Self- but not other-mentalizing moderates the association between BPD symptoms and somatic complaints in community-dwelling adolescents

Relationship between physical activity and the sense of coherence in healthy adults

OBJECTIVE

This study seeks to stablish a relation between the level of physical activity and the sense of coherence in young adults.

DESIGN

Cross sectional and analytical study in healthy young participants. SITE: Web form application.

PARTICIPANTS

191 active or inactive adult men or women between the ages of 18 and 45 without cognitive alterations. Professional or amateur athletes were excluded.

MAIN MEASUREMENTS

Correlation between the sense of coherence instrument (SOC-13) and Inventory of Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) were applied.

RESULTS

The physical activity levels in the sample were distributed as: high level 34%, medium level 52%, and low level 13%. The mean of SOC-13 was 52.4. No difference was found when comparing between SOC-13 for each group of physical activity (high: 55, medium: 54, low: 58, p>0.05), no correlation between SOC-13, age, and MET's reported by participants was found.

CONCLUSIONS

In healthy individuals, the IPAQ measure of physical activity levels showed no correlation with the sense of coherence in healthy young adults. Apparently, a sedentary lifestyle does not correlate with an individual's self-directed pursuit of health. It is possible that being physically active or sedentary is related to extrinsic variables associated with culture or family environment.

The reflective function questionnaire for youth: Hungarian adaptation and evaluation of associations with quality of life and psychopathology

An important correlate of mental health problems is mentalizing capacity, which appears to be particularly influential during adolescence. However, quality of life has not been studied in relation to mentalizing capacity among adolescents. This study aimed to translate the Reflective Function Questionnaire for Youth (RFQY) into Hungarian, present its psychometric properties, and assess its relationship with demographic characteristics, psychopathology and quality of life. A community sample of 384 youths aged 12-18 years completed the RFQY, the Measure of Quality of Life for Children and Adolescents, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. First, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis with direct oblimin rotation on the RFQY items. Next, we assessed the associations between the RFQY and demographics, quality of life, and psychopathology. The EFA resulted in four factors: Internal-self, Internal-other, Self-other, and Strong emotions. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the scales were .81, .82, .67, and .80, respectively. The subscales were uniquely associated with psychopathology and quality of life. Our study provides the first psychometric support for the Hungarian version of the RFQY and indicates that adolescents suffering from internalizing, externalizing symptoms or lower levels of quality of life could benefit from interventions aimed at enhancing mentalizing capacity.

Emotional self-knowledge profiles and relationships with mental health indicators support value in 'knowing thyself'

"Know thyself" may be indicated by a balanced high pairing of two emotional self-knowledge indicators: attention to emotions and emotional clarity. Closely associated but often evaluated separately, emotional clarity is consistently, inversely associated with psychopathology, while evidence regarding attention to emotions is less consistent. Variables of high/low emotional clarity and attention to emotions yielded four emotional self-knowledge profiles which were analyzed for associations with mental health indicators (depression and anxiety symptoms, self-esteem, self-schema, resiliency, transcendence) in n = 264 adolescents. Here we report regression models which show that compared with neither, both high (attention + clarity) show higher positive self-schema (B = 2.83, p = 0.004), more resiliency (B = 2.76, p = 0.015) and higher transcendence (B = 82.4, p < 0.001), while high attention only is associated with lower self-esteem (B = - 3.38, p < 0.001) and more symptoms (B = 5.82, p < 0.001 for depression; B = 9.37, p < 0.001 for anxiety). High attention only is associated with most severe impairment all indicators excepting transcendence. Profiles including high clarity suggest protective effects, and 'implicit' versus 'explicit' emotional awareness are discussed. Balanced vs. imbalanced emotional self-awareness profiles dissimilarly affect mental health, which have implications for treatment and policy.

I don't understand how I feel: mediating role of impaired self-mentalizing in the relationship between childhood adversity and psychosis spectrum experiences

Introduction

Childhood adversity is associated with the severity of multiple dimensions of psychosis, but the mechanisms underpinning the close link between the two constructs is unclear. Mentalization may underlie this relationship, as impaired mentalizing is found in various stages of the psychosis continuum. Nonetheless, the differential roles of self- and other-mentalizing in psychosis are not well understood.

Methods

Parallel multiple mediation was conducted for the relationship between a diverse range of childhood adversity types, including intentional and nonintentional harm, and schizotypy (positive, negative, disorganized), psychotic-like experiences (PLE) and paranoia via self-mentalizing (attention to emotions and emotional clarity) and other-mentalizing in n = 1,156 nonclinically ascertained young adults.

Results

Significant parallel multiple mediation models were found for all psychotic outcomes except negative schizotypy. The associations between intentionally harmful childhood adversity and psychotic outcomes were significantly mediated by increased attention to emotions for most models and decreased emotional clarity for some models. No significant mediation was found for parental loss. Paternal abuse was only mediated by attention to emotions whereas the effects of maternal abuse were mediated by attention to emotions and emotional clarity. Other-mentalizing only showed mediating effects on one of thirty models tested.

Conclusion

Results highlight the mediating role of impaired self-mentalizing in the association between childhood adversity and psychosis. This is consistent with disturbances of self-concept and self-boundary characterizing, in particular, the positive dimension of psychosis. Maternal versus paternal figures may contribute differentially to the development of mentalizing. These results could inform future preventative interventions, focusing on the development and maintenance of self-mentalizing.

Emerging personality in adolescence: developmental trajectories, internalizing and externalizing problems, and the role of mentalizing abilities

INTRODUCTION

Identifying longitudinal trajectories of emerging personality (EP) is crucial to highlight developmental patterns that might foster personality pathology in adolescence and early adulthood. Research on the exacerbation of personality pathology in adolescence identifies the significant contribution of internalizing and externalizing problems and suggests the importance of considering aspects such as mentalization, while accounting for gender differences.

METHODS

In our study, we adopted a mixed-model approach to (1) explore longitudinally EP (Adolescent Personality Structure Questionnaire; APS-Q) over 12 months in a sample of adolescents (N = 178, 62% females, mAGE = 15.04, SD = 1.27), accounting for gender effects. Moreover, (2) we assessed the longitudinal effect of internalizing and externalizing problems (Youth Self-Report; YSR-112) on EP. Finally, (3) we addressed the moderating role of mentalization (Movie Assessment for Social Cognition; MASC) in this developmental pathway.

RESULTS

Results highlighted a two-way pattern of EP. No changes were found in the level of difficulties in Self-acceptance, Investments and Goals, and Relationships with family dimensions. However, significant changes were found in personality functioning in the dimensions of Sense of Self, Aggression, and Relationships with friends. More, changes in difficulties in Sexuality emerged only in females. Also, gender differences emerged in the level of severity of EP. In addition, Internalizing and Externalizing problems differentially predicted difficulties in personality dimensions. Finally, mentalizing features moderated the relationship between Internalizing problems and Sense of Self and Internalizing problems and Self-acceptance, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Our contribution aligns with recent developmental models of personality pathology, suggesting that different personality dimensions develop at different paces. More, it highlights the predictive power of externalizing and internalizing problems on difficulties in personality dimensions. Finally, it advances the discussion on the contribution of mentalizing abilities to EP.