Childhood Maltreatment Increases Risk for Personality Disorders During Early Adulthood

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Abstract
RESEARCH1-12 HAS indicated that many patients with personality disorders (PDs) report histories of childhood abuse or neglect. These findings, and studies13,14 indicating that PDs are more prevalent among persons who experienced child abuse than among matched comparison groups, have suggested that childhood abuse and neglect may play an important role in the onset of PDs.15,16 Most of this evidence, however, is based on retrospective reports by psychiatric patients.17,18 Although research19-22 has supported the validity of retrospective reports of childhood maltreatment, to infer from retrospective data17,18,23,24 alone that childhood maltreatment increases risk for the onset of PDs is problematic. Until prospective research demonstrates that persons with documented childhood maltreatment are at increased risk for PDs independent of other risk factors, it cannot be established that childhood maltreatment plays a role in the onset of PDs.18