Developmental pathways to borderline personality disorder

Abstract

This paper reviews recent studies of biological and environmental risk and protective factors and patterns of continuity leading to borderline personality disorder (BPD). It focuses on prospective studies of children and adolescents and studies of young people with borderline pathology, reporting findings from genetics, neurobiology, experimental psychopathology, environmental risk, and precursor signs and symptoms. Studies of individuals earlier in the course of BPD demonstrate relatively consistent environmental risk factors, but neurobiological and experimental psychopathology findings are still inconsistent. Also, temperamental and mental state abnormalities that resemble aspects of the ..