Borderline personality disorder features, emotion dysregulation and non-suicidal self-injury: Preliminary findings in a sample of community-dwelling Italian adolescents.

In order to assess the relationships among borderline personality disorder features, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and emotion dysregulation, 122 community-dwelling Italian adolescents were administered by the Italian translations of the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children-11, the Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Regression models showed that both Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (DSHI) and DERS scores significantly predicted Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children-11 total score; moreover, the DSHI total score significantly predicted the DERS total score. Our findings suggest that borderline personality features in adolescence are moderately, albeit significantly related to NSSI, and that emotion dysregulation does not completely account for the association between borderline personality features and NSSI, although it seems to explain a non-trivial proportion of this relationship. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.