Berg-Nielsen, Turid Suzanne og Wichstrøm, Lars
Clinical studies have shown that children of parents with mental health problems are most likely to develop psychiatric problems themselves when their parents have a Personality Disorder characterized by hostility. The Personality Disorders that appear most associated with hostility, with the potential to affect children, are Borderline Personality Disorder, Antisocial Personality Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The question addressed in this study is whether the risk to children’s mental health extends to the normal population of parents who have subclinical symptomlevels of these disorders. This inquiry used data from a Trondheim, Norway community sample of 922 preschoolers and one parent for each child. The mean age of the children was 53 months. For the first time, it is documented that parents’ self-reported symptoms of Borderline, Antisocial, and Narcissistic Personality Disorders at a predominantly subclinical level had a strong effect on their children’s psychiatric symptoms, especially when the biological parents were not living together. Child service providers need to be aware of these specific symptoms of parental Personality Disorders, which may represent a possible risk to children
s. 156-165, utgitt av BioMed Central i 2012.