Aggression, Emotion, and Borderline Personality Disorder Features in Women

描述(由申请者提供)：这个指导式研究科学家发展奖(K01)的目标是提供一个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在女性中被不成比例地诊断出来，并与年轻女性的攻击行为有关。然而，攻击性仍然是BPD和女性心理健康研究较少的一个方面。有证据表明，情绪放松调节了BPD和攻击性行为之间的关系，但BPD和女性攻击性之间联系的确切情感过程尚不清楚。这项研究旨在测试一个全面的女性攻击性的生物心理社会模型，该模型阐明了在BPD和女性攻击性之间的联系中，调节羞耻和愤怒的困难的潜在中介作用，特别是在感知到的人际拒绝的背景下。这些过程将在市中心120名新兴成年女性(18至22岁)的不同样本中使用多种方法进行评估，其中包括实验室范例、心理生理学测量、21天生态瞬时评估(EMA)方案、临床访谈、问卷和官方记录。多方法方法将允许 对妇女侵犯行为情况的精细评估，包括各种背景下的直接和间接(例如，关系)形式。要检查与以下内容相关的进程 将在6个月和12个月的随访中通过临床访谈、问卷调查和官方记录评估年轻妇女在一年中的攻击性、攻击性和其他症状的持续和加剧情况。参与者将来自一项以社区为基础的关于女孩情绪和行为健康的纵向研究(匹兹堡女孩研究)，其中攻击性行为和BPD特征的变异性最大。拟议的项目有三个具体目标：1)在实验室中检查BPD特征与女性对社会拒绝的情感和攻击性反应之间的关联；2)使用EMA方法来表征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联；以及3)整合EMA和基于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性行为随时间推移的轨迹方面的有效性。应聘者将接受关于攻击性的多模式评估、心理生理评估、EMA技术、高级统计学以及攻击性发展和表现中的性别差异的深入培训。完成后，候选人将准备进行结合基于实验室和自然主义评估的高影响力研究，以了解女性攻击性和BPD背后的行为和生物机制。这些结果将为未来旨在减少女性攻击性和暴力的干预努力提供参考。

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.