The relationship between childhood maltreatment and cluster B personality disorders: a systematic review

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is known as a significant risk factor in the development of cluster B personality disorder (PD), which can lead to significant distress and functional impairment. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and cluster B PDs. We obtained studies from Google Scholar, PubMed Central, SpringerLink, EBSCOHost, and ScienceDirect from 2015 to July 2024 using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) 2020 as the guideline. The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms of "childhood maltreatment," "personality disorders," "cluster B personality," "borderline," "antisocial," "histrionic," and "narcissistic" were used for conducting a systematic search. The included studies concentrated on individuals with cluster B PDs who had experienced maltreatment as children (CM). The risk of bias was assessed using the New Ottawa Scale. The PROSPERO registration number for this systematic review is CRD42024607386, which included 18 studies that were conducted in various countries. The studies included 11 cross-sectional, 1 case-control, 3 cohort, and 3 longitudinal designs, with sample sizes ranging from 78 to 36,309 participants. The results showed a strong association between CM and cluster B PDs development. Abuse and neglect experiences were correlated with an increased risk of developing PDs such as narcissistic, borderline, antisocial, and histrionic types. In this systematic review, CM was strongly associated with the development of Cluster B PDs.