Social Factors that Exacerbate Features of Borderline Personality Disorder in Young Adult Women between 25 and 35 Years of Age Living in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

Introduction: Although there are studies conducted with Hispanics and Puerto Ricans living in the United States, there are no studies with female Puerto Rican BPD patients residing in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico available. Since most of the individuals affected by this condition are female, the present research was focused on uncovering factors that increased the likelihood of BPD features in women between the ages of 25-35 years. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the social factors that exacerbate borderline personality disorder in the female population between 25 and 35 years of age living in the metropolitan area of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico based on Crowell, Beauchaine & Linehan’s Biosocial Model for BPD [1]. Design: The study design was a medical record review using an investigator-developed chart review tool. This technique was used to count and rank the social factors that exacerbated BPD in the sample. Setting: The study took place at a regional hospital in a large metropolitan city in Puerto Rico. The chart abstraction process was carried out in the Information Management Department (IMD). The IMD director arranged for the charts to be available to the researcher and trained research assistants. Sample: The sample for this study consisted of 50 medical records of patients meeting the following inclusion criteria: 1) female, 2) hospital admission with a diagnosis of BPD, 3) age 25 to 35 at time of hospital entry, 4) BPD diagnosis prior or on the date of hospital admission, 5) BPD diagnosis included either the administration of McLean Screening Instrument for BPD (MSI-BPD) or the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II), 6) the client chart is available, and 7) the client chart includes a signed data release Data Collection Dates: November , 2017 Methods: Medical records of patients who met the study inclusion criteria were made available by the director of the Information Management Department. The charts were then reviewed by the researcher and her assistants. The reviews took from 2 to 4 hours per chart. Fifty records were evaluated. These were about 10% of the BPD population receiving treatment. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the basic features of the data in the study. Findings: Most of the females had experienced sexual abuse trauma due to being raped, sexually abused or molested by relatives or an unknown person. The specific social factors that exacerbated features of BPD among this group of females with suicidal and self-mutilation tendency were: being a victim of a violent act, economic crisis, parent with poor parenting skills, major change in eating habits, infidelity, and loss of a job. Conclusions: The findings support that the onset of BPD in women occurs during early and middle childhood and likewise support that the interaction among psychological, biological, and environmental factors produce the BPD personality in women. This finding differs from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which states that BPD begins in early adulthood when BPD patients struggle to face life responsibilities and cope with stressors [2,3]. Clinical Relevance: The identification of transactions among the interacting risk factors helps to explain the cause, development, and treatment of this disorder in young Puerto Rican women. Citation: Carrasquillo EM (2021) Social Factors that Exacerbate Features of Borderline Personality Disorder in Young Adult Women between 25 and 35 Years of Age Living in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. J Nurs Women’s Health 5: 174. DOI: 10.29011/2577-1450.100074 2 Volume 5; Issue 01 J Nurs Womens Health, an open access journal ISSN: 2577-1450