Self-esteem and inner strengths: a network study in Thai university students with borderline personality disorder symptoms

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Introduction Self-esteem is widely regarded as an important construct in the psychological functioning of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms. During emerging adulthood, fluctuations in self-esteem are often linked to emotional dysregulation and maladaptive adjustment; however, self-esteem has rarely been examined within a broader system of culturally relevant psychological resources. Drawing on the Theravāda Buddhist framework of the Ten Pāramīs, inner strengths may represent protective resources that can be examined alongside self-esteem to clarify how these strengths co-occur among students experiencing BPD symptoms. Methods The present study employed a regularized psychological network approach to investigate partial associations between self-esteem and Ten Pāramī–based inner strengths among Thai university students screening positive for BPD symptoms. Participants were 346 Thai university students (25.4% male, 74.6% female; mean age = 21.60 ± 2.24 years) identified using a standardized BPD screening instrument. Inner strengths included Truthfulness, Perseverance, Wisdom, Generosity, adherence to the Five Precepts, Meditation, Tolerance, Equanimity, Determination, and Loving-kindness. Result The estimated network showed a predominantly positive pattern of partial associations among strengths. The strongest edge was observed between Generosity and Loving-kindness, and links between self-esteem and Determination (and Equanimity) were among the most consistently estimated associations (based on bootstrap confidence intervals). Centrality indices were examined descriptively; however, case-dropping bootstrap results indicated very limited stability of centrality estimates (CS(cor = 0.7) = 0.13 for strength and expected influence), and centrality rankings were therefore treated as strictly exploratory. Discussion: Although some negative partial associations were estimated (e.g., involving Truthfulness, Perseverance, and Equanimity), their precision was limited and such patterns should be treated as exploratory. Exploratory gender-stratified analyses suggested that the strongest edges were similar in the female subsample, whereas the male subsample yielded a sparse/near-empty regularized network, limiting inference regarding gender differences. Given the cross-sectional design, all associations are interpreted as conditional co-occurrence rather than directional or causal effects. Conclusion Overall, these findings highlight a small set of robust co-occurring inner strengths linked to self-esteem in Thai university students with BPD symptoms and provide a culturally informed basis for hypothesis generation regarding strengths-based skills cultivation and supportive interventions in university settings.

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Related topics: Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Mental Health Research Topics · Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions