Generalizable Links Between Borderline Personality Traits and Functional Connectivity

Golia Shafiei; Arielle S Keller; Maxwell Bertolero; Sheila Shanmugan; Dani S Bassett; Andrew A Chen; Sydney Covitz; Audrey Houghton; Audrey Luo; Kahini Mehta; Taylor Salo; Russell T Shinohara; Damien Fair; Michael N Hallquist; Theodore D Satterthwaite

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.02.1016

Generalizable Links Between Borderline Personality Traits and Functional Connectivity

Biol Psychiatry. 2024 Sep 15;96(6):486-494. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.02.1016. Epub 2024 Mar 7.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lifespan Brain Institute of Perelman School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
² Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Physics & Astronomy, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Neurology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
³ Penn Statistics in Imaging and Visualization Center, Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
⁴ Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
⁵ Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Institute of Child Development, College of Education and Human Development, Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
⁶ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
⁷ Penn Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lifespan Brain Institute of Perelman School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: sattertt@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

PMID: 38460580
PMCID: PMC11338739 (available on 2025-09-15)
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.02.1016

Abstract

Background: Symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) often manifest during adolescence, but the underlying relationship between these debilitating symptoms and the development of functional brain networks is not well understood. Here, we aimed to investigate how multivariate patterns of functional connectivity are associated with borderline personality traits in large samples of young adults and adolescents.

Methods: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging data from young adults and adolescents from the HCP-YA (Human Connectome Project Young Adult) (n = 870, ages 22-37 years, 457 female) and the HCP-D (Human Connectome Project Development) (n = 223, ages 16-21 years, 121 female). A previously validated BPD proxy score was derived from the NEO Five-Factor Inventory. A ridge regression model with cross-validation and nested hyperparameter tuning was trained and tested in HCP-YA to predict BPD scores in unseen data from regional functional connectivity. The trained model was further tested on data from HCP-D without further tuning. Finally, we tested how the connectivity patterns associated with BPD aligned with age-related changes in connectivity.

Results: Multivariate functional connectivity patterns significantly predicted out-of-sample BPD scores in unseen data in young adults (HCP-YA p_perm_u_ted = .001) and older adolescents (HCP-D p_perm_ut_ed = .001). Regional predictive capacity was heterogeneous; the most predictive regions were found in functional systems relevant for emotion regulation and executive function, including the ventral attention network. Finally, regional functional connectivity patterns that predicted BPD scores aligned with those associated with development in youth.

Conclusions: Individual differences in functional connectivity in developmentally sensitive regions are associated with borderline personality traits.

Keywords: BPD; Functional connectivity; Neurodevelopment; Regression analysis; Ventral attention network.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Borderline Personality Disorder* / diagnostic imaging
Borderline Personality Disorder* / physiopathology
Brain* / diagnostic imaging
Brain* / physiopathology
Connectome*
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Male
Nerve Net / diagnostic imaging
Nerve Net / physiopathology
Young Adult

Abstract

MeSH terms

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