Stability and variability of affective experience and interpersonal behavior in borderline personality disorder

This study examined both mean levels and intraindividual variability in the mood and interpersonal behavior of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and nonclinical control participants over a 20-day event-contingent recording period. Individuals in the BPD group experienced more unpleasantly valenced affect and were less dominant, more submissive, more quarrelsome, and more extreme in overall levels of behavior than control participants. In addition to these mean-level differences, individuals with BPD also reported more intraindividual variability in overall affect valence and in pleasantly valenced affect; displayed greater variability in dominant, quarrelsome, and agreeable behaviors; and exhibited an increased tendency to "spin" among interpersonal behaviors relative to nonclinical control participants. The findings document behavioral and affective manifestations of BPD in the context of naturally occurring interpersonal situations.     

Abstract: Within-Person Processes Leading to Quarrelsome Behavior in Interactions Between Romantic Partners

This study used multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM; Preacher, Zyphur, &; Zhang, 2010) to examine within-person processes that give rise to quarrelsome behavior in interactions between romantic partners. Based on Interpersonal Theory and Adult Attachment Theory, we hypothesized that a person's quarrelsome behavior would be predicted by (a) the direct effect of the partner's quarrelsome behavior, (b) an indirect effect mediated by the person's perceptions of the partner's quarrelsome behavior, and (c) an indirect effect mediated by the person's felt security. Using an event-contingent recording methodology, both partners in 93 cohabiting community couples reported independently on their quarrelsome behavior, felt security, and perceptions of the partner's quarrelsome behavior in interactions with each other during a 20-day period. Findings (see Figure 1) supported a direct effect of partner's increases in quarrelsome behavior on person's increases in quarrelsome behavior. This association was partly accounted for by perceptions of partner's behavior and felt security following these perceptions. The more a person perceived the partner as engaging in quarrelsome behavior, the more the person engaged in quarrelsome behavior [indirect effect = .016, 95% CI (.009 ? .022)]. Furthermore, the person's perception of greater quarrelsomeness in the partner's behavior was associated with decreases in the person's felt security, which in turn were related to increases in a person's quarrelsome behavior [indirect effect = .009, 95% CI (.005 ? .013)]. No gender differences were found. Findings indicate that a partner's increase in quarrelsome behavior is partly related to a person's increase in quarrelsome behavior in part to the extent that the person perceives the behavior as quarrelsome and consequently feels insecure during the interaction. Findings illustrate an application of MSEM for assessing multilevel mediation in the dyadic context. Moreover, the results suggest that theory and therapeutic interventions should consider interpersonal perceptions as the first link in the chain of affective and behavioral reactions to the interpersonal behaviors of others.     

Dynamic Stability of Behavior: The Rhythms of Our Interpersonal Lives

The authors examined whether variations in day-to-day estimates of personality characteristics, which are often treated as error, are instead predictable and meaningful. Using event-sampling and spectral analysis, they found that variations in interpersonal behavior over weekly periods were cyclic and normative. Dominant, submissive, agreeable, and quarrelsome behaviors rose during the week and fell on the weekend. The more general dimensions of agency and communion exhibited opposite patterns of cyclicity, with agency rising and communion falling during the week. Interpersonal traits were not useful in predicting behavior cyclicity. Extraverts exhibited a daily cycle, partially mediated by more varied partners and social behaviors during evenings. Findings are discussed with reference to conceptions of personality expression as dynamic yet stable processes.     

Tryptophan and interpersonal spin

Increased serotonergic activity is often described as increasing the inhibition of behaviors. This study examined the more general hypothesis that increased serotonergic activity produces greater control over social behavior. Participants were drawn from two samples, individuals elevated on irritability and individuals unselected on personality characteristics. Individuals participated in a double blind cross-over design, providing event contingent records about their behavior during two 9-day periods which involved taking tryptophan or placebo. When taking tryptophan (which increases serotonergic activity), within-person variability among social behaviors across events (i.e., interpersonal spin) was reduced for irritable individuals, particularly those low on trait Agreeableness. These results suggest that higher levels of serotonergic activity enhance greater control and consistency in social behavior among irritable–disagreeable individuals.     

