The Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-C): Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance across Time and Sex in a Community-Based Sample

The factor structure and measurement invariance of the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-C; Crick et al. 2005) was examined in a community-based sample of Canadian adolescents (N = 252 boys; N = 314 girls) assessed yearly from age 13 to age 16. Attempts to confirm the originally proposed four factor structure of the BPFS-C were not successful. Follow-up exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for an eleven-item, two-factor latent structure of the BPFS-C, consisting of an intra- and interpersonal preoccupation factor and an impulsivity/reactivity factor. Measurement invariance modeling provided evidence for the longitudinal invariance of the two-factor structure and suggested it possessed largely the same empirical meaning for boys and girls at each time point. Examination of latent means in the context of measurement invariance suggested that the BPFS-C two factor structure was: (1) relatively stable across mid-adolescence; and (2) relative to boys, girls showed elevations on the intra-and interpersonal preoccupation factor, providing further evidence for ‘true’ sex differences in rates of borderline personality features. The importance of measurement science for providing a solid, empirically-based foundation for developmental research on the emergence of borderline personality features in children and adolescence is discussed.