Role Confusion and Disorientation in Young Adult-Parent Interaction Among Individuals With Borderline Symptomatology

Abstract

Borderline symptoms are thought to emerge from the interaction of temperamental factors and environmental stressors. Both parental invalidation and attachment disorganization have been hypothesized to play an etiological role. However, to date the quality of parent-child interaction has not been observed directly. In this study, 120 young adults were assessed for features of borderline personality disorder on the SCID II, for severity of childhood maltreatment on interview and self-report measures, and for disturbance in parent-child interaction during a videotaped conflict discussion task. Borderline traits, as well as suicidality/self-injury specifically, were associated with more role confusion and more disoriented behavior in interaction with the parent. Among young adults with recurrent suicidality/self-injury, 40% displayed high levels of role confusion compared to 16% of those who were not suicidal. Neither form of disturbed interaction mediated the independent effect of childhood abuse on borderline symptoms. A parent-child transactional model is proposed to account for the findings.

Disorganized attachment in young adulthood as a partial mediator of relations between severity of childhood abuse and dissociation

“…Interactions were videotaped and coded by coders naïve to all other data using the Goal-Corrected Partnership in Adolescence Coding System (GPACS; Lyons-Ruth, Hennighausen, et al, 2005). The development of the GPACS drew on prior literature describing behavioral manifestations of security, insecurity, controlling behavior, and behavioral disorganization among younger children toward their parents after brief separations.…”

“…HH states of mind have been validated in relation to prior experiences of abuse (Lyons–Ruth, Melnick, Atwood, & Yellin, 2003), in relation to disrupted communication between parent and child (Lyons-Ruth, Yellin et al, 2005), in relation to infant disorganized attachment (Melnick, Finger, Hans, Patrick, & Lyons-Ruth, 2008; Lyons-Ruth, Yellin et al, 2005), and in relation to maternal abuse or neglect of her child (Barone, Bramante, Lionettia, & Pastore, in press; Frigerio, Costantino, Ceppi, & Barone, 2013; Milot, Lorent, St-Laurent, Bernier, Tarabulsy, Lemelin, & Éthier, 2014). …”

“…Disorganized attachment was also assessed directly from young adult-parent interaction using the Goal-Corrected Partnership in Adolescence Coding System (GPACS; Lyons-Ruth, Hennighausen & Holmes, 2005). This measure has recently been validated as a measure of disorganized attachment at age 20 in relation to measures of parent-child attachment, romantic partner relationships, and psychopathology (Obsuth, Brumariu, Hennighausen, & Lyons-Ruth, 2014).…”

Parsing the construct of maternal insensitivity: distinct longitudinal pathways associated with early maternal withdrawal

“…Role-confusion in parent-adolescent interaction was significantly related to overall borderline features in adolescence and was particularly strongly related to recurrent suicidality or self-injury (Lyons-Ruth, Brumariu, Bureau, & Holmes, 2013). In addition, role-confusion in parent-adolescent interaction accounted for independent prediction in both borderline features and suicidality beyond variance in these outcomes accounted for by abuse experiences (Lyons-Ruth, Brumariu, et al, 2013). …”

“…Disorientation in interaction during adolescence was also associated with both borderline features and suicidality (Lyons-Ruth, Brumariu, et al, 2013). However, these relations were weaker and disorientation was also related to severity of abuse.…”