Influence of parental rejection on borderline personality disorder

Abstract

Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental disorder that affects individuals' life adversely. An explanatory sequential mixed method research was employed to understand the influence of parental rejection on BPD in the Bangladesh context. The present study had two phases: Quantitative and qualitative phases. In quantitative phase 40 adult participants of diagnosed BPD patients were selected from the outpatient department of Psychiatry of five different hospitals and clinic of Bangladesh by purposive sampling technique. The researcher applied the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis-II (SCID-II) - BPD questionnaire, a demographic questionnaire, and Adult version of Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire (PARQ) for Father and Mother on BPD patients. Result showed that 67.5% participants faced rejection from both parents and 32.5% faced rejection from at least one parent. Results also showed, maternal (r = .304, p = .028) and paternal (r = .210, p = .044) rejection were positively correlated with BPD. The hostility of mother was also significantly correlated with BPD (r = 0.489, p = .001). R 2 = .239 indicated 23.9% of the variance in BPD severity can be explained by mother’s hostility [F (1, 38) = 11.960; p < .001]. From quantitative phase, 22 participants were selected purposively for the next qualitative phase. A semi-structured in-depth interview was undertaken. The grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data through open coding, axial coding, and selective coding and data were analyzed by Nvivo-10 software. Qualitative findings explored 65 different types of subjective experiences of perceived parental rejection that are associated with BPD. Seven broad behavioral patterns of parents were explored that directly influence the development of BPD from the participants' perspectives. The behavioral patterns were authoritarianism, hostility, neglect, lack of affection, lack of validation, lack of acceptance and lack of protection. A theoretical model was developed that explain the process of BPD development due to parental rejection. Overall findings suggested that perceived parental rejection might have made an influence on BPD development. Employing the findings, mental health service providers might become aware of the parent's role about one of the risk factors of BPD that might contribute as a preventive measure.