Employment histories among patients with borderline personality disorder symptomatology

Abstract

Whereas past research has characterized the course of symptoms in borderline personality disorder, functionality with regard to employment is less well-known. In this study, we examined 324 internal medicine outpatients with regard to employment history and borderline personality disorder symptomatology, using two self-report measures. In comparison with participants who did not exceed the cut-off scores on either measure of borderline personality disorder, those who did had a greater number of jobs since age 18, were employed less overall since age 18, were more likely to be paid “under the table”, and were more likely to be fired from a job. In the subsample with borderline personality disorder symptomatology, there were few employment differences between those with versus without past histories of psychiatric hospitalization. Findings suggest that individuals with borderline personality symptomatology do not fare as well with employment as their non-borderline peers.