The role of sense of coherence and loneliness in borderline personality disorder traits: a longitudinal twin study

Abstract

Background

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) implies having problems with identity and relations with other people. However, not much is known about whether these indications of BPD are present in adolescence, i.e., before personality disorders usually are diagnosed. In this study, we examined the prediction of an aspect of identity (i.e., sense of coherence [SOC]) and social relations (i.e., perceived loneliness) throughout adolescence on BPD traits in young adulthood. In addition, we examined to what degree the predictive ability could be attributed to genetic and environmental factors. We also examined whether life events in adolescence were related to BPD traits.

Methods

Three thousand three hundred ninety-one twins, consisting of seven national birth cohorts from Norway, participated in the study. SOC, loneliness and life events were measured three times throughout adolescence with self-report questionnaires, with 2 years in between measurements. BPD traits were measured at the end of adolescence around the age of 19 with a structured interview. Regression analyses were performed to examine the prediction of SOC, loneliness and life events on BPD traits. Cholesky decomposition models were then used to determine to what degree the associations were due to genetic and environmental influences.

Results

The prediction of SOC and loneliness on BPD traits increased from R = .25 (when measured 6 years prior to the assessment of BPD traits) to R = .45 (when measured shortly before the assessment of BPD traits). In addition, negative life events considered dependent on a person’s behavior were related to BPD traits. Negative independent and positive dependent life events did not contribute to the prediction of BPD traits. Cholesky decomposition models showed that SOC and loneliness were associated with BPD traits mainly due to shared genetic influences (i.e., the proportion due to genetic influences ranged from 71 to 86%). Adding negative dependent life events to the prediction of BPD traits did not change these percentages.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that the weaker SOC, the stronger feelings of loneliness, and the negative life events associated with BPD traits are mainly consequences of the genetic aspects of BPD traits, rather than having direct effects on levels of BPD symptoms.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40479-022-00190-0.