Background

Emotional abuse in childhood has been linked to a higher expression of aggressive behavior in adulthood. The identification of protective factors that mitigate this association is needed. Mentalizing—the capacity to understand behavior in terms of intentional mental states—appears to be a promising candidate factor that possibly modifies maladaptive consequences of early emotional abuse.

Objective

This study investigated associations between the history of emotional abuse, aggressive behavior in adulthood and mentalizing capacities in a non-clinical sample of adults.

Methods

214 healthy adults completed questionnaires measuring retrospectively rated experiences of emotional abuse in childhood, mentalizing capacities and aggressive behavior in a cross-sectional design.

Results

Results indicated associations between emotional abuse in childhood, uncertainty about mental states, and aggressive behavior in adulthood. Moreover, certainty about mental states counteracted the negative effect of emotional abuse and partially mediated the associations between emotional abuse and aggressive behavior in adulthood.

Conclusion

This study extends current research and sheds further light on the relationship between emotional abuse in childhood, the health-promoting capacity of mentalizing, and aggressive behavior in non-clinical adults.

中文翻译：

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心理化介导了童年时期的情感虐待与非临床成人的攻击性潜力之间的关联

背景

童年时期的情感虐待与成年时期攻击性行为的更高表现有关。需要确定减轻这种关联的保护因素。心理化——根据有意的心理状态理解行为的能力——似乎是一个有希望的候选因素，可能会改变早期情绪虐待的适应不良后果。

客观的

本研究调查了成人非临床样本中情绪虐待史、成年期攻击性行为与心理化能力之间的关联。

方法

214 名健康成年人完成了调查问卷，以横断面设计对童年时期的情感虐待经历、心理化能力和攻击行为进行了回顾性评估。

结果

结果表明，童年时期的情感虐待、精神状态的不确定性和成年时期的攻击行为之间存在关联。此外，对精神状态的确定性抵消了情绪虐待的负面影响，并在一定程度上调节了成年后情绪虐待与攻击性行为之间的关联。

结论

这项研究扩展了当前的研究，并进一步阐明了儿童时期的情绪虐待、心理化促进健康的能力和非临床成年人的攻击行为之间的关系。