Borderline Features, Depression, and Anxiety in Non-clinical Young Adults: The Mediating Roles of Contingencies of Self-Worth and Emotion Dysregulation
By: Georgiana Bogos and Octav Sorin Candel
References
- Abravanel, B. T., & Sinha, R. (2015). Emotion dysregulation mediates the relationship between lifetime cumulative adversity and depressive symptomatology. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 61, 89-96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.11.012
- Adams, K. E., Tyler, J. M., Calogero, R., & Lee, J. (2017). Exploring the relationship between appearance-contingent self-worth and self-esteem: The roles of self-objectification and appearance anxiety. Body Image, 23, 176–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.10.004
- Aleva, A., Laceulle, O. M., Denissen, J. J., Hessels, C. J., & van Aken, M. A. (2023). Adolescence as a peak period of borderline personality features? A meta-analytic approach. European Journal of Personality, 37(6), 669-685. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221134652
- American Psychological Association (2015). Dictionary of Psychology (2nd ed.). Washington, DC
- Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. Hoeber.
- Bogaerts, A., Claes, L., Raymaekers, K., Buelens, T., Bastiaens, T., & Luyckx, K. (2023). Trajectories of adaptive and disturbed identity dimensions in adolescence: Developmental associations with self-esteem, resilience, symptoms of depression, and borderline personality disorder features. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1125812. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1125812
- Bogos, G., Măirean, C., & Turliuc, M. N. (2026). The Relation Between Childhood Experiences and Borderline Personality Symptoms in Non-Clinical Population. The Role of Dissociative Experiences and Invalidating Environment. The Journal of Psychology, Advance Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2026.2623053
- Campbell, S. M., Zimmer-Gembeck, M., & Duffy, A. (2021). At the junction of clinical and developmental science: associations of borderline identity disturbance symptoms with identity formation processes in adolescence. Journal of Personality Disorders, 35(Supplement B), 8-28. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2020_34_484
- Conklin, C. Z., Bradley, R., & Westen, D. (2006). Affect regulation in borderline personality disorder. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194(2), 69–77. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.nmd.0000198138.417
- Crocker, J. (2002). Contingencies of self-worth: Implications for self-regulation and psychological vulnerability. Self and Identity, 1(2), 143-149. https://doi.org/10.1080/152988602317319320
- Fatimah, H., Rappaport, L. M., & Bornovalova, M. A. (2023). Symptoms of borderline personality and related pathologies behave as temporal and contemporaneous networks. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 14(4), 467–477. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000618
- Fertuck, E. A., Karan, E., & Stanley, B. (2016). The specificity of mental pain in borderline personality disorder compared to depressive disorders and healthy controls. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-016-0036-2
- Fiedler, K., Schott, M., & Meiser, T. (2011). What mediation analysis can (not) do. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(6), 1231-1236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.007
- Giesen-Bloo, J., & Arntz, A. (2005). World assumptions and the role of trauma in borderline personality disorder. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 36(3), 197-208.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2005.05.003
- Glenn, C. R., & Klonsky, E. D. (2009). Emotion dysregulation as a core feature of borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality Disorders, 23(1), 20-28.https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.2009.23.1.20
- Gratz, K. L., Moore, K. E., & Tull, M. T. (2016). The role of emotion dysregulation in the presence, associated difficulties, and treatment of borderline personality disorder. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 7(4), 344-353. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000198
- Gratz, K. L., Weiss, N. H., McDermott, M. J., Dilillo, D., Messman-Moore, T., & Tull, M. T. (2017). Emotion dysregulation mediates the relation between borderline personality disorder symptoms and later physical health symptoms. Journal of Personality Disorders, 31(4), 433-448. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2016_30_252
- Grădinaru, D., Constantin, T., & Candel, O. S. (2024). Psychometric properties of the Romanian version of the borderline personality questionnaire in a sample of nonclinical adults. Psihologija, 57(3), 253-267. https://doi.org/10.2298/PSI210624033G
- Gunderson, J. G., Herpertz, S. C., Skodol, A. E., Torgersen, S., & Zanarini, M. C. (2018). Borderline personality disorder. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 4, 18029. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrdp.2018.29
- Haapalahti, E., Hakko, H., Leppänen, V., & Räsänen, S. (2023). One-year prevalence and psychiatric comorbidity of borderline personality disorder in a medical certificate population: A registry study of psychiatric outpatients in community mental health care in the city of Oulu. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 77(8), 811-817. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039488.2023.2267032
- Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. A regression-based approach. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.
