Results of the study indicated that Disconnection/Rejection and Impaired Limits were associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD) pathology although these domains shared variance with depression and antisocial personality disorder pathology. In addition, the relationship between childhood abuse and BPD severity was nonsignificant after controlling for schema domains. The findings suggest that the clinical assessment of BPD might include the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (YSQ-S) and/or additional methods of schema assessment as the Disconnection/Rejection and Impaired Limits schema domains appear to be central to BPD and may serve to maintain the effects of childhood maltreatment. The study findings extend research relating to the YSQ-S to BPD employing a sample of incarcerated women known to have high rates of trauma and personality disorder symptoms. There is increasing interest regarding the role of maladaptive cognition in BPD. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of Young’s (1999) early maladaptive schema (EMS) domains with the BPD symptom severity and to test the hypothesis that EMS domains were a critical mechanism by which childhood maltreatment influenced adult BPD severity. Tables, figure, and references