Within-person and between-people variability in personality dynamics: Knowledge structures,self-efficacy,pleasure appraisals,and the Big Five

We investigated within-person co-variations from the perspective of knowledge-and-appraisal theories of personality. Knowledge structures were idiographically assessed as personal beliefs on the relevance of personality characteristics in facilitating successful actions in interpersonal situations. Three main findings emerged. First, beliefs of situational relevance of self-defining strengths and weaknesses show additive effects in accounting for intra-individual variability in contextualized self-efficacy appraisals. Secondly, between-person variability in Extraversion moderates within-person co-variation between self-efficacy and knowledge structures. Thirdly, self-efficacy mediates the impact of knowledge structures on perceived likelihood of performing the interpersonal behaviors in the future, after controlling for rated frequency of the same behaviors in the past. Overall, the present findings suggest that within-person and between-person approaches are complementary and need to be integrated.     

Integrating dispositions, signatures, and the interpersonal domain

A person's behavior across situations can be characterized in terms of a mean level (disposition), a dispersion within the person around that mean level, and a stable organization to the pattern of dispersion (signature). The authors' goals were to examine the structure and stability of behavior, both at the level of behavioral dispositions and at the level of behavioral signatures. Participants completed event-contingent records of their social interactions over a 20-day period. Participants recorded their own social behavior (dominant, agreeable, submissive, quarrelsome) in 4 situations defined by the perceived social behavior of their primary interaction partners (agreeable-dominant, agreeable-submissive, quarrelsome- submissive, quarrelsome-dominant). Findings suggest that (a) once the normative influences of situations on behavior are removed, the remaining behavioral variation reflects both consistent cross-situational differences between individuals (dispositions) and consistent situational differences within individuals (signatures); (b) both dispositions and signatures display a 2-dimensional structure in adherence to the interpersonal circle; and (c) both dispositions and signatures constitute stable aspects of personality functioning.     

Are fluctuations in personality states more than fluctuations in affect?

People fluctuate in their behavior as they go about their daily lives, but little is known about the processes underlying these fluctuations. In two ecological momentary assessment studies (Ns = 124, 415), we examined the extent to which negative and positive affect accounted for the within-person variance in Big Five states. Participants were prompted six times a day over six days (Study 1) or four times a day over two weeks (Study 2) to report their recent thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Multilevel modeling results indicated that negative and positive affect account for most, but not all, of the within-person variance in personality states. Importantly, situation variables predicted variance in some personality states even after accounting for fluctuations in affect, indicating that fluctuations in personality states may be more than fluctuations in state affect.     

Flux, pulse, and spin: dynamic additions to the personality lexicon

Personality constructs were proposed to describe intraindividual variability in interpersonal behavior. Flux refers to variability about an individual's mean score on an interpersonal dimension and was examined for the 4 poles of the interpersonal circumplex. Pulse and spin refer to variability about an individual's mean extremity and mean angular coordinate on the interpersonal circumplex. These constructs were measured using event-contingent recording. Latent state-trait analyses indicated high stability of flux in submissive, agreeable, and quarrelsome behaviors and some stability in the flux of dominance. Further analyses indicated moderate to high stability in pulse and spin. Neuroticism predicted greater pulse, spin, and submissive behavior flux. Extraversion predicted greater flux in agreeable behavior. In contrast, Agreeableness predicted reduced spin and quarrelsome behavior flux. Social environmental variables predicted greater flux in dominant behavior. Flux, pulse, and spin provide reliable and distinctive additions to the vocabulary for describing individual differences.     

Effortful Control and Interpersonal Behavior in Daily Life

The Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS) was used to examine effortful control (EC) as a moderator of daily interpersonal behavior. Participants (N = 240) were nonclinical young adults who completed a 7-day event-contingent experience sampling study of interpersonal perception and affect. Multilevel linear models indicated that EC moderated within-person covariation of interpersonal warmth and affect activation; high EC individuals reported greater momentary warm behaviors when perceiving others as affectively activated. EC also amplified between-person covariation of interpersonal warmth between self and others; high EC individuals generally responded to perceptions of another's warmth with a greater degree of warm behavior. Varying levels of EC predict responses to interpersonal perceptions and affect in daily life, suggesting an important dimension for interpersonal functioning.     

Reciprocal relationships between personality traits and psychological well-being

This study used an American sample collected over a period of approximately 2 decades (at 3 time points) to examine the temporal relationships between psychological well-being and personality traits (i.e., neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience). The random-intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to separate between-person and within-person sources of variation. Between-person correlations were comparable to those of previous studies. New insights were gained at the within-person level. There were reciprocal relationships between psychological well-being and openness and extraversion, suggesting the joint development of plasticity-related traits and well-being over time. The relationships between psychological well-being and conscientiousness and agreeableness were unidirectional, with psychological well-being preceding these traits. Despite a strong between-person association between neuroticism and psychological well-being, the two were not related at the within-person level.     

