Borderline personality traits and self handicapping

Background: Self-handicapping is a self-destructive behaviour which people use as an excuse for a potential failure or an anticipated low performance when they are doing or they will be doing a task. Borderline personality is a personality organization which people have a ego weakness includes limitation of frustration, inability to control impulse, and the use of primitive ego defences Objective: It has proposed that selfhandicapping is a “function” of personality. In this respect, self-handicapping behaviors can also be considered as “softer” forms of deliberate self-injurious behavior that less threaten the self-integrity. In our study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between the level of borderline personality traits and self-handicapping in healthy individuals. Methods: Our participants was 400 females between the ages of 18-36 residing in Istanbul as a result of their voluntary participation. The Sociodemographic Data Form developed by the researcher, the Borderline Personality Questionary (BPQ) and Self handicapping Scale (SHS) used for collecting data. Results: It was hypothesized that participants who have louder borderline personaliy features would be more likely to self handicapping. The findings supported the hypotheses. Conclusions: Our findings show that a specific psychological phenomenon such as self-handicapping is actually shaped by early relationships with parents and environmental conditions, especially family, and is only a small part of a functioning that has a rather pervasive effect, such as personality traits.