ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Personality Disorders
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1646158
This article is part of the Research TopicBorderline Personality Disorder: Insights into Etiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment StrategiesView all articles
Accumulated Life.me Violence Load and Interpersonal Problems Among Suicidal Women with Emo.onally Unstable Personality Disorder
Provisionally accepted
Fredrik Gustafsson1,2*
Adrian Desai Boström2,3
Alexander Wilczek4
Matilda Naesström2Mia Scharp2
Marie Åsberg4
Jussi Jokinen2,3- 1Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- 2Umea universitet Institutionen for Klinisk vetenskap, Umeå, Sweden
- 3Karolinska Institutet Institutionen for klinisk neurovetenskap, Stockholm, Sweden
- 4Karolinska Institutet Institutionen for kliniska vetenskaper Danderyds sjukhus, Stockholm, Sweden
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Background: Patients with emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD) report increased use and exposure to interpersonal violence and experience significant interpersonal difficulties. The relationship between the type of self-reported interpersonal problems and interpersonal violence among individuals with EUPD remains unclear. This study investigates the association between interpersonal problems and the cumulative lifetime violence burden among suicidal women with EUPD. Methods: The study included 103 women diagnosed with EUPD who had attempted suicide at least twice. The inventory of Interpersonal problems (IIP) and the Karolinska Interpersonal Violence Scale (KIVS) were used to assess interpersonal problems and lifetime violence load. The eight IIP subscales were grouped into two factors: Factor 1 (Domineering; Vindictive; Cold; Social avoidant) and Factor 2 (Nonassertive; Exploitable; Overly nurturant, and Intrusive). Results: The mean T-scores for IIP subscales ranged from 56 to 63, while the KIVS total score varied from 0 to 19, with a mean of 7.63. Cumulative lifetime violence burden was significantly associated with IIP Factor 1 (Spearman’s rho=0.26, p=0.0081), but not with IIP Factor 2 (r=0.014, p=0.89). Linear regression analysis revealed that Factor 1 (t=2.99, p=0.0039) and global assessment of functioning (GAF) (t=-2.26, p=0.027) significantly predicted accumulated lifetime interpersonal violence. Further post-hoc analysis showed that individuals with higher violence burdens exhibited significantly greater interpersonal problems in the three domains of Factor 1 - Domineering/Controlling, Vindictive/Self-centered, and Cold/Distant. Conclusions: Specific Interpersonal problems and low functioning seem to be associated with cumulative lifetime violence burden among suicidal women with EUPD. These interpersonal traits may serve as key targets for treatment and prevention.
Keywords: Höger: 0, 63 cm Emo>onally unstable personality disorder, Women, Suicide aeempt, Suicide, Vic>ms of violence, Perpetrators of violence, Interpersonal problems
Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 13 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gustafsson, Desai Boström, Wilczek, Naesström, Scharp, Åsberg and Jokinen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fredrik Gustafsson, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
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