Maternal Borderline Personality Disorder and Risk of Child Maltreatment

Abstract

A community‐based cross‐sectional study was conducted to explore the relationship between parental personality disorder and child maltreatment. This article reports on the findings of a study focusing on a subsample of 46 maltreating mothers who had all been referred for psychological assessment in the context of care proceedings. Of the 46 mothers, 13 met the full diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Of the remaining 33 mothers, 18 presented with strong features of BPD but did not meet the full criteria and 18 presented with no significant features of BPD. Results indicated that maltreating mothers with diagnosed BPD were more likely than those with BPD features and those with no significant features to have engaged in the perpetration of physical and multiple (physical abuse and neglect) types of child maltreatment. No association was found between BPD and child neglect alone. Compared to the two other groups, mothers with BPD were identified as a particularly traumatised subgroup. The tentative conclusion that may be drawn from these findings is that maltreating mothers with BPD may represent a particularly high‐risk subgroup. The results are discussed with reference to existing empirical research. Implications for clinical practice and future research are then considered. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Messages BPD is a risk factor for interpersonal violence. Results of this study suggest that BPD may also be a risk factor for the perpetration of physical child abuse and multiple maltreatment (physical abuse and neglect) amongst mothers involved in care proceedings. Maltreating mothers with BPD may represent a particularly high‐risk subgroup.

The Impact of Personality Pathology Across Three Generations: Evidence From the St. Louis Personality and Intergenerational Network Study

“…Genetic vulnerabilities to PD symptoms and related problems likely interact with adverse environments, and adverse environments are more likely to occur in families of individuals with high levels of personality pathology (Fatimah et al, 2020;Laulik et al, 2013;Wilson & Durbin, 2012). At the family level, parental personality pathology may also increase risk for child psychopathology via perpetration of abuse and/or neglect, exposure to relationship violence, and creation of coercive or invalidating family environments that maladaptively reinforce children's emotional and behavioral problems (Beauchaine et al, 2009;Johnson et al, 2006;Laulik et al, 2013Laulik et al, , 2016Paul et al, 2019;Stepp et al, 2011). Genetic risk may be exacerbated by poor parenting practices, which are often included in theoretical and statistical models of familial transmission of personality pathology and related constructs (Adshead, 2015;Oliver et al, 2009;Shaw & Starr, 2019) and commonly implicated in the development of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology in children (Pinquart, 2017a(Pinquart, , 2017b.…”

Children and Families and the Care System

“…The study sample included 46 mothers (13 met the full diagnostic criteria for BPD), 15 had significant but subclinical features of BPD and 18 had no BPD features (Laulik et al ., , p. 1). The study results found that all mothers with a diagnosis of BPD self‐reported having experienced physical abuse in childhood and nearly half had been in care as a child.…”

“…Laulik et al . () undertook a retrospective case file analysis using data from the psychological reports of mothers who had undertaken court‐mandated psychosocial assessments.…”

“…In a second paper looking at maternal BPD, Sarah Laulik et al . () report on a small cross‐sectional study which was undertaken to explore the relationship between maternal personality disorder and child maltreatment, focusing on a sample of mothers involved in care proceedings. This paper provides a very useful overview of BPD and the associated parenting difficulties.…”

“…The study results found that all mothers with a diagnosis of BPD self‐reported having experienced physical abuse in childhood and nearly half had been in care as a child. Results revealed that maltreating mothers diagnosed with BPD were more likely than mothers with BPD features or no significant features of BPD ‘to have engaged in the perpetration of physical and multiple (physical abuse and neglect) types of child maltreatment’ (Laulik et al ., , p. 300). Thus the authors conclude that maltreating mothers with BPD are ‘a particularly traumatised subgroup’ (p. 300) and tentatively suggest that they ‘may represent a particularly high‐risk subgroup’ (p. 300).…”