EFFECTS OF EMOTION REGULATION ON AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN INDIVIDUALS WITH BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER SYMPTOMATOLOGY by L. ALANA SEIBERT

The current study examined whether individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptomatology and difficulties in emotion regulation (DERS) would vary in their aggressive behavior following mood induction. One hundred and eightyfour males and females were randomly assigned to a neutral, sadness, or anger mood induction prior to participating in a competitive reaction-time task wherein they were free to administer or refrain from administering shocks to an ostensible opponent. Results indicated that there were no main effects of gender, BPD symptomatology, difficulties in emotion regulation, or condition on aggressive behavior. Explication of a three-way interaction among BPD, gender, and condition revealed that when experiencing negative affect (anger or sadness), females endorsing higher levels of BPD symptomatology were less physically aggressive than their low BPD symptomatology counterparts. Explication of a three-way interaction among DERS, gender, and condition indicated that the variables did not significantly predict differences in aggressive behavior. INDEX WORDS: Borderline Personality Disorder, Emotion Regulation, Aggression EFFECTS OF EMOTION REGULATION ON AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN INDIVIDUALS WITH BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER SYMPTOMATOLOGY