Affective instability across the lifespan in borderline personality disorder - a cross-sectional e-diary study.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 0370364 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1600-0447 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 0001690X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Acta Psychiatr Scand Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Malden, MA : Wiley-Blackwell
Original Publication: Copenhagen : Munksgaard International Publishers

Ecological Momentary Assessment*; Affective Symptoms/*physiopathology ; Borderline Personality Disorder/*physiopathology; Adolescent ; Adult ; Affective Symptoms/etiology ; Age Factors ; Borderline Personality Disorder/complications ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Monitoring, Ambulatory ; Young Adult

Objective: Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies suggest that affective instability is inversely related to greater age in borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, existing studies relied on retrospective self-reports of perceived instability. We examined affective instability in everyday life in patients with BPD and healthy controls (HCs) by age in a cross-sectional e-diary study.
Methods: Two hundred and sixty female participants between 14 and 53 years of age (130 patients with BPD and 130 HCs) carried an e-diary over 4 days. The e-diaries emitted a prompting signal in approximately hourly intervals asking participants to rate their current affective state, that is valence (ranging from pleasant to unpleasant) and tense arousal (ranging from calm/relaxed to restless/under tension).
Results: Multilevel analyses revealed a significant interaction of age and group predicting affective instability (valence: F (1,255.6)  = 7.59; P < 0.01; tense arousal: F (1,252)  = 6.08; P < 0.01), suggesting that affective instability significantly declines with greater age in patients with BPD. Controlling for the number of comorbid disorders and BPD severity did not change the results, illustrating an inverse relationship between age and affective instability in BPD (significant interaction of age*group for valence: F (1,238.7)  = 5.74; P < 0.02 and tense arousal: F (1,235.2)  = 5.28; P < 0.02).
Conclusion: Affective instability during daily life declines with greater age in BPD. This decline is irrespective of comorbidity and BPD severity.
(© 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

EB 364/6-1 International German Research Foundation (DFG); EI 379/10-1 International German Research Foundation (DFG); International Dietmar Hopp Foundation, Germany

Keywords: affective instability; age; ambulatory assessment; borderline personality disorder; e-diary; ecological momentary assessment

Date Created: 20180828 Date Completed: 20191011 Latest Revision: 20191011

20240105

10.1111/acps.12950

30146733