted for significant variance in current functioning beyond what w as accounted for by other predictors; borderline scores mediated the relati ons between lifetime Axis I disorder and current functioning.