Learning to Wait and Be Altruistic: Testing A Conversational Training in Economic Education for Primary School Children

Mentalization-based interventions in schools for enhancing socio-emotional competencies and positive behaviour: a systematic review

Mentalization-based interventions (MBIs) have been increasingly applied in school settings to support the social-emotional development and mental health of children and adolescents. This systematic review aimed to synthesize the evidence on the effectiveness of MBIs implemented in educational contexts for students aged 6-18 years. A comprehensive search was conducted in PsychInfo, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, and ERIC databases from inception to October 2023. The search strategy combined terms related to mentalization, school-based interventions, and the target age group. The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022302757). Inclusion criteria included peer-reviewed publications in English, studies published between 1980 and 2023, interventions based on mentalization principles, and a primary focus on children aged 6 to 18 years. Exclusion criteria involved non-mentalization based interventions and research outside the 6-18 age range. The risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment Tools from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Data were synthesized narratively due to the heterogeneity of study designs and outcomes. Of the 5,250 articles screened, 21 studies met the inclusion criteria, comprising over 7,500 participants. The reviewed interventions targeted various aspects of mentalizing, such as emotion-understanding, empathy, perspective-taking, and Theory of Mind. Significant improvements were found in social-cognitive abilities, emotion regulation, and mental health outcomes, including reductions in disruptive behaviours. Interventions that combined mentalizing training for both students and teachers showed promising results. However, the long-term sustainability of these benefits remains unclear. Limitations of the reviewed studies include the lack of control groups, small sample sizes, and variations in outcome measures. The findings highlight the potential of MBIs as a promising approach to fostering socio-emotional competence, positive behaviour, and well-being in school-aged children. Future research should aim to establish the active components and optimal delivery of these interventions through well-designed randomized controlled trials with larger, more diverse samples and extended follow-up periods. The integration of MBIs within educational systems holds promise for promoting resilience and positive mental health outcomes in young people. Embedding MBIs within school curriculums and evaluating cost-effectiveness are important next steps to guide widespread implementation.

Supporting mentalizing in primary school children: the effects of thoughts in mind project for children (TiM-C) on metacognition, emotion regulation and theory of mind

Mentalization is a useful ability for social functioning and a crucial aspect of mentalizing is emotion regulation. Literature suggests programmes for children and adults to increase mentalizing abilities useful both for emotional and social competences. For this reason, the issue of how to prompt children's mentalization has started to attract researchers' attention, supporting the importance of the interpersonal dimension for the individual differences in the developmental of mentalization. The TiM (Thoughts in Mind) Project, a training programme based on the explanation of mentalization mechanisms and designed for adults, deals with emotion regulation. Starting from the TiM Project, this study tests the effects of the TiM Child (TiM-C) training programme, over a control training programme, a conversational training designed for the school context, in children attending Year 2 of primary school. We designed a training based on narratives, followed by multiple-choice questions and conversations about mental states. Our results revealed significant improvements over the training period only in the TiM-C Project group for Metacognition, Emotion Regulation Strategies and a Theory of Mind task. As far as the educational implications, our findings suggest that it is possible to enhance mentalization through activities at school by promoting not only the understanding of the relations between mind and emotion, but also metacognitive skills.