The Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations between Household Chaos, Perceived Stress, and Borderline Personality Disorder Features in Outpatient Youth

This study examined how household chaos, perceived stress, and their interaction are related to borderline personality disorder (BPD) features both cross-sectionally and at 1-year follow-up in outpatient youth. Data from 143 youth were analysed. Their mean age was 18.72 years (SD = 2.98) and 80.4% self-identified as female. The results indicated that both perceived stress and household chaos were positively associated with BPD features at baseline. Additionally, the link between perceived stress and BPD features was slightly stronger in youth with more household chaos. The associations were not maintained in the longitudinal analyses. The discrepancy between the cross-sectional and longitudinal findings suggests that household chaos and perceived stress might be intertwined with BPD features, rather than predictive of change in BPD features over time.