Objective: The literature suggests that mentalizing deficits, insecure attachment, and higher levels of perceived stress are closely linked, however, the association between these constructs has not yet been investigated among Hungarian adults. In our study, we investigated the relationship between mentalization, attachment and perceived stress in a non-clinical adult sample.
Methods: In our study, 255 adults completed the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ-R-7), the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire (ECR-R-HU) and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) after informed consent. In our analysis, we tested two simple mediation models. The independent variables differed in the two analyses, in the first one we used the attachment anxiety subscale, while in the second one, we used the attachment avoidance subscale of the ECR-R-HU questionnaire. In both of our models, the perceived stress (PSS) was the dependent variable, while hypomentalization was the mediator (RFQ7).
Results: The models were found to be significant. The direct path between attachment anxiety and perceived stress (c' = 0.11, p < .001, β = 0.29) and indirect path through hypomentalizig also proved to be significant (∑ab = 0.04 [0.02 - 0.06], β = 0.10). The direct path between attachment avoidance and perceived stress was significant (c' = 0.05, p = 0.04, β = 0.12), however, the indirect path between attachment avoidance and perceived stress was not significant (∑ab = -0.004 [-0.02 - 0.01], β = -0.01).
Conclusions: Our results - taking our limitations into account - suggest that hypomentalization has a mediational effect on the relationship between attachment anxiety and perceived stress, while attachment avoidance is directly related to perceived stress. Our results have important practical implications for prevention and intervention.
Keywords: attachment; mentalizing; perceived stress anxiety.; stress.