Biosocial correlates of identity disturbance among suicidal youth

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Title Biosocial correlates of identity disturbance among suicidal youth
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Psychology
Author Kaufman, Erin A.
Date 2014-08
Description The current study was designed to examine biosocial correlates of identity disturbance in a sample of suicidal youth at high risk for borderline personality disorder compared with community controls. We used a multimethod, multi-informant design to examine vulnerability and risk for identity disturbance, including biological assessments, self- and informant-report. Participants' electrodermal responding (EDR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and fundamental frequency were collected during a motherchild discussion task regarding adolescents' personality characteristics. We predicted (1) suicidal adolescents would endorse greater overall identity distress across more domains compared with community controls, and (2) that biological vulnerabilities (e.g., EDR, RSA) and contextual risks (e.g., parent emotional arousal assessed with digital signal processing) would interact to predict higher self-reported identity distress among suicidal adolescents. Results indicate significant differences on identity scales for control and self-injuring adolescents. However, indices of biological and contextual risk did not interact to predict identity problems. Methodological limitations of the current study are discussed, along with implications for future research.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Borderline personality disorder; Identity disturbance; Parent-child relations; Psychopathology; Psychophysiological responding; Suicide
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Erin A. Kaufman 2014
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 486,532 bytes
Identifier etd3/id/3264
ARK ark:/87278/s60g6tfc
Setname ir_etd
ID 196829
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60g6tfc
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