- Hofmann, S. G., Sawyer, A. T., Fang, A., & Asnaani, A. (2012). Emotion dysregulation model of mood and anxiety disorders. Depression and Anxiety, 29(5), 409-416. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.21888
- Joormann, J., & Stanton, C. H. (2016). Examining emotion regulation in depression: A review and future directions. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 86, 35–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2016.07.007
- Kaufman, E. A., Xia, M., Fosco, G., Yaptangco, M., Skidmore, C. R., & Crowell, S. E. (2016). The difficulties in emotion regulation scale short form (DERS-SF): Validation and replication in adolescent and adult samples. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 38, 443-455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-015-9529-3
- Keane, L., & Loades, M. (2016). Review: Low self-esteem and internalizing disorders in young people - a systematic review. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 22(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12204
- Klein, D. N., Kotov, R., & Bufferd, S. J. (2011). Personality and depression: Explanatory models and review of the evidence. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 7(1), 269–295. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032210-104540
- Kockler, T. D., Santangelo, P. S., Eid, M., Kuehner, C., Bohus, M., Schmaedeke, S., & Ebner-Priemer, U. W. (2022). Self-esteem instability might be more characteristic of borderline personality disorder than affective instability: Findings from an e-diary study with clinical and healthy controls. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 131(3), 301-313. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000731
- Kovács, L. N., Schmelowszky, Á., Galambos, A., & Kökönyei, G. (2021). Rumination mediates the relationship between personality organization and symptoms of borderline personality disorder and depression. Personality and Individual Differences, 168, 110339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110339
- Krawitz, R. (2012). Behavioural treatment of severe chronic self-loathing in people with borderline personality disorder. Part 2: Self-compassion and other interventions. Australasian Psychiatry, 20(6), 501-506. https://doi.org/10.1177/1039856212459586
- Leichsenring, F., Heim, N., Leweke, F., Spitzer, C., Steinert, C., & Kernberg, O. F. (2023). Borderline personality disorder: a review. Jama, 329(8), 670-679. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.0589
- Linehan, M. (1993). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of borderline personality disorder. NewYork: Guilford Press.
- Liu, C.-H., & Huang, P.-S. (2018). Contingencies of self-worth on positive and negative events and their relationships to depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02372
- Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the depression anxiety stress scales (DASS) with the Beck depression and anxiety inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(3), 335-343. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(94)00075-U
- Mancke, F., Herpertz, S. C., Kleindienst, N., & Bertsch, K. (2017). Emotion dysregulation and trait anger sequentially mediate the association between borderline personality disorder and aggression. Journal of Personality Disorders, 31(2), 256-272. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2016_30_247
- Maricuțoiu, L. P., Macsinga, I., Rusu, S., VÎrga, D., & Sava, F. A. (2012). Adaptation and validation of the contingencies of self-worth scale on a Romanian student sample. Cognition, Brain, Behavior, 16(1), 121-138.
- Matthies, S., Schiele, M. A., Koentges, C., Pini, S., Schmahl, C., & Domschke, K. (2018). Please don’t leave me— Separation anxiety and related traits in borderline personality disorder. Current Psychiatry Reports, 20(10). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-018-0951-6
- McEwen, B. S., & Akil, H. (2020). Revisiting the stress concept: implications for affective disorders. Journal of Neuroscience, 40(1), 12-21. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0733-19.2019
- Minev, M., Petrova, B., Mineva, K., Petkova, M., & Strebkova, R. (2018). Self-esteem in adolescents. Trakia Journal of Science, 16(2), 114–118. https://doi.org/10.15547/tjs.2018.02.007
- Monaghan, C., & Bizumic, B. (2023). Dimensional models of personality disorders: Challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 14, 1098452. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1098452
- Musser, N., Zalewski, M., Stepp, S., & Lewis, J. (2018). A systematic review of negative parenting practices predicting borderline personality disorder: Are we measuring biosocial theory’s “invalidating environment”? Clinical Psychology Review, 65, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2018.06.003
- Neacsiu, A. D., Bohus, M., & Linehan, M. M. (2013). Dialectical behavior therapy skills: An intervention for emotion dysregulation. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Vol. 2. Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 491e508). New York: Guilford Press.
