This exploratory cross-sectional study attempts to understand the mechanisms underlying the role of parental mentalizing in a child’s psychological functioning during middle childhood by using Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF) and Parental Insightfulness (PI) constructs. The main aims are to examine the role of PI and PRF as processes capable of influencing a child’s psychological functioning in terms of emotional–behavioral difficulties and social–emotional competencies. Eighty-six community parents (48 mothers, 38 fathers) and their 50 children in middle childhood (Mage = 10.10, SD = 1.13) participated in this study, recruited through a non-probabilistic sampling. The following measures were used to assess the aims of this study: Insightfulness Assessment, Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) questionnaires. Results showed that parental mentalizing was found to be significantly associated with both child’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms and social–emotional competencies as reported by parents through the CBCL and DESSA questionnaires. This study may offer a contribution to the study of parental mentalizing during middle childhood, supporting the hypothesis that both parents’ ability to understand their child’s mental states could affect the child’s psychological functioning. Clinical and theoretical implications are geared toward a family-based view with a specific focus on the importance of fostering in both parents a positive attitude toward mentalizing processes.

Objectives: This study aims to test the psychometric proprieties of the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ) applied to younger (13–16 years) and older (17–20 years) Italian adolescents examining (1) the factorial structure of RFQ; (2) its invariance across age and sex; (3) correlations between RFQ subscale scores, as well as the associations of the RFQ with (4) psychological problems and alexithymia dimensions.Methods: A cross‐sectional study was conducted with 593 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 20 years old recruited from the community within Italy. These participants completed the RFQ, Symptom Checklist‑90, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale.Results: The two‐factor structure of the RFQ was confirmed. However, higher internal consistency of RFQ was obtained by removing two items that seemed problematic within this sample. Using a six‐item version of RFQ, the two‐factor structure was invariant across adolescent age and sex. Significant correlations among RFQ subscale scores, and between RFQ subscales with both psychological problems and alexithymia dimensions were found.Conclusions: Preliminary results reveal a short version of RFQ (six‐item) is a suitable measure to assess mentalizing in adolescents in the Italian context.

Introduction: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are psychosocial factors acknowledged as significant contributors to health consequences later in adolescence, including psychological maladjustment. The research suggests that, at a transdiagnostic and transtheoretical level, working on restoring epistemic trust (ET), mentalized affectivity (MA), and reflective functioning (RF) in adolescents with ACEs assumes a central role in the therapeutic process. However, there are still few studies that attempted to investigate the specific role of these sociocognitive factors in the detrimental positive association between levels of experienced ACEs during childhood and psychological maladjustment in nonclinical adolescents. Methods: A community sample of 306 Italian cisgender adolescents (61.4% assigned females at birth; age range 13–19 years old; M _age = 16.1, SD = 1.64) self‐reported ACEs (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire‐Short Form), psychological maladjustment (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), ET (Epistemic Trust, Mistrust and Credulity Questionnaire), MA (Brief‐Mentalized Affectivity Scale for Adolescence), and RF (Reflective Functioning Questionnaire). A multiple mediation regression analysis has been performed to explore the association between ACEs and psychological maladjustment through the interaction with socio‐cognitive factors. Results: ACEs are positive predictors of psychological maladjustment later in adolescence. Regardless of gender differences, epistemic mistrust and credulity, processing and expressing emotions, and uncertainty about mental states mediated this association, while epistemic trust, identifying emotions, and certainty about mental states did not configure as significant mediators. Conclusion: Findings suggest that ET disruptions and deficits in RF are risk factors, while MA is a protective factor within the link between ACEs and psychological maladjustment in adolescence. These links help to specify the role of sociocognitive factors in the development of mental problems in adolescents who have been exposed to adverse experiences in childhood.

Although many studies have documented associations between insecure attachment and psychopathology, attachment may not confer risk for psychopathology independently, but rather through its interaction with emotional, social, and biological factors. Understanding the variables through which attachment may lead to psychopathology is therefore important. Within this domain of research, the role of physiological factors is poorly investigated. What are the relevant domains and why, when, or for whom do they influence mental disorders relating to attachment? The current systematic review aims to answer these questions. Results reveal that physiological indices of emotional regulation play a role in explaining and/or determining the relationship between attachment and psychopathology. Specifically: (1) combined with insecure attachment, higher skin conductance level (SCL), lower cardiac slowing, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia modulation (RSA) contribute to different psychopathological indicators and behavioral/psychological dysfunctions, although the latter predicts a contradictory pattern of findings; (2) insecure-avoidant attachment is more consistently linked with stress and emotional dysregulation when combined with RSA, while anxious attachment confers risk of depressive symptoms when combined with SCL. We concluded our discussion of the results of seven studies by outlining a plan to move the field forward. We discuss the quality of the assessment, methodological limitations, and future directions, highlighting the need to extend the research to clinical samples.

Over the past twenty years research interest has been focused on deepening the role of parental mentalizing. Nevertheless, few studies have specifically addressed the role played by fathers’ mentalizing. This systematic review aims to bridge this gap by offering an exploration of paternal mentalizing within attachment theory considering three different operationalizations: Reflective Functioning, Parental Insightfulness and Mind-Mindedness. Starting from this, the main goals of this systematic review are: (1) to show the effect of paternal mentalizing on child’s outcomes or paternal role within the family system, (2) to increase research exchange between different theoretical frameworks, enhancing the knowledge of the mentalization construct, (3) to explore under-researched areas and implications for research and clinical practice. PsycInfo, PsycArticle, Web Of Science, Scopus, Medline, PubMed and EMBASE were systematically searched for articles published until February 7, 2021. In total, 6311 studies were considered for the systematic review; of these, thirty-six met the inclusion criteria. The included studies were subsequently split on the basis of the specific mentalizing operationalization. Overall, the data showed significant associations between paternal mentalizing and both fathers’ parenting features and variables related to the paternal broader functioning within the family context. This systematic review also confirms the role of fathers’ mentalizing processes in relation to paternal features and child’s outcomes. In conclusion, further studies aimed at examining paternal mentalizing specific influences, exploring the causal pathways related to paternal mentalizing and investigating the relationship between different mentalizing dimensions and their diverse effects are recommended.