The Impact of Personality Disorders on Longitudinal Change in Relationship Satisfaction in Long-Term Married Couples

"I'm fighting with BPD instead of my partner": A dyadic interpretative phenomenological analysis of the lived experience of couples navigating borderline personality disorder

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with romantic relationship distress and dissolution. The complex interaction between BPD and romantic relationships warrants further attention. Dyadic interviews (N = 10) were conducted to examine the experience and impact of BPD on couples' relationships. The results of interpretative phenomenological analysis consisted of two superordinate themes describing the couple experience of navigating BPD: (a) the shared experience of BPD as a relational stressor; and (b) adaptive dyadic coping in the context of BPD. Although BPD was experienced as a relational stressor, dyadic coping and shared externalization of BPD emerged as central components to adaptive couple functioning. Most couples reported that therapy was a critical external resource in their journey toward adaptively functioning in the context of BPD, both intrapersonally and interpersonally. The lived experiences of these couples provides therapists with an increased understanding of the resources that support adaptive dyadic coping with BPD.

The Longitudinal Effect of Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Traits on Relationship Satisfaction

This research estimates how changes in admiration and rivalry narcissistic traits correlate with changes in relationship satisfaction over time. Longitudinal analyses based on data from the Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (pairfam) studies were used to investigate this question. Findings show associations between heightening rivalry narcissistic traits and decreased levels of relationship satisfaction among men and women, and between heightening admiration narcissistic traits and decreased levels of relationship satisfaction among men. When the two aspects were estimated together, accounting for collinearity, heightening admiration narcissistic traits were not associated with changes in relationship satisfaction among men, while, among women, they correlated with increased levels of relationship satisfaction. These findings advance previous propositions in recent literature and shed light on gender differences in this regard.

Personality disorders as predictors of intimate partner violence: A meta-analysis

Despite years of research demonstrating a relation between personality pathology and intimate partner violence (IPV), no meta-analysis has been published examining how well, or poorly, all ten personality disorders (PDs) predict IPV perpetration or victimization, nor has any meta-analysis examined these relations across types of IPV. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to synthesize existing research on the effects of all ten PDs, as well as psychopathy and global PD symptoms, on physical, psychological, and sexual IPV perpetration and victimization. An initial search in PsycINFO, PubMed, and Sociological Abstracts yielded 3988 results. After duplicate and irrelevant articles were removed, 163 studies were included in the analysis, representing 189 individual samples. Analysis was conducted in R using the metafor package. Main effects analyses indicate that PDs were significantly and positively related to IPV perpetration. Results were more mixed for IPV victimization. Antisocial and borderline PDs demonstrated the most robust effect sizes across both perpetration and victimization. Moderator analyses suggested that with few exceptions, main effects were consistent across a number of sample and study characteristics. Findings may help to inform prevention and intervention efforts in clinical settings.

Designing a structural equation model of marital satisfaction based on aging perception and demographic and clinical variables in Iranian elderly patients with coronary artery disease

BACKGROUND

Marital satisfaction is an important variable in maintaining or promoting elderly health. Therefore, identifying the effective factors can increase life expectancy and quality of life. This study aimed to determine the relationship between aging perception and demographic and clinical characteristics with marital satisfaction in the elderly patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

METHODS

This was a descriptive-correlational study. The sample size was 480 elderly patients with CAD who were referred to the heart clinics of hospitals in the west of Mazandaran Province, Iran, who were recruited by convenience sampling. Data were collected by a demographic checklist, ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Inventory, and Aging Perceptions Questionnaire (APQ). The data were analyzed by structural equation model (SEM) using Goodness of Fit Index (GFI and chi-square test. P-value less than 0.050 was considered as significant level.

RESULTS

The mean and standard deviation (SD) of marital satisfaction was 145.16 ± 12.12, and the mean and SD of aging perception was 113.39 ± 12.74. The results of the Pearson's correlation coefficient indicated that the highest correlation was between aging perception and marital satisfaction (r = 0.68, P < 0.001). The model fit indices of the hypothesized model met the criteria, with the GFI = 0.91, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.93, Normed Fit Index (NFI) = 0.94, and non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI) = 0.91.

CONCLUSION

Considering the psychological risk factors affecting marital satisfaction such as aging perception and suitable measurement can lead to marital health and improve treatment outcomes by increasing elderly motivation in self-care. Therefore, the elderly patients with CAD need more serious and long-term educational, counseling, and supportive interventions.