Background: Personality organization (PO), as conceptualized in psychodynamic theory, is thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, empirical research examining how structural personality dysfunction and BPD symptoms influence each other over time remains limited. This study applied a cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) analysis to examine symptom-level, directional relationships between BPD features and PO dimensions over an 18-month period.


Methods: A sample of 1,171 adolescents (ages 12-19) completed assessments at two time points, reporting on ten borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms (e.g., identity disturbance, dissociation) and five dimensions of personality organization (PO; e.g., identity diffusion, reality testing) using validated self-report instruments. Temporal networks were estimated using EBICglasso, and directional effects were computed via LASSO-regularized logistic regression.


Results: Network structure was stable across time points (r = .87), and stability coefficients for key centrality measures were strong (CS = 0.75). The CLPN model revealed that several BPD symptoms at Time 1 significantly predicted PO dysfunctions at Time 2. Identity disturbance (BPD9) strongly predicted identity diffusion (IPO2; β = 2.71), while dissociation (BPD7) predicted impaired reality testing (IPO3; β = 2.14). In contrast, no significant paths were found from PO dimensions to later BPD symptoms. Expected Influence (EI) analyses identified BPD2 (self-harm/suicide) as the node with the highest outgoing influence (out-EI = 21.07), and IPO3 (reality testing) as the node with the highest incoming influence (in-EI = 35.08). Bridge EI metrics consistently highlighted IPO3 and IPO2 as central connectors between BPD and PO domains.


Conclusions: These findings suggest that identity-related BPD symptoms play a leading role in the development of structural personality impairment during adolescence. Findings contribute to theoretical models of early personality development and offer insights for targeting identity disturbance and reality-testing deficits may be effective for early intervention strategies.