Investigation on paranoid and borderline personality disorder of young soldiers and analysis of its influencing factors

  Background  The special psychological behavior patterns of patients with paranoid and borderline personality disorders have brought hidden dangers to the safety management and work of the army. It is necessary to investigate the paranoid and borderline personality status of young soldiers so as to provide evidence for psychological intervention.

  Objective  To understand the paranoia and borderline personality disorder tendencies of young soldiers and explore their associated factors preliminarily.

  Methods  The survey was conducted by the Department of Psychology of Naval Military Medical University. Totally 1 916 participants were enrolled by cluster sampling from August to September in 2021. The paranoid and borderline personality trait were measured by the demographic questionnaire (PDQ-4 + ) and its influencing factors were explored.

  Results  The average age of the participants was (25.6±5.1) years old, and there were 1 837 males and 50 females. The prevalence of paranoid personality disorder and borderline personality disorder in this sample was 6.8% and 4.0%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that education level (χ²=15.573, P=0.004), parental relationship (χ²=32.628, P＜0.001), family economy (χ²=21.297, P＜0.001) were associated factors of paranoid personality, and parental relationship (χ²=63.507, P＜0.001), family economy (χ²=15.857, P=0.003), hobbies and specialties (χ²=5.051, P=0.025) were associated factors of borderline personality. Binary logistic regression analysis further showed that education level (P=0.033), family economy (P=0.001), parental relationship (P＜0.001) were correlated to paranoid personality, and hobbies and specialties (P=0.049), parental relationship (P<0.001) were correlated to borderline personality.

  Conclusion  Poor parental relationship and family economy are common risk factors for paranoid and borderline personality disorder. Targeted psychological interventions are needed for young soldiers with different personality disorder tendency to improve their mental health.