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The aim of the study was to develop a self-report measure that assesses borderline personality traits as defined by DSM-IV criteria, including separate subseales for each criterion. A sample of normal subjects from community colleges in the midwestern region of the United States was used to develop the scale. The psychometric properties of the scale were examined using an additional United States sample and student samples from England and Australia. The scale was compared with existing measures of borderline and schizotypal personality. Evidence for the internal consistency and convergent and divergent validity of the new scale is presented. The results of several analyses of variance comparing males and females in the three national groups are reported. A Principal Components Analysis of the subseales suggested either a single factor or two correlated factors. Oblique rotation yielded a structure that distinguished identity/interpersonal and impulsivity borderline personality traits. It is concluded that the new scale provides a useful tool for clinicians and researchers interested in screening for borderline personality traits in both general and clinical populations. Suggestions for further research are indicated.
The concept of borderline personality was originally formulated by psychoanalysts to describe those individuals who either fall within the border between sanity and insanity or are not amenable to psychoanalysis (Stern, 1938; Fenichel, 1945; Hoch & Polatin. 1949). In the years following the original formulation, the concept of borderline was broadly applied and became a "wastebasket" category for the diagnosis of broad psychiatric entities. Subsequent theorists, including Kernberg (1968). Grinker, Weble and Diye (1968), and Gunderson (1977; Gunderson & Singer, 1975), attempted to refine the concept. A major step towards bringing clarity to its usage was taken by Spitzer, Endicott, and Gibbon (1979) in their studies of the patient-ratings of 800 psychiatrists. These writers differentiated two forms of the general borderline condition. One type was associated with schizotypal, or schizophrenic-like symptomatology such as bizarre thought content and behaviors, the other with difficulties in self-identity, instability of affect, and poor interpersonal relationships. This distinction formed the basis of two types of personality disorder (PD) identified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-3rd edition (DSM-III: American Psychiatric Association. 1980) and labeled respectively Schizotypal Personality Disorder (SPD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). This distinction was retained in subsequent DSM...