Objective

Borderline personality disorder in adolescence remains a controversial construct. We addressed concerns about the prognostic significance of adolescent borderline pathology by testing whether borderline symptoms at age 12 years predict functioning during the transition to adulthood, at age 18 years, in areas critical to life-course development.

Method

We studied members of the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, which tracks the development of a birth cohort of 2,232 British twin children. At age 12, study members' borderline symptoms were measured using mothers’ reports. At age 18, study members’ personality, psychopathology, functional outcomes, and experiences of victimization were measured using self-reports, coinformant reports, and official records.

Results

At age 18, study members who had more borderline symptoms at age 12 were more likely to have difficult personalities, to struggle with poor mental health, to experience poor functional outcomes, and to have become victims of violence. Reports of poor outcomes were corroborated by coinformants and official records. Borderline symptoms in study members at 12 years old predicted poor outcomes over and above other behavioral and emotional problems during adolescence. Twin analyses showed that borderline symptoms in 12-year-olds were influenced by familial risk, particularly genetic risk, which accounted for associations with most poor outcomes at age 18.

Conclusion

Borderline symptoms in 12-year-olds signal risk for pervasive poor functioning during the transition to adulthood. This association is driven by genetic influences, suggesting that borderline symptoms and poor outcomes are manifestations of shared genetic risk.

中文翻译：

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12 岁时的边缘症状预示着过渡到成年期间不良结果的风险：遗传敏感纵向队列研究的结果。

客观的

青春期的边缘型人格障碍仍然是一个有争议的概念。我们通过测试 12 岁时的临界症状是否能预测到 18 岁时对生命历程发展至关重要的区域的功能，来解决对青少年临界病理学预后意义的担忧。

方法

我们研究了环境风险 (E-Risk) 纵向双胞胎研究的成员，该研究跟踪了 2,232 名英国双胞胎儿童的出生队列的发展。在 12 岁时，使用母亲的报告测量研究成员的临界症状。在 18 岁时，研究成员的性格、精神病理学、功能结果和受害经历通过自我报告、共同报告和官方记录进行测量。

结果

在 18 岁时，在 12 岁时出现更多边缘症状的研究成员更有可能有困难的性格、与较差的心理健康作斗争、经历较差的功能结果以及成为暴力的受害者。不良结果的报告得到了共同提供者和官方记录的证实。研究成员在 12 岁时的边缘症状预示着比青春期其他行为和情绪问题更糟糕的结果。双胞胎分析表明，12 岁儿童的边缘症状受到家族风险的影响，尤其是遗传风险，这与 18 岁时的大多数不良结果有关。

结论

12 岁儿童的边缘症状表明在向成年过渡期间存在普遍功能不良的风险。这种关联是由遗传影响驱动的，这表明边缘症状和不良结果是共同遗传风险的表现。