The link between personality disorder and parenting behaviors: A systematic review.

Objective: To systematically review the literature on the link between personality disorder and parenting capacity from an attachment theory perspective. Method: Four electronic databases were searched systematically. Those studies that met the pre-defined inclusion criteria were quality assessed. Data was then extracted and synthesized from the included studies using a qualitative approach. Results: Fifteen thousand and sixty one hits were found. A further 22 studies were identified through expert contact, and two from references lists. Two thousand eight hundred and eighty five duplicates were removed and a further 11,926 irrelevant studies were excluded. Of the remaining 250 articles, 229 did not meet the inclusion criteria and were therefore removed and two articles were unobtainable. A further 19 studies were removed following quality assessment, leaving a total of 11 studies to be reviewed. The majority of the findings supported the association between a diagnosis of personality disorder, poor parent–child interactions and problematic parenting practices. Conclusions: Parental personality disorder was identified as a risk factor for impaired parenting behaviors and disturbed parent–infant. More rigorous research is required in relation to how co-morbidity and personality disorder alone influence the broad dimensions of parenting capacity for both mothers and fathers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]