Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA.
Personal Disord. 2012 Oct;3(4):393-405. doi: 10.1037/a0028938. Epub 2012 Jul 16.
Mentalization refers to the ability to infer mental states of self and others, and this capacity facilitates social interactions. Advances in mentalization theory have proposed that there are both explicit and implicit mentalizing capacities and language may be identified as being an important factor in differentiating these two components of mentalization. Moreover, given apparent sex differences in language and mentalization, we hypothesized that sex may moderate the relationship between language and mentalization. In this study, measures assessing implicit and explicit mentalization as well as language were examined in 49 adolescents (25 girls and 24 boys) aged 14 to 18 years. Participants were administered the Mentalizing Stories for Adolescents to assess explicit mentalization, and the Reading Mind in the Eyes Task to assess implicit mentalization. Language was assessed using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals. Sex was found to moderate the relationship between language and explicit mentalization; while language and explicit mentalization were related in boys, these domains were unrelated in girls. There was no moderation of language and implicit mentalization by sex, and these two domains were also uncorrelated. These findings suggest an important role for language development in the capacity for explicit mentalization in boys, and we interpret this as a benefit in girls who may be more socially motivated and less limited by language in their efforts to mentalize.
心理化是指推断自我和他人心理状态的能力，这种能力促进了社交互动。心理化理论的进展提出，存在着明确的和隐含的心理化能力，语言可能被确定为区分这两种心理化成分的一个重要因素。此外，鉴于语言和心理化方面明显存在性别差异，我们假设性别可能会调节语言和心理化之间的关系。在这项研究中，对 49 名 14 至 18 岁的青少年（25 名女孩和 24 名男孩）进行了评估隐含和明确心理化以及语言的测量。参与者接受了青少年心理化故事测试以评估明确心理化，以及阅读眼睛任务以评估隐含心理化。语言使用临床语言基础知识评估进行评估。结果发现，性别调节了语言和明确心理化之间的关系；虽然语言和明确心理化在男孩中相关，但在女孩中这些领域不相关。性别没有调节语言和隐含心理化之间的关系，这两个领域也没有相关性。这些发现表明，语言发展在男孩明确心理化能力中起着重要作用，我们将其解释为女孩的优势，因为女孩可能更具有社交动机，并且在努力进行心理化时，语言对她们的限制较少。
