Table 1.

Caregiver ratings of borderline personality related characteristics scale items for boys and girls

	Statement is “Very True or Often True” of Child			pa	N
	Boys	Girls	Full Sample
Easily jealous	11.1%	6.9%	9.0%	.003	2,139
Falls for new friends intensely, expects too much too quickly	5.5%	5.7%	5.6%	.808	2,139
Changes friends constantly, loves them one day and hates the next	4.7%	3.8%	4.3%	.389	2,140
Fears they will be rejected or abandoned	3.2%	2.8%	3.0%	.668	2,140
Feels others are out to get him/her	2.7%	1.5%	2.1%	.086	2,141
Acts overly seductive or sexy, flirts a lot	2.6%	0.9%	1.7%	.005	2,139
Attracted to unsuitable romantic partners	0.7%	0.6%	0.7%	.927	2,136
Emotions spiral out of control, has extremes of rage, despair, excitement	10.5%	7.7%	9.1%	.035	2,140
Cannot think when upset, becomes irrational	7.5%	5.8%	6.6%	.157	2,139
Unable to soothe or comfort self	4.0%	3.4%	3.7%	.471	2,141
Lacks stable image of self, changes goals/values	3.8%	3.1%	3.5%	.393	2,139
Expresses emotions in an exaggerated dramatic way	10.8%	12.2%	11.5%	.376	2,140
Irritable, touchy, or quick to “fly off the handle”	8.9%	5.7%	7.3%	.011	2,139
Angry and hostile	2.2%	1.3%	1.7%	.141	2,140
Engages in self-harm behavior	2.9%	2.9%	2.9%	.961	2,141

Note: Items were selected that did not overlap with Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment scales or symptom criteria for other childhood disorders. Self-harm was coded as present/absent on the basis of interviews with mothers during home visits. Self-harm was excluded from the scale for the analysis predicting self-harm and was included in the scale in all other anlayses. Differences in response patterns by child sex were evaluated using logistic regression. Standard errors were adjusted to account for nonindependence of twin data.

^aThe value for test of sex difference.