The role of emotion regulation strategies in the association between physical abuse and borderline symptoms among deprived youth in Ecuador

Background: Childhood adversity is robustly associated with psychopathology, including borderline personality disorder. However, the underlying mechanisms by which these experiences increase risk for psychopathology are poorly understood. Modern theoretical models of childhood adversity suggest that violence exposure (e.g., physical abuse) impacts emotion regulation, while other experiences impact separate developmental outcomes such as executive function and language. Objective: The present study tested whether physical abuse was associated with adaptive and non-adaptive emotion regulation strategies among adolescents living in foster care, and an aged-matched group living with their families. Further, it explored whether the association between physical abuse and borderline symptoms was explained by emotion regulation. Participants and Setting: Adolescents living in foster care (N = 44) and a family-based group (N = 128) in Ecuador, a middle-income country with a high prevalence of physical abuse. Methods: Adolescents reported on physical abuse and completed questionnaires to assess use of emotion regulation strategies, and borderline symptoms. Linear regressions and multi-group path analyses were conducted to test our hypotheses. Results: Physical abuse was associated with greater use of self-blame, rumination, catastrophizing, and acceptance, and a positive indirect effect of physical abuse on borderline symptoms through catastrophizing was significant. Conclusions: Results underscore the importance of physical abuse on specific emotion regulation strategies, replicating findings from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) samples. Moreover, they suggest the importance of studying these mechanisms as they relate to specific debilitating syndromes, such as borderline personality.