Social relationships and intraindividual variability in interpersonal behavior: correlates of interpersonal spin

Personality constructs are typically conceptualized as central tendencies of the individual. We explore whether dynamic personality constructs that quantify the within-individual variability of behavior across situations and over time predict the closeness of social relationships. We focused on interpersonal spin, defined as the degree of dispersion in a person's interpersonal behaviors around the interpersonal circumplex across situations and over time. We predicted that individuals with high spin would have social relationships that are less close than individuals with low spin. In 3 studies with different measures of relationship closeness, we found that (a) higher spinners reported that a larger proportion of their contacts in their workplace social networks were distant (Study 1); (b) co-workers were less satisfied and less often engaged in pleasant activities with higher spinners (Study 2); and (c) co-workers avoided higher spinners with whom they were well acquainted (Study 3). Moderated mediation analyses in Study 3 revealed that co-workers avoided well-acquainted higher spinners because they felt more negative affect when interacting with these individuals. The findings suggest the potential of dynamic personality constructs for improving our understanding of the characteristics of individuals' social relationships.     

THE RELATIONS OF DAILY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR WITH EMOTIONS, SITUATIONAL ANTECEDENTS, AND PERSONALITY MODERATORS: A DIARY STUDY IN HONG KONG

In this diary study conducted in Hong Kong, we examined a theoretical model in which negative emotions serve as an explanatory mechanism through which daily stressors impact daily counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We further theorized that personality variables (negative affectivity, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness) would exert cross-level effects on the within-person relationships. Hierarchical linear modeling results based on a sample of 231 individuals and 5,583 observations across 25 days provide partial support for the mediating role of negative emotions in the within-person stressor–CWB relationships. Specifically, we found that negative emotions (a) partially mediated the within-person relation of perceived ambiguity with CWB directed at the organization, (b) fully mediated the relation of supervisor interpersonal injustice with CWB directed at individuals, and (c) fully mediated the relation of customer interpersonal injustice with CWB directed at the organization. High levels of trait negative affectivity were found to strengthen the within-person relation between daily supervisor interpersonal injustice and daily negative emotions. As expected, high levels of trait Conscientiousness and Agreeableness were found to weaken the within-person relations of daily negative emotions with daily CWB directed at the organization and individuals.     

Trajectories and Processes of Symptom Change Over Time in Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder

Despite ample evidence for Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) as an effective treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD), close examination of the trajectory of change in BPD symptoms over the course of DBT is lacking. There also remain questions regarding the directionality of changes in different domains of BPD symptoms, such as improvements in dysfunctional behaviors and thoughts/feelings. In order to provide more fine-grained information about the treatment process in DBT, the current study aimed to (a) examine the trajectories of change of BPD-associated negative thoughts/feelings and behaviors, and positive behaviors, and (b) test the temporal relationship between changes in negative behaviors and thoughts/feelings. The study involved 55 adult clients attending a 6-month outpatient DBT program for BPD who completed assessments of BPD symptoms every four sessions. Growth curve models suggested that clients experienced a faster rate of decrease in negative behaviors during the initial phase of treatment, whereas steady rates of improvement were found for negative thoughts/feelings and positive behaviors, respectively, throughout treatment. Further, a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model found that the within-person fluctuations in negative behaviors preceded the within-person changes in negative thoughts/feelings at a subsequent time point during the later phase of treatment, whereas within-person fluctuations in thoughts/feelings were followed by changes in negative behaviors at the beginning and end of the treatment. These results highlighted the complexity of patterns and processes of change in BPD symptomatology during the course of DBT.     

Affect dysregulation in individuals with borderline personality disorder: persistence and interpersonal triggers

We hypothesized that affect dysregulation among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) would involve greater persistence of negative affect between interpersonal events and heightened reactivity to stimuli indicating risk of rejection or disapproval, specifically perceptions of others' communal (agreeable-quarrelsome) behaviors. A total of 38 participants with BPD and 31 controls collected information about affect and perceptions of the interaction partner's behavior during interpersonal events for a 20-day period. Negative and positive affect persisted more across interpersonal events for individuals with BPD than for controls. In addition, individuals with BPD reported a greater increase in negative affect when they perceived less communal behavior and a smaller increase in positive affect when they perceived more communal behavior in others. Findings indicate the importance of interpersonal perceptions in the affect dysregulation of individuals with BPD.     

