Separation anxiety in a community sample of Italian emerging adults and its relationship with dimensions of borderline personality

Giulia Bassi; Elisa Mancinelli; Daniela Di Riso; Adriana Lis; Silvia Salcuni

doi:10.4081/ripppo.2021.506

Separation anxiety in a community sample of Italian emerging adults and its relationship with dimensions of borderline personality

Res Psychother. 2021 Apr 2;24(1):506. doi: 10.4081/ripppo.2021.506. eCollection 2021 Mar 31.

Authors

Giulia Bassi^{1

2}, Elisa Mancinelli¹, Daniela Di Riso¹, Adriana Lis¹, Silvia Salcuni¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Padova.
² Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Trento, Italy.

Abstract

Research studies focusing on separation anxiety and its relation with other measures of anxiety and personality-relevant variables in community samples are still scarce. This study aimed to describe in a dimensional perspective the relationship between separation anxiety symptoms, anxiety levels, and personality traits in a community sample of Italian emerging adults. A sample of 260 college students [mean age (M_age)=21.22, standard deviation (SD)=1.91, 79.6% females] completed the adult separation anxiety questionnaire-27 (ASA-27), the state and trait anxiety inventory-Y (STAI-Y), and the personality assessment inventory borderline scale (PAI-BOR). ASA-27 was significantly and positively correlated with the PAI borderline scale. The mediation model showed that ASA-27 influenced the PAI-BOR through trait anxiety. Clinical implications of the study for psychotherapy research are discussed.

Keywords: Emerging adulthood; adult separation anxiety; borderline features; state anxiety; trait anxiety.