To investigate the effects of maternal borderline personality disorder symptoms (BPS) and prenatal reflective functioning (RF) on the development of children’s behavioural problems. The sample...Show moreTo investigate the effects of maternal borderline personality disorder symptoms (BPS) and prenatal reflective functioning (RF) on the development of children’s behavioural problems. The sample consists of 105 mothers (M = 22.75, SD = 2.21) and their twenty-montholds (M = 17, SD = 0.6, 54.3% boys). During pregnancy, the Borderline personality disorder-checklist (Giesen-Bloo, 2006) was used to assess the presence of BPS and the Pregnancy interview-revised (Slade, Patterson, & Miller, 2007) was used to measure the RF of the mother. Behavioural problems of the child were measured by the Child Behaviour Checklist (Verhulst, Ende, & Koot, 1996) at the age of twenty months. The analyses show that there is no correlation between BPS and RF of the mother, having BPS or not having BPS seems to have no effect on the RF. A low correlation is found between BPS and Problem behaviour of the child. This means that the more BPS the mother shows, the more Problem behaviour the child shows. Having or not having BPS appears to have no effect on the Problem behaviour of the child. There is no correlation between the level of RF and Problem behaviour of the child and showing no difference in upper and lower level of RF on Problem behaviour of the child. Finally, no predictive relation was found between BPS, RF and Problem behaviour of the child, there was no evidence of a moderation effect. On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that mothers with borderline personality symptoms should be informed on how they can respond to the needs of their child, to avoid behavioural problems of the child. If mothers are more responsive to the needs of their child, the chance of developing and maintaining behavioural problems of the child decreases.Show less