Title page for ETD etd-06292009-194702

Type of Document

Dissertation

Author

James, Lisa Marie

URN

etd-06292009-194702

Title

An Examination of the Link Between Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation in an Analogue Sample of Women with Borderline Personality Disorder

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Psychology, Department of

Advisory Committee

Advisor Name	Title
Jeanette Taylor	Committee Chair
Jon Maner	Committee Member
Joyce Carbonell	Committee Member
Natalie Sachs-Ericsson	Committee Member
John Taylor	Outside Committee Member

Keywords

Vagal Tone
Attentional Disengagement
Borderline Personality Disorder
Behavioral Dysregulation
Emotional Dysregulation

Date of Defense

2009-05-18

Availability

unrestricted

Abstract

Linehan’s (1993) biosocial theory of borderline personality disorder (BPD) posits that (1) behavioral dysregulation results from emotion dysregulation, and (2) emotion dysregulation is due, in part, to attentional biases. The primary goal of this study was to examine these tenets in young adult women with BPD and control subjects. College female students were screened for BPD symptoms to determine eligibility for the laboratory portion of the study. A total of 84 women completed the study, which included a series of mood manipulations, several tasks assessing behavioral dysregulation, and a measure of attentional bias. Psychophysiolgoical data (heart rate and skin conductance) were also collected as objective indices of emotional regulation and arousal. Analyses indicated that the groups (BPD vs. control) differed meaningfully and as expected on several self-report measures associated with BPD; however, there were relatively few differences on objective measures of emotional and behavioral dysregulation. There were no significant group differences in attentional biases. The present results provide limited support for the biosocial theory in nonclinical young adults.

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