Presenting a Casual Model of Mother's Self-Esteem and Mentalizing Capacity with the Mediating Role of Emotional Regulation and Emotional Instability in Emotional-Behavioral Disorders of Adolescents

Abstract

Background: The role of parents in the occurrence or non-occurrence of emotional-behavioral disorders (EBDs) in adolescents is important, because the family, especially the mother, is the center of many emotional-behavioral problems in children and adolescents. Objectives: The main aim of the present study was to present a causal model of self-esteem and mentalization with the mediating role of mothers' emotional regulation and emotional instability in adolescent EBDs. Methods: For the present study, 420 mothers and 420 adolescents (16 - 18 years old) belonging to those mothers were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method in Mashhad, Iran. Five questionnaires were used to collect data, including Child behavior checklist (CBCL), Multidimensional Self-Esteem Inventory (MSEI), Mentalization Scale (MentS), Mentalized affectivity scale (MAS), and Difficulty in Emotional Regulation Scale (DERS). Finally, descriptive and inferential statistics were used in SPSS-ver.22 software environment to analyze the data. Results: Based on the findings of the present study, the mean scores of the main research variables including mother's self-esteem (MSE), mother's mentalization (MM), mother's emotional regulation (MER), mother's emotional instability (MEI), Internalized problems (INTPs) and externalized problems (EXTPs) were 196.55 ± 39.02, 51.75 ± 8.05, 123.08 ± 21.66, 78.67 ± 8.54, 38.70 ± 8.74 and 34.00 ± 4.93, respectively. The findings of this study showed that there was a positive relationship between MSE, MM and MER. Meanwhile, there was a negative and significant relationship between "MSE, MM and MER" and "MEI and INTPs and EXTPs" (P≥0.01). MM had the highest correlation with INTPs (r = -0.60). In addition, MEI also showed the highest correlation with EXTPs (r = 0.36). Conclusions: Based on the results obtained in the present study, it can be concluded that mothers' mentalization can play an effective protective role against adolescent EBDs when it is accompanied by relative emotional stability. Mothers' emotional instability can not only weaken the practical function of their mentalization, but also, as a mediating variable, create a path of mentalization's effect on adolescents' internalized and externalized problems. The findings of this study emphasize the need to simultaneously pay attention to strengthening mentalization and improving mothers' emotion regulation in preventive and therapeutic interventions.