Responses to validating versus reframing support strategies as a function of borderline personality features and interpersonal problems

Abstract

AbstractWe examined whether borderline personality features may be differentially associated with reactions to social support strategies involving validation (acknowledging distress as normal) vs. reframing (highlighting opportunities for positive outcomes). After completing self-report measures of their borderline personality features and interpersonal problems, participants rated their reactions to receiving either validation or reframing support (randomly assigned) from a close friend with whom they imagined sharing hypothetical negative experiences. Borderline personality features were associated with less positive responses to reframing than to validation, and a tendency to interpret reframing support as an assertion of dominance. Moderated mediation analyses further showed that associations between borderline features and negative responses to reframing support were specifically explained by hostile-dominant interpersonal problems. Findings highlight the importance of validation to help individuals high in borderline features experience the emotional benefits of social support.

Keywords

• borderline
• interpersonal circumplex
• validation
• support
• dominance