Bullying involvement in relation to personality disorders: a prospective follow-up of 508 inpatient adolescents.

We examined the association of bullying behavior in adolescence to personality disorder (PD) diagnosed in early adulthood. The study sample consisted of 508 adolescents (300 girls, 208 boys) who were admitted to psychiatric inpatient treatment between April 2001 and March 2006. Data were based on semi-structured K-SADSPL-interviews and hospital treatments extracted from the Care Register for Health Care (CRHC). At the end of 2013, details of psychiatric diagnoses recorded on hospital discharges and outpatient visits were extracted from the CRHC. This study showed that female victims of bullying have an almost fourfold likelihood of developing a PD later in life compared to adolescents with no involvement in bullying behavior. Most of the females had Borderline PD. Female adolescents diagnosed with anxiety disorder during adolescence had an over threefold risk of developing a PD during late adolescence or early adulthood. Conversely, we found no associations between bullying involvement among men in adolescence and subsequent PDs. Bullying victimization may influence the development of PDs among females. Adolescent services should pay particular attention to female victims of bullying and those displaying symptoms of anxiety disorders.

Borderline personality disorder associates with violent criminality in women: A population based follow-up study of adolescent psychiatric inpatients in Northern Finland.

Various psychiatric problems in adolescence and early adulthood have been shown to associate with criminal behaviour. In this study the association of personality disorders (PDs) with criminal behaviour was examined in adolescents treated in psychiatric hospitals. The study sample consisted of 508 adolescents (age 13-17) admitted to acute psychiatric impatient care between April 2001 and March 2006. Crime data was obtained from the Finnish Legal Register Centre on September 2013. The Schedule for Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children Present and Lifetime (K-SADS-PL) was used to assess psychiatric diagnoses in adolescence. The information on PDs in early adulthood was based on follow-up information on psychiatric treatments in either out- or inpatient settings until the end of 2012, and was extracted from the National Care Register for Health Care provided by the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare. A total of 22 (39%) of the 57 subjects with PD had committed a crime. In women, the likelihood for violent criminality was significantly increased in those with Borderline PD (OR 6.09, CI 1.24-29.84, p=0.009) and was also associated with conduct disorder (OR 4.26, CI 1.38-13.19, p=0.012), child welfare placement (OR 11.82, CI 3.61-38.76, p<0.001) and parent's substance use disorder (OR 7.74, CI 2.30-26.10, p=0.001). In men, no association was observed between PD and any kind of criminal behaviour. Significant predictors for violent criminality in males were conduct disorder (OR 4.05, CI 1.75-9.38, p=0.001), substance use disorder (OR 2.51, CI 1.22-5.17, p=0.012) and special services at school (OR 2.58, CI 1.16-5.76, p=0.021). Females with Borderline PD showed an increased risk for violent offending. This suggests Borderline PD as a potential explanatory factor for violent assaults by females and highlights the importance of recognizing the risk for violence in young women with a Borderline PD.