Download pdf
Risky Sexual Behavior among Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Mini Review
- 1 University of Ottawa
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This mini-review explores various forms of risky sexual behavior (RSB) among adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), emphasizing the neurodevelopmental factors, family dynamics, and peer influences that contribute to these behaviors. Adolescents with BPD often experience emotional dysregulation and impulsivity, which increase their vulnerability to engaging in RSB, including promiscuity, unprotected sex, and sexting. A neurodevelopmental perspective highlights the role of brain immaturity in exacerbating impulsivity and emotional sensitivity during adolescence. Additionally, family structures, particularly emotionally abusive environments and insecure attachments, significantly contribute to the onset of BPD symptoms and related RSB. Peer influence, especially through social networks promoting risky sexual norms, further exacerbates these behaviors. Finally, RSB's detrimental impact on adolescent mental health, including increased emotional instability and vulnerability to victimization, is discussed. Future research should focus on interventions that target both familial and peer-related factors to mitigate RSB among adolescents with BPD.
Keywords
Borderline Personality Disorder, Risky Sexual Behavior, Adolescents, Peer Influence, Childhood Trauma
[1]. American Psychiatric Association (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edn, Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
[2]. Chang, C. C., Chen, M. H., Bai, Y. M., Tsai, S. J., Chen, T. J., & Liou, Y. J. (2024). Elevated risk of sexually transmitted infections among adolescents and young adults with borderline personality disorder: a retrospective longitudinal nationwide population-based study. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 10.1007/s00787-024-02464-0. Advance online publication.
[3]. Bégin, M., Ensink, K., Bellavance, K., Clarkin, J. F., & Normandin, L. (2022). Risky Sexual Behavior Profiles in Youth: Associations With Borderline Personality Features. Frontiers in psychology, 12, 777046.
[4]. Thompson, K. N., Betts, J., Jovev, M., Nyathi, Y., McDougall, E., & Chanen, A. M. (2019). Sexuality and sexual health among female youth with borderline personality disorder pathology. Early intervention in psychiatry, 13(3), 502–508.
[5]. Choukas-Bradley, S., Hipwell, A. E., Roberts, S. R., Maheux, A. J., & Stepp, S. D. (2020). Developmental Trajectories of Adolescent Girls' Borderline Personality Symptoms and Sexual Risk Behaviors. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 48(12), 1649–1658.
[6]. Penner, F., Wall, K., Jardin, C., Brown, J. L., Sales, J. M., & Sharp, C. (2019). A study of risky sexual behavior, beliefs about sexual behavior, and sexual self-efficacy in adolescent inpatients with and without borderline personality disorder. Personality disorders, 10(6), 524–535.
[7]. Zashchirinskaia, O., & Isagulova, E. (2023). Childhood Trauma as a Risk Factor for High Risk Behaviors in Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder. Iranian journal of psychiatry, 18(1), 65–71.
[8]. Lanfredi, M., Macis, A., Ferrari, C., Meloni, S., Pedrini, L., Ridolfi, M. E., Zonca, V., Cattane, N., Cattaneo, A., & Rossi, R. (2021). Maladaptive behaviours in adolescence and their associations with personality traits, emotion dysregulation and other clinical features in a sample of Italian students: a cross-sectional study. Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation, 8(1), 14.
[9]. Brinkley, D. Y., Ackerman, R. A., Ehrenreich, S. E., & Underwood, M. K. (2017). Sending and receiving text messages with sexual content: Relations with early sexual activity and borderline personality features in late adolescence. Computers in Human Behavior, 70, 119-130.
[10]. Sesar, K., Dodaj, A., & Vučić, M. (2023). The relationship between sexting, risky sexual behaviour and features of borderline personality disorder. Mediterranean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 11(1).
[11]. Victor, E. C., & Hariri, A. R. (2016). A neuroscience perspective on sexual risk behavior in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Development and psychopathology, 28(2), 471–487.
[12]. Hughes, A. E., Crowell, S. E., Uyeji, L., & Coan, J. A. (2012). A developmental neuroscience of borderline pathology: emotion dysregulation and social baseline theory. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 40(1), 21–33.
[13]. Xiao, Q., Wang, X., Yi, X., Fu, Y., Ding, J., Jiang, F., Wang, J., Han, Z., & Chen, B. T. (2023). Alteration of surface morphology and core features in adolescents with borderline personality disorder. Journal of affective disorders, 333, 86–93.
[14]. Yi, X., Fu, Y., Zhang, Z., Jiang, F., Xiao, Q., & Chen, B. T. (2023). Altered regional homogeneity and its association with cognitive function in adolescents with borderline personality disorder. Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN, 48(1), E1–E10.
[15]. Linehan, M. M. (1993). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford Press.
[16]. Zanarini, M. C. (2000). Childhood experiences associated with the development of borderline personality disorder. The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 23(1), 89-101.
[17]. Bozzatello, P., Rocca, P., Baldassarri, L., Bosia, M., & Bellino, S. (2021). The Role of Trauma in Early Onset Borderline Personality Disorder: A Biopsychosocial Perspective. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 721361.
[18]. Kuo, J. R., Khoury, J. E., Metcalfe, R., Fitzpatrick, S., & Goodwill, A. (2015). An examination of the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and borderline personality disorder features: the role of difficulties with emotion regulation. Child abuse & neglect, 39, 147–155.
[19]. Schulze, A., Cloos, L., Zdravkovic, M., Lis, S., & Krause-Utz, A. (2022). On the interplay of borderline personality features, childhood trauma severity, attachment types, and social support. Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation, 9(1), 35.
[20]. Peng, W., Liu, Z., Liu, Q., Chu, J., Zheng, K., Wang, J., Wei, H., Zhong, M., Ling, Y., & Yi, J. (2021). Insecure attachment and maladaptive emotion regulation mediating the relationship between childhood trauma and borderline personality features. Depression and anxiety, 38(1), 28–39.
[21]. Gentzler, A. L., & Kerns, K. A. (2004). Associations between insecure attachment and sexual experiences. Personal Relationships, 11(2), 249–266.
[22]. Matusiewicz, A., Hopwood, C. J., Banducci, A. N., & Lejuez, C. W. (2014). The behavioral phenotype of disrupted interpersonal relationships in BPD. In C. Sharp & J. L. Tackett (Eds.), Handbook of borderline personality disorder in children and adolescents (pp. 185-214).
[23]. Asrese, K., & Mekonnen, A. (2018). Social network correlates of risky sexual behavior among adolescents in Bahir Dar and Mecha Districts, North West Ethiopia: An institution-based study. Reproductive Health, 15(61).
[24]. Pourmohammad, P., Imani, M. & Goodarzi, M.A. Personal distress mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and interpersonal vulnerabilities in individuals with borderline personality disorder. Curr Psychol 42, 30449–30460 (2023).
[25]. Zhao, D. (2023).Cultural Differences, Diagnosis, and the Intervention in Adolescence in Borderline Personality Disorder.Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media, 19, 65-73.
Cite this article
Chen,R. (2024). Risky Sexual Behavior among Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Mini Review. Advances in Social Behavior Research,11,46-49.
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Disclaimer/Publisher's Note
The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s). EWA Publishing and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content.
About volume
Volume title:
© 2024 by the author(s). Licensee EWA Publishing, Oxford, UK. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Authors who
publish this series agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the series right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this
series.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the series's published
version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial
publication in this series.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and
during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See
Open access policy for details).