Publication
Title
Lower self-positivity and its association with self-esteem in women with borderline personality disorder
Author
Abstract
Self-esteem, the global attitude towards one's self, is low in persons with borderline personality disorder (BPD). This may be partially due to the ways these persons protect or enhance the self. A case in point is self-positivity, the association of positive rather than negative events, experiences, and objects with the self. Self-esteem and self-positivity may result from either conscious or non-conscious processes. We examined whether low self-esteem is related to low self-positivity in BPD, and whether their covariation is contingent upon conscious processing. We assessed explicit self-esteem via self-report (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) and implicit self-esteem via the Initial Preference Task in women with BPD and healthy control women. We assessed self-positivity in a self referential processing task, in which participants rated the valence of positive, neutral, and negative nouns, and later recalled them. We manipulated referential context via supraliminal or subliminal priming of self-reference, other-reference, or no reference. Explicit and implicit self-esteem were lower in the BPD group than in the healthy control group. Participants with BPD rated self-referential words less positively, when primes were presented supraliminally. Less positive and slower ratings of positive self-referential words were associated with lower explicit, but not implicit, self-esteem in the BPD group.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Behaviour research and therapy. - Oxford
Publication
Oxford : 2018
ISSN
0005-7967
DOI
10.1016/J.BRAT.2018.07.008
Volume/pages
109 (2018) , p. 84-93
ISI
000445714800010
Pubmed ID
30165335
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 09.11.2018
Last edited 04.03.2024
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