Affect Dysregulation in Individuals With Borderline Personality Disorder: Persistence and Interpersonal Triggers

We hypothesized that affect dysregulation among individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) would involve greater persistence of negative affect between interpersonal events and heightened reactivity to stimuli indicating risk of rejection or disapproval, specifically perceptions of others’ communal (agreeable-quarrelsome) behaviors. A total of 38 participants with BPD and 31 controls collected information about affect and perceptions of the interaction partner's behavior during interpersonal events for a 20-day period. Negative and positive affect persisted more across interpersonal events for individuals with BPD than for controls. In addition, individuals with BPD reported a greater increase in negative affect when they perceived less communal behavior and a smaller increase in positive affect when they perceived more communal behavior in others. Findings indicate the importance of interpersonal perceptions in the affect dysregulation of individuals with BPD.     

Within-person covariation of agentic and communal perceptions: Implications for interpersonal theory and assessment

Interpersonal theory identifies agency and communion as uncorrelated (orthogonal) dimensions, largely evidenced by research examining between-person analyses of single-occasion measures. However, longitudinal studies of interpersonal behavior demonstrated the within-person association of agency and communion is not orthogonal for many individuals, and between-person differences in these associations relate to adjustment. We applied a similar approach to investigate the association of interpersonal perceptions. 184 university students completed a 7-day event-contingent study of their interpersonal experiences. Using multilevel regression models, we demonstrated that agentic and communal perceptions were positively associated, and the strength of this within-person association was moderated by between-person scores of dependency and narcissism. We discuss the benefits of incorporating within-person interpersonal associations (termed interpersonal covariation) into interpersonal theory and assessment.     

Genetically influenced change in sensation seeking drives the rise of delinquent behavior during adolescence

Sensation seeking is associated with an increased propensity for delinquency, and emerging research on personality change suggests that mean levels of sensation seeking increase substantially from childhood to adolescence. The current study tested whether individual differences in the rate of change of sensation seeking predicted within-person change in delinquent behavior and whether genetically influenced differences in rate of personality change accounted for this association. Sensation seeking and delinquent behavior were assessed biennially between ages 10-11 and 16-17 in a nationally representative sample of 7675 youths from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth: Children and Young Adults (CNLSY). Analyses using latent growth curve modeling found that within-person change in sensation seeking was significantly and positively correlated with within-person change in delinquency from childhood to adolescence. Furthermore, behavioral genetic analyses of a subset of 2562 sibling pairs indicated that there were substantial genetic influences on both initial levels of sensation seeking and change in sensation seeking during early adolescence, with over 80% of individual differences in change due to genetic factors. Finally, these genetically driven increases in sensation seeking were most important for predicting increases in delinquency, whereas environmental paths between sensation seeking and delinquency were not significant. These results suggest that developmental changes in delinquent behaviors during adolescence are driven by a genetically governed process of personality change.     

Daily interpersonal experiences, context, and alcohol consumption: crying in your beer and toasting good times

The authors explored a multidimensional view of drinking, whereby social and solitary drinking represent distinct behaviors associated with positive and negative experiences, respectively. Using daily diary methodology and multilevel analytic strategy, the authors examined, over 30 days, the within-person association of negative and positive experiences and alcohol consumption in different contexts and focused on interpersonal experiences. On days with more negative interpersonal experiences, participants engaged in more solitary drinking (i.e., drinking at home and alone), whereas on days with more positive interpersonal experiences they drank more in social contexts. The authors also demonstrated that individuals high on neuroticism drank more in solitary contexts on days with more negative interpersonal experiences, relative to those with lower neuroticism. These findings lend support to models linking daily drinking motivation and context-dependent drinking behavior.     

From negative to positive and back again: Polarized affective and relational experience in borderline personality disorder

A core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the tendency to evaluate one's experience with extreme polarity (i.e., feeling all good or all bad; Beck, Freeman, & Davis, 2004; Kernberg, 1975; Linehan, 1993). In this investigation, we examined the polarity of within-person reports of experience in individuals with BPD and healthy adults over the course of a 21-day, experience-sampling diary. We applied multilevel modeling techniques (Rafaeli, Rogers, & Ravelle, 2007) to capture the within-person covariance of momentary reports of negative and positive features of experience, either affective or relational. Our data indicated significantly greater polarity in reports of affective and relational experiences in BPD that increased during heightened interpersonal stress. We also examined the association of affective and relational polarity to reports of impulsive behaviors (e.g., self-injury, substance use, etc.) and found evidence that increased polarity in reports of affective (in low-stress contexts) and relational experiences (in high-stress contexts) predicted increased rate of reports of impulsive behaviors. Together, these data present strong evidence for the role of polarized experiences in BPD, and have implications for the treatment of individuals with this disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).