La mentalizzazione è la capacità di comprendere i comportamenti propri e altrui in termini di stati mentali ed è stata recentemente associata alla fiducia epistemica, ossia la capacità di acquisire conoscenze dagli altri. Negli ultimi anni, è stato dimostrato che questi costrutti proteggono l’individuo adolescente dal rischio di disregolazione emotiva, che è notoriamente coinvolta nei problemi di esternalizzazione. Pertanto, lo scopo di questo studio è indagare se esiste una relazione tra fiducia epistemi
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Abstract
Mentalization is the ability to understand one’s own and others’ behaviors in terms of mental states and has recently been linked to epistemic trust, namely the ability to acquire knowledge from others. Recently, these constructs have been found to protect the adolescent individual from the risk of emotion dysregulation, which is notoriously involved in externalizing problems. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate whether there is an association between epistemic trust and mentalizing abilities, and how this can influence the emergence of externalizing problems. Thus, 132 nonclinical adolescents (Mage = 15.96, SD = 1.70; Female 46%), completed a self-report test battery which included the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire for Youth, the Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment, and the Youth Self-Report. Results from the regression models show that the ability to mentalize and adequate epistemic trust may play a protective role from the risk of developing externalizing problems. Although these preliminary results significantly contribute to a recent research area that is increasingly getting attention, further studies are needed to deeper understand how these constructs are associated.
Keywords
- Mentalization
- epistemic trust
- adolescence
- externalizing problems
