Aggression, Emotion, and Borderline Personality Disorder Features in Women

该指导研究科学家发展奖（K 01）的目标是提供职业发展和研究培训计划，使候选人能够对年轻女性的攻击性和边缘型人格障碍（BPD）进行创新的多方法研究。在临床和法医环境中，BPD在女性中的诊断不成比例，并且与年轻女性的攻击性行为有关。然而，攻击性仍然是BPD和妇女心理健康的一个未充分研究的方面。有证据表明，情绪失调介导BPD和攻击行为之间的关系，但BPD和女性攻击之间的关联的确切情感过程尚不清楚。本研究旨在测试一个全面的生物心理社会模型的女性侵略，阐明了潜在的调解作用的困难，调节羞耻和愤怒，特别是在感知的人际排斥的背景下，在BPD和妇女的侵略之间的关联。这些过程将在120名新兴成年女性（年龄18至22岁）的不同内城样本中进行评估，使用多方法方法，包括实验室范式，心理生理学措施，21天的生态瞬时评估（EMA）协议，临床访谈，问卷调查和官方记录。多方法方法将允许 对妇女攻击的地形进行精细评估，包括直接和间接（例如，关系）形式。检查与以下方面有关的进程： 在6个月和12个月的随访中，将通过临床访谈、问卷调查和官方记录评估年轻女性在一年中攻击性的维持和加剧情况、攻击性和其他症状。参与者将从一项以社区为基础的女孩情绪和行为健康纵向研究（匹兹堡女孩研究）中抽取，其中攻击行为和BPD特征的变化最大。该项目有三个具体目标：1）在实验室中研究BPD特征与女性对社会拒绝的情感和攻击性反应之间的关系; 2）使用EMA方法描述BPD特征、情感体验和女性自然环境中的攻击性冲动和行为之间的关系;整合EMA和实验室的羞耻和愤怒指数，以测试这些测量方法在预测攻击行为轨迹方面的有效性。候选人将接受深入的培训，包括侵略的多模式评估，心理生理评估，EMA技术，高级统计以及侵略发展和表现的性别差异。完成后，候选人将准备进行高影响力的研究，整合基于实验室和自然主义的评估，以了解女性的侵略和BPD背后的行为和生物机制。研究结果将为今后旨在减少女性攻击和暴力行为的干预工作提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) is to provide a career development and research training program that will enable the candidate to conduct innovative multi-method research on aggression and borderline personality disorder (BPD) in young women. BPD is disproportionately diagnosed among women in clinical and forensic settings and is associated with aggressive behavior in young women. However, aggression remains an understudied aspect of BPD and women's mental health. Evidence suggests that emotional deregulation mediates the relationship between BPD and aggressive behavior, but the precise affective processes underlying the association between BPD and female aggression are unclear. This study is designed to test a comprehensive biopsychosocial model of female aggression that articulates the potentially mediating role of difficulties regulating shame and anger, especially in the context of perceived interpersonal rejection, in the association between BPD and women's aggression. These processes will be assessed among a diverse inner-city sample of 120 emerging adult women (ages 18 to 22) using a multi-method approach that includes laboratory paradigms, psychophysiological measures, a 21-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol, clinical interviews, questionnaires, and official records. The multi-method approach will allow for fine-grained assessment of the topography of women's aggression that includes both direct and indirect (e.g., relational) forms across a variety of contexts. To examine the processes related to the maintenance and exacerbation of young women's aggression over the course of the year, aggression and other symptoms will be assessed at 6- and 12-month follow-ups by clinical interviews, questionnaires, and official records. Participants will be drawn from a community-based longitudinal study of girls' emotional and behavioral health (Pittsburgh Girls Study) with maximal variability in aggressive behavior and BPD features. The proposed project has three specific aims: 1) Examine associations between BPD features and women's affective and aggressive responses to social rejection in the laboratory; 2) Characterize associations between BPD features, affective experiences, and aggressive urges and behaviors in women's natural environments using EMA methodology; and 3) Integrate EMA and laboratory-based indices of shame and anger to test the validity of these measures for predicting trajectories of aggressive behavior over time. The candidate will receive in-depth training in the multi-modal assessment of aggression, psychophysiological assessment, EMA techniques, advanced statistics, and gender differences in the development and manifestation of aggression. Upon completion, the candidate will be poised to conduct high-impact research integrating lab-based and naturalistic assessments to understand the behavioral and biological mechanisms underlying women's aggression and BPD. Results will inform future intervention efforts designed to decrease female aggression and violence.