A Dimensional Understanding of Borderline Personality Disorder Using MMPI-2 PSY-5 Scales in Clinical Samples

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to understand borderline personality disorder (BPD) features by employing the Personality Psychopathology Five (PSY-5) scales from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). METHODS: A total of 156 psychiatric patients completed PSY-5 scales of MMPI-2 and Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline Subscale (PAI-BOR). Pearson’s partial correlation analysis was conducted to control the impact of age and gender and to determine the relationship between PSY-5 scales and BOR. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was implemented to examine whether PSY-5 scales predicted the BOR-total, and a path analysis was performed to determine whether PSY-5 scales predicted each PAI-BOR subscale. RESULTS: The BOR-total score had a significant correlation with all PSY-5 scores, even after controlling for age and gender. However, only aggressiveness (AGGR), disconstraint (DISC), negative emotionality/neuroticism (NEGE), and introversion/low positive emotionality (INTR), excluding psychoticism (PSYC), significantly predicted BOR-total. The path analysis indicates that PSYC did not predict any BOR subscale, while NEGE predicted all BOR subscales. CONCLUSION: The study findings indicate that NEGE best reflects BPD features, while PSYC is far from the core domain that describes BPD. In addition, the influence of age should be considered when understanding BPD, since age predicted the BOR-total and two BOR subscales.