- Neacsiu, A. D., Eberle, J.W., Keng, S.L., Fang, C.M., & Rosenthal, M.Z. (2017). Understanding borderline personality disorder across sociocultural groups: findings, issues, and future directions. Current Psychiatry Reviews, 13(3), 188-223. https://doi.org/10.2174/1573400513666170612122034
- Omar, Y. M., Ghozzy, M., Eladawy, Y., Elsayed, F. A., Abdelrady, M. M., Wafa, S. A., ... & Abdelmawgoud, A. S. (2025). Prevalence and psychological correlates of borderline personality traits among medical students in Egypt: A multicenter cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 25(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07514-8
- Paris, J. (2019). Suicidality in borderline personality disorder. Medicina, 55(6), 223. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina55060223
- Power, N., Kellett, S., & Gaskell, C. (2023). Effectiveness of cognitive analytic therapy for mixed anxiety and depression in the context of borderline traits: A quasi-experimental single case design evaluation. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 33(1), 34–46. https://doi.org/10.1037/int0000281
- Ramos-Suárez, I., Guerrero-Jiménez, M., Cervilla, J. A., & Gutiérrez, B. (2025). Epidemiology of borderline personality disorder in the general population: Prevalence, sociodemographic factors, and comorbidities-A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 394, 120482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.120482
- Sargent, J. T., Crocker, J., & Luhtanen, R. K. (2006). Contingencies of self–worth and depressive symptoms in college students. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25(6), 628-646. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2006.25.6.628
- Sălcudean, A., Olariu, I., Cincu, M. G., Popovici, R. A., Comșulea, I., Bodo, C. R., ... & Strete, E. G. (2025). The Association Between Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms and Social Behaviour Among University Students. Medicina, 61(8), 1465.https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina61081465
- Schneider, R. L., Arch, J. J., Landy, L. N., & Hankin, B. L. (2016). The longitudinal effect of emotion regulation strategies on anxiety levels in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2016.1157757
- Schneider, R. L., Long, E. E., Arch, J. J., & Hankin, B. L. (2021). The relationship between stressful events, emotion dysregulation, and anxiety symptoms among youth: Longitudinal support for stress causation but not stress generation. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 34(2), 157-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2020.1839730
- Shah, A. Q., Prasad, D., Caropreso, L., Frey, B. N., & de Azevedo Cardoso, T. (2023). The comorbidity between Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 164, 304-314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2023.06.009
- Shirk, S., Burwell, R., & Harter, S. (2003). Strategies to modify low self-esteem in adolescents. In R. Reinecke, F. Dattalio, & A. Freeman (Eds.), Cognitive therapy with children and adolescents (pp. 189–213). New York: Guilford Press.
- Söderholm, J. J., Socada, J. L., Ekelund, J., & Isometsä, E. (2024). How changes in depression severity and borderline personality disorder intensity are linked–a cohort study of depressed patients with and without borderline personality disorder. Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 11(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-024-00247-2
- Stepp, S. D., Scott, L. N., Morse, J. Q., Nolf, K. A., Hallquist, M. N., & Pilkonis, P. A. (2014). Emotion dysregulation as a maintenance factor of borderline personality disorder features. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55(3), 657-666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2013.11.006
- Suveg, C., Morelen, D., Brewer, G. A., & Thomassin, K. (2010). The emotion dysregulation model of anxiety: A preliminary path analytic examination. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24(8), 924-930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.06.018
- Vaillancourt, T., & Brittain, H. (2019). Longitudinal associations among primary and secondary psychopathic traits, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder features across adolescence. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 10(4), 354–364.
- Van der Hout, R., Barnasconi, F., Noorloos, J., de Bruin, R., van Slobbe-Maijer, K., Legerstee, J., ... & Utens, E. (2023). Treatment outcomes of dialectical behaviour therapy for adolescents presenting with characteristics of borderline personality disorder: A naturalistic study. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 28(2), 707-720. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045221109871
- Velotti, P., Rogier, G., Beomonte Zobel, S., Castellano, R., & Tambelli, R. (2021). Loneliness, emotion dysregulation, and internalizing symptoms during coronavirus disease 2019: A structural equation modeling approach. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 11, 581494. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.581494
- Weissman, D. G., Bitran, D., Miller, A. B., Schaefer, J. D., Sheridan, M. A., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2019). Difficulties with emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking child maltreatment with the emergence of psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 31(3), 899-915. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579419000348
- Winter, D., Herbert, C., Koplin, K., Schmahl, C., Bohus, M., & Lis, S. (2015). Negative evaluation bias for positive self-referential information in borderline personality disorder. PLoS One, 10(1), e0117083. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117083
- Zhang, H., Carr, E. R., Garcia-Williams, A. G., Siegelman, A. E., Berke, D., Niles-Carnes, L. V., ... & Kaslow, N. J. (2018). Shame and depressive symptoms: Self-compassion and contingent self-worth as mediators?. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 25(4), 408-419. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10880-018-9548-9
- Zeigler–Hill, V., & Abraham, J. (2006). Borderline personality features: Instability of self–esteem and affect. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25(6), 668–687. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2006.25.6.668
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/rjap-2026-0003 | Journal eISSN: 2392-845X
Language: English
Page range: 16 - 25
Submitted on: Oct 15, 2025
Accepted on: May 11, 2026
Published on: Jun 13, 2026
Published by: Sciendo
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year
Keywords:
Related subjects:
© 2026 Georgiana Bogos, Octav Sorin Candel, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.