Experiences of (young) women after out of home placement An examination of personality disorder symptoms through the lens of child maltreatment

BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment has been associated with the development of various mental health problems, including the development of personality disorders.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the association between child maltreatment and personality disorder symptoms in 125 women who transitioned out of residential care.

METHOD: The Child Trauma Questionnaire was used for the measurement of child maltreatment, and Personality disorder symptoms were measured using the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire 4 + . The Psychological Distress Index was used to control for symptoms of distress.

RESULTS: A Stepwise regression analysis showed that the majority of the associations were found between self-reported emotional abuse, neglect and personality disorder symptoms. Emotional abuse was significantly related to the Paranoid (β = .42, p<0.001), Schizoid (β = .18, p <0.05), Schizotypal (β = .18, p<0.05), Histrionic (β = .22, p<0.05), Avoidant (β = .31, p <  .001), Dependent (β = 0.31, p <  .001), Obsessive Compulsive (β = 0.29, p = .001), Passive Aggressive (β = 0.23, p<0.01) and the Depressive personality disorder (β = .38, p <  .001). Emotional neglect was significantly associated to the Borderline Personality Disorder (β = .32, p<0.001) and the Paranoid Personality Disorder (β =-0.22, p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The current study underlines the detrimental effects of childhood maltreatment, and in particular the effects of emotional abuse and neglect.