Parents' emotional neglect and overprotection according to the recollections of patients with borderline personality disorder.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to test clinical hypotheses about the role of emotional neglect and overprotection in the childhood of patients with borderline personality disorder.

METHOD

The subjects were male and female borderline (N = 62) and nonborderline (N = 99) patients from a general hospital psychiatric clinic and a university student mental health clinic. Both groups were administered the Parental Bonding Instrument, which measures subjects' recollections of parenting on dimensions of care and protection.

RESULTS

The findings showed that the patients with borderline personality disorder remembered both their fathers and their mothers as having been significantly less caring and more controlling than did the nonborderline patients. The results were the same for male and female subjects and for subjects from both sites.

CONCLUSIONS

The recollections provide support for psychodynamic theories about the childhood of borderline patients and for a theory of biparental failure in the development of borderline pathology.