Table 4.

Unstandardised probit coefficients (β) for the indirect pathways between early risk factors, persistent nightmares, and BPD symptoms outcome

Risk factors	To BPD symptoms outcome at 11 to 12 years
	Associations via Persistent Nightmares at 2.5 to 6.8 yrs			Associations via emotional/behavioural problems at 9.5 years
	β	SE	P	Β	SE	P
Sex	0.004	0.003	0.197	−0.012 a	0.005	0.010
Emotional temperament	0.001	0.000	0.018	0.002	0.000	0.000
Family adversity	0.001	0.000	0.062	0.006	0.001	<0.001
Abuse	0.015	0.006	0.018	0.015	0.004	0.001
Maladaptive parenting	0.002	0.001	0.021	0.016	0.003	<0.001
Persistent nightmares	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.016	0.004	<0.001

B probit coefficient, SE standard error, P probability

^aNegative figure indicates male sex as variable coded as 1 = male, 2 = female; Boldface indicates significant associations; Probit co-efficients represent the change in the probability of “caseness” associated with a unit change in the independent variable, thus it is important to keep the scale of the predictor in mind when interpreting probit coefficients i.e., one would expect probit values to be larger for dichotomous predictors, which represent the change from ‘no caseness’ (i.e., no abuse) to ‘caseness’ (i.e., abuse) rather than a single value on a continuous scale (i.e., emotional temperament)