Mediating Effect Of Borderline Personality Traits On The Relationships Between Precollege Peer Bullying Experiences And Murder-Related Psychological Behaviors Among College Students

ObjectiveTo investigate the prevalence of murder-related psychological behaviors among college students,and to explore the mediating effects of borderline personality traits on the relationships between precollege peer bullying experiences and murder-related psychological behaviors,in order to provide a reference for the prevention and control of murder-related psychological behaviors.MethodsIn October 2018,a multi-stage stratification method was used to select participants.At first stage,four universities were randomly selected based on the diversity of academic disciplines(Medicine,Agriculture,Science,Engineering)in Hefei city.Two to five classes in each grade in each of those four schools were randomly selected and students aged 18 years and above.A total of 4287 students were invited to participate in the study.Of these students,173 refused to take part in this survey and 54 were absent.After removing 26 students who accidentally missed one or more tables of the questionnaire,finally,we received 4034 effective questionnaires(effective rate of 94.1%).The students aged from 18 to 25 years(mean 21.62,SD 1.36).The Olweus Bullying/Victimization Questionnaire and Mc Lean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder(MSI-BPD)were used to measure the occurrence of peer bullying experiences and borderline personality traits.And the evaluation ofmurder-related psychological behaviors referred to suicide-related psychological behaviors.The database was established using Epi Data3.1 software,and data analysis was performed using SPSS23.0 software.Chi-square test was used to compare the distribution of the detection rates of peer bullying,borderline personality traits and murder-related psychological behaviors among different demographic characteristics.Binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the influence of different demographic characteristics and peer bullying on murder-related psychological behaviors.Spearman correlation analysis was used in analyzing the relationships,and finally Amos software was used to test the mediating effects.ResultsThe results of this study showed that the detection rates of 4 034 college students' murderous ideation,plans,preparation,and attempts were 6.9%(278/4 034),2.5%(101/4 034),1.8%(74/4 034)and 1.4%(57/4 034)respectively.The results of this study showed that the detection rates of 4 034 college students' murderous ideation,plans,preparation,and attempts were 6.9%(278/4 034),2.5%(101/4 034),1.8%(74/4034)and 1.4%(57/4 034)respectively.The students who are boy,only-child,relationship with both parents and fewer than three friends have higher detection rates of murder-related psychological behaviors(P<0.01).The univariate logistic regressions showed that gender(odds ratios(ORs)ranging from 1.86 to 5.53,P<0.001),only-child status(ORs ranging from 0.31 to 0.69,P<0.001),and number of friends(ORs ranging from 0.29 to 0.63,P<0.001)were significantly associated with each murder-related psychological behavior.Additionally,precollege cyber bullying(perpetration: AOR ranging from 1.89 to 21.48,P<0.05;victimization: AOR ranging from 2.26 to 15.67,P<0.05)is an important factor affecting murder-related psychological behaviors among college students.There was significant correlation between peer bullying,borderline personality traits and murder-related psychological behaviors(All P<0.01).Borderline personalitytraits play a part of mediating role in the relationship between different numbers and types of peer bullying and murder-related psychological behaviors,and the mediating effects accounts for 10.96% ? 35.29%.Furthermore,borderline personality traits play a part of mediating role in the relationship between precollege peer bullying and murder-related psychological behaviors,and the mediating effect accounts for 8.16% ?47.16%.ConclusionsBased on previous studies,this study further verified that peer bullying is not only an influencing factor of suicide-related psychological behaviors,but also an important influence factor of murder-related psychological behaviors.Borderline personality traits play a part of mediating role in the relationship between the peer bullying and murder-related psychological behaviors in college students.Reducing the occurrence of borderline personality traits may be beneficial to prevent and control the occurrence of psychological behavior of murder by college students who have experienced peer bullying.