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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffPersonality is shaped by both inherited tendencies and environmental factors, or your experiences during childhood. Some factors related to personality development can increase your risk of developing borderline personality disorder. These include:
- Hereditary predisposition. You may be at a higher risk if a close family member — a mother, father or sibling — has the disorder.
- Childhood abuse. Many people with the disorder report being sexually or physically abused during childhood.
- Neglect. Some people with the disorder describe severe deprivation, neglect and abandonment during childhood.
Also, borderline personality disorder is diagnosed more often in women than in men.
- Borderline personality disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/borderline-personality-disorder-fact-sheet/index.shtml. Accessed March 4, 2010.
- Cluster B personality disorders. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2000. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed March 4, 2010.
- Skodol AE, et al. Personality disorders. In: Hales RE, et al., eds. The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychiatry. 5th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2008. http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Accessed March 4, 2010.
- Kernberg OF, et al. Borderline personality disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2009;166:5.
- Oldham JM. Guideline Watch: Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients With Borderline Personality Disorder. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association, 2005. Accessed March 4, 2010.
- Silk KR. Personality disorders. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 4, 2010.
- Hall-Flavin D (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. March 4, 2010.
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