ive application,
The personality type which MacMurray (1976) states is most frequently exhibited by the mothers of borderline patients is what he terms the "matriarchal mother." He states that the matriarchal mother is typified by three pronounced personality characteristics. These are: (1) emotional instability; (2) high need for control; and (3) emotional coldness.
This study's comparison of these personality characteristics in the mothers of borderline patients, schizophrenic patients, and non-patients serves two primary purposes. First, it tests the validity of MacMurray's postulate through comparison of the characteristics for the borderline mother group and the group of mothers of non-patient normals.
The second purpose served by the study concerns the fact that several authors have proposed very similar characteristics for mothers of schizophrenic patients. For example, proposed characteristics of the mothers of schizophrenic patients have been said to include: a domineering and controlling personality (Tietze, 1949), emotional coldness and aloofness (Bateson, Jackson, Haley and Weakland, 1956), and general emotional instability (Neale and Oltmans, 1980). Given that Kohut (1977) has suggested that borderline personality disorder is really a form of schizophrenia--most probably an initial stage in its development since the diagnosis is rarely given to people over 30 (Shulman, 1982)--it seems reasonable to suggest that the comparison of these personality characteristics between mothers of borderline and schizophrenic patients may have relevance for better understanding the maternal contribution to the etiology of both disorders. Could it be that both disorders are, at least in part, caused by matriarchal personalities of mothers? Findings of no difference between the assessed personality characteristics for both of these groups of mothers would offer support for continuing investigation into the possibility of si...