Abstract
Recognizable symptoms and features of borderline personality disorder (BPD) appear during adolescence. However, there has
been resistance to diagnose or research this disorder prior to adulthood because of clinical lore that BPD is a long-standing
illness and that personality traits are not stable until adulthood. This has resulted in little information regarding the
development of and risk factors for BPD in youth. The goal of this special section is to examine the development of BPD in
adolescence and young adulthood using a broad collection of approaches, including a theoretical review paper, two prospective
studies, and a multi-method cross-sectional study. This body of work provides new insights into vulnerabilities that may transact
with early attachment relationships and experiences to predict the emergence of BPD in adolescence and young adulthood. These
papers also point to future research that is needed to better understand the etiology, development, and course of BPD.
been resistance to diagnose or research this disorder prior to adulthood because of clinical lore that BPD is a long-standing
illness and that personality traits are not stable until adulthood. This has resulted in little information regarding the
development of and risk factors for BPD in youth. The goal of this special section is to examine the development of BPD in
adolescence and young adulthood using a broad collection of approaches, including a theoretical review paper, two prospective
studies, and a multi-method cross-sectional study. This body of work provides new insights into vulnerabilities that may transact
with early attachment relationships and experiences to predict the emergence of BPD in adolescence and young adulthood. These
papers also point to future research that is needed to better understand the etiology, development, and course of BPD.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-5
- DOI 10.1007/s10802-011-9594-3
- Authors
- Stephanie D. Stepp, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 3811 O’Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Journal Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
- Online ISSN 1573-2835
- Print ISSN 0091-0627