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Life events and borderline personality features: the influence of gene–environment interaction and gene–environment correlation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2010

M. A. Distel ,
C. M. Middeldorp ,
T. J. Trull ,
C. A. Derom ,
G. Willemsen  and
D. I. Boomsma
M. A. Distel*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
C. M. Middeldorp
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands De Bascule, Academic Hospital for Children and Adolescent Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
T. J. Trull
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO, USA
C. A. Derom
Affiliation:
Department of Human Genetics, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium
G. Willemsen
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
D. I. Boomsma
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: M. A. Distel, Ph.D., Department of Biological Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Traumatic life events are generally more common in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) than in non-patients or patients with other personality disorders. This study investigates whether exposure to life events moderates the genetic architecture of BPD features. As the presence of genotype–environment correlation (rGE) can lead to spurious findings of genotype–environment interaction (G×E), we also test whether BPD features increase the likelihood of exposure to life events.

Method

The extent to which an individual is at risk to develop BPD was assessed with the Personality Assessment Inventory – Borderline features scale (PAI-BOR). Life events under study were a divorce/break-up, traffic accident, violent assault, sexual assault, robbery and job loss. Data were available for 5083 twins and 1285 non-twin siblings. Gene–environment interaction and correlation were assessed by using structural equation modelling (SEM) and the co-twin control design.

Results

There was evidence for both gene–environment interaction and correlation. Additive genetic influences on BPD features interacted with the exposure to sexual assault, with genetic variance being lower in exposed individuals. In individuals who had experienced a divorce/break-up, violent assault, sexual assault or job loss, environmental variance for BPD features was higher, leading to a lower heritability of BPD features in exposed individuals. Gene–environment correlation was present for some life events. The genes that influence BPD features thus also increased the likelihood of being exposed to certain life events.

Conclusions

To our knowledge, this study is the first to test the joint effect of genetic and environmental influences and the exposure to life events on BPD features in the general population. Our results indicate the importance of both genetic vulnerability and life events.

Keywords

Borderline personality disordergene–environment correlationgene–environment interactionlife eventstwin studies
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , April 2011 , pp. 849 - 860
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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