Mating strategies and experience of early adversity in female patients with borderline personality disorder: Insights from life history theory

Patients with BPD were significantly more likely to expect less parental investment from their hypothetical partners in the predictably safe condition, and to consent to sexual affairs at an earlier age than controls. Correlation analyses suggest that subjective depressiveness, childhood trauma, rearing style of patients' parents, and actual psychosexual development impacted on mate choice in the hypothetical scenarios. In addition, findings may also corroborate ideas of nonrandom mating in patients with BPD, which may be taken into consideration when interpersonal difficulties with romantic partners are dealt with in psychotherapy.