Prospective Impact of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms and Social Media Addiction on Coping and Health Related Outcomes During a Global Pandemic

This study examined the prospective relations of baseline borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms to later coping- and health-related outcomes during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the moderating role of social media addiction in these relations. A U.S. nationwide community sample of 377 adults completed a prospective online study, including an initial assessment completed between March 27 and April 5, 2020 and a follow-up assessment one-month later. Baseline BPD symptoms were uniquely positively associated with maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, past-month substance use, thwarted belongingness, and health anxiety at one-month follow-up. BPD symptoms were also found to be positively associated with substance use and thwarted belongingness only among participants with high levels of social media addiction. Results suggest that individuals with BPD pathology may be particularly vulnerable to adverse coping- and health-related outcomes during a pandemic, and highlight the potential downsides of excessive social media use in the context of a global health crisis.