Positive Association Between Reported Childhood Peer Teasing and Adult Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms

Abstract

The link between Borderline Personality Disorder and childhood maltreatment is well established, although little research has explored abuse outside the familial environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between adult borderline symptomatology and childhood peer teasing in a non-clinical sample. Two hundred and twelve participants (M=30.64 years, range 18 to 73; 76 % female) completed questionnaires assessing levels of current borderline symptomatology and retrospectively reported childhood abuse and teasing. Regression supported the hypothesis that childhood peer teasing would be significantly associated with adult borderline symptomatology, even after controlling for depression and other forms of childhood abuse. This unique finding highlights the importance of looking beyond familial influences when investigating Borderline Personality Disorder risk factors. Further research is needed to corroborate these findings and explore other sources of toxic childhood experience.

Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the Teasing Questionnaire 23

“…According to our findings, we can consider the TQ with 23 items and four factors of Appearance, Social, Height, and Academic as a proper tool for measuring teasing experiences. The importance of teasing experiences has been shown in a wide range of psychopathologies (Stitt et al, 2015;Lund and Ross, 2017), and TR-Q is an excellent scale for measuring multiple domains of teasing experiences. Overall, the Persian version of the TQ (TQP-23) can be widely used in psychological studies of disorders like depression, anxiety, and others in which teasing experiences have played a role.…”

“…Numerous studies have indicated a relationship between experiences of being teased during childhood and adult psychopathology (Roth et al, 2002;Storch et al, 2004;McCabe et al, 2010;Benas and Gibb, 2011;Stitt et al, 2015;Gregg et al, 2016;Zlomke et al, 2016;Szwimer et al, 2020). Being the victim of teasing and related experiences like verbal and emotional abuse has been associated with eating disorders, depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, substance abuse, cognitive bias, low self-concept, and low self-esteem (Storch et al, 2004;Kostanski and Gullone, 2007;Stitt et al, 2015;Zlomke et al, 2016;Lund and Ross, 2017).…”

“…Numerous studies have indicated a relationship between experiences of being teased during childhood and adult psychopathology (Roth et al, 2002;Storch et al, 2004;McCabe et al, 2010;Benas and Gibb, 2011;Stitt et al, 2015;Gregg et al, 2016;Zlomke et al, 2016;Szwimer et al, 2020). Being the victim of teasing and related experiences like verbal and emotional abuse has been associated with eating disorders, depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, substance abuse, cognitive bias, low self-concept, and low self-esteem (Storch et al, 2004;Kostanski and Gullone, 2007;Stitt et al, 2015;Zlomke et al, 2016;Lund and Ross, 2017). In addition, childhood teasing has been associated with increased symptoms of anxiety and depression in students (Roth et al, 2002;Storch et al, 2004;Strawser et al, 2005), non-clinical adults (Muris and Littel, 2005;Faith et al, 2008), and patients with anxiety disorders (McCabe et al, 2003(McCabe et al, , 2010.…”