The characteristics of affective intensity and cognitive emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder

Abstract

Objective To examine the characteristics of affective intensity and cognitive emotion regulation in subjects with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Methods The BPD subscale of personality disorder questionnaire(PDQ-4+ )was used to assess the BPD symptoms, the short affective intensity scale (SAIS) and cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire (CERQ) were used to measure affect intensity and cognitive emotion regulation strategy, respectively. 765 subjects with BPD and 776 healthy controls were selected. The independent-samples t test was used to analyze the differences between BPD group and controls and logistic regression analysis was used to examine the related factors affecting the BPD. Results Compared with the control group(negative intensity: (3.08±0.66), negative coping dimension: (37.20±5.94), BPD group got higher scores in negative intensity((3.88±0.74), t=22.29, P 0.8)and negative coping dimension((44.77±6.36), t=24.16, P 0.8). The logistic regression analysis showed that negative intensity(B=1.38, Exp(B)=3.97, 95% CI for EXP(B): 3.15~5.00, P<0.01) and negative cognitive regulations strategy(B=0.19, Exp(B)=1.21, 95% CI: 1.18-1.25, P<0.01) could affect the prevalence of BPD. Conclusion Subjects with BPD traits have more significant negative affective intensity and tend to use negative cognitive regulations strategy. Key words: Borderline personality disorder; Emotional intensity; Cognitive emotional regulation