Citation

Sommerfeld E, Shechory Bitton M. Front. Psychol. 2020; 11: e44.

Affiliation

Department of Criminology, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Frontiers Research Foundation)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00044

PMID

32038443

PMCID

PMC6992554

Abstract

This study used mediation analyses to examine the assumption that the presence of borderline personality features mediates the relationship between rejection sensitivity (RS), self-compassion, and aggressive behavior. Sixty adults consisting of 31 participants diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and 29 participants with no diagnosis of borderline personality disorder were assessed for RS, self-compassion, aggressive behavior, and borderline personality features. Mediation was found for the total aggression score, anger score, and hostility score regarding both self-compassion and RS. Mediation was also found regarding RS and verbal and physical aggression, and regarding self-compassion and verbal and physical aggression. These findings provide evidence that the presence of borderline personality features is an important factor in explaining the associations linking RS and self-compassion to aggressive behavior. High RS and low self-compassion are associated with greater borderline personality features, which in turn relate to increased aggressive behavior.

Copyright © 2020 Sommerfeld and Shechory Bitton.

Language: en

Keywords

aggressive behavior; borderline; personality and behavior; rejection-sensitivity; self-compassion