Exploring mentalization, trust, communication quality, and alienation in adolescents

Abstract

Introduction A growing body of evidence has demonstrated the importance of mentalization for adolescents' psychosocial functioning; however, further research is needed to understand links between mentalization and other socio-cognitive factors. The aim of this quantitative, crosssectional study was to investigate the relationship between a teen's capacity to mentalize and three attachment-related factors: parent-teen trust, parent-teen communication, and parent-teen alienation. Methods In an online survey, 82 (mainly) Australian adolescents (57 female; 23 male; 2 non-binary; mean age 17.09 years) completed: i) The Children's Eyes Test, which measured mentalization; and ii) The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-45, which measured trust, communication quality, and alienation. Results In teens' relationships with both mothers and fathers, trust and communication quality were significantly positively correlated (p = .001) when controlling for age and gender. Both were significantly negatively correlated with alienation (p = .001) with control variables included. Capacity to mentalize did not correlate with trust, communication quality, or alienation in relationships with either mothers or fathers (p � .05). Conclusions Possible reasons are proposed for why no relationship was found between mentalization and trust, communication quality, or alienation. Implications for future research are discussed.

Trust Beliefs in Significant Others, Interpersonal Stress, and Internalizing Psychopathology of Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders

“…The current findings are consistent with a number of lines of research. The findings complement studies showing that TBSO by adolescents from the community is associated with higher levels of mentalization, higher levels of communication with parents, lower levels of aggression, higher levels of psychological well-being, lower levels of internalized maladjustment and lower levels of alienation [33][34][35][36]. The current findings are compatible with research showing that trust beliefs in others buffers the effects of social stress on the mental health and health for adolescents from the community [3,4].…”

“…TBSO, specifically their mother, father or peers has been found to play a positive role in psychosocial adjustment by adolescents from the community. TBSO by those adolescents is associated with higher levels of mentalization, higher levels of communication with parents, lower levels of aggression, higher levels of psychological well-being, lower levels of internalized maladjustment and lower levels of alienation [33][34][35][36]. Venta et al [37] found that emotional trust beliefs in mothers by adolescents with psychiatric disorders' moderated, and thus served as a buffer of, the relation between depression and suicide attempts.…”

The Effect of Rejection Sensitivity on Fear of Intimacy in Emerging Adulthood

“…Indeed, as it has been shown, high self-regulation skills seem to protect from the negative impact of perceived rejection cues (Meehan et al, 2019). For example, mentalization skills could enhance affect regulation regarding rejection and intimacy, and the replacement of dysfunctional attributions concerning the behavior of others with other, more realistic ones (Clarkei et al, 2020; Fonagy et al, 2002).…”

Mentalizing strategies for navigating the social world in adolescence

“…One of the most common ways to measure mentalizing in adolescence has been to assess mentalizing ability or accuracy. Both the adult and children's version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) have been used by researchers to measure ‘individual differences in social sensitivity’ in adolescents (Baron‐Cohen et al, 2002; Clarke et al, 2020; Peñuelas‐Calvo et al, 2021). The test asks participants to identify the word that best matches the underlying mental state of a cropped image of eyes.…”