Revision And Preliminary Application Of The Mentalization Affect Scale (MAS) In Adolescent

With the increasingly serious mental health problems of adolescents(Such as borderline personality disorder),mental health education urgently needs a theory and measurement tool that can simultaneously describe the cognitive and emotional levels of adolescents.Mentalized Affectivity(MA)is a kind of ability to understand the emotions of oneself and others across the cognitive and emotional fields,including three dimensions(Identifying Emotions,Expressing Emotions,and Expressing Emotions)(Juliet,2005).Based on the MA model,Greenberg and colleagues(2017)developed a scale that can evaluate the individual’s MA level-the Mental Affectivity Scale(MAS).In recent years,foreign psychiatrists have discovered the impact of MA on the psychological development of adolescents and applied it to adolescent counseling,but research in this area has not yet started in China.Based on the fact that the scale exhibits structural differences during translation into different languages,Juliet assumes that there may be cross-cultural differences in MA.To sum up,this study takes Chinese youth groups as subjects to revise MAS across cultures,and further explore the characteristics of Mentalized Affectivity in Chinese youth groups and its application direction(Exploring the relationship between Mentalized Affectivity and borderline personality disorder).To achieve the above objectives,Study I developed a popular version of MAS with 30 entries by obtaining translation licenses,using standardized translation scales,and conducting cross-cultural adaptation and popularity testing.1149 junior and senior high school students were randomly divided into two groups(A=577,B=572).Item analysis and exploratory factor analysis were carried out for group A,and confirmatory factor analysis,internal consistency reliability analysis and criterion-related validity analysis were carried out for group B.One month later,160 subjects were retested.Finally,19 items and a four-factor structure(Expressing Emotions,Identifying Emotions,Autobiographical Memory and Expressing Emotions)were formed in the juvenile version of MAS(MAS-A).Cronbacha’s α of MAS-A with a coefficient of 0.905 and the Cronbacha’s α of the four dimensions were: Expressing Emotions 0.896,Identifying Emotions 0.805,Autobiographical Memory 0.755,Expressing Emotions 0.797.The retest reliability of MAS-A was 0.837,and the retest reliability of each factor was between0.633 and 0.882.In order to explore the characteristics of adolescents’ Mentalized Affectivity and its influencing factors,and expand the practical application of MAS,710 junior and senior high school students were tested as participants in the study II and the study III.The study II conducted descriptive analysis on MAS data,demographic variables and difference analysis on parenting styles.The results show that the overall Mentalized Affectivity level of adolescents is high,and there are differences in gender,region,grade,family structure,and parenting styles.The third study examined the mediating role of immature defense mechanism in Mentalized Affectivity and BPD.The results showed that the Identifying Emotions dimension of Mentalized Affectivity was completely used for borderline personality disorder through immature defense mechanism,and immature defense mechanism played a part of intermediary effect between Expressing Emotions and Expressing Emotions dimensions and borderline personality disorder.In view of the results of the above three studies,the conclusions of this study are as follows:(1)The Chinese version of MAS is an effective tool for evaluating Mentalized Affectivity,and has good reliability and validity in the sample of Chinese teenagers,which can be used to evaluate the Mentalized Affectivity level of Chinese teenagers,and broaden the scope of use of MAS.(2)The structure of the Chinese version of MAS is more complex than that of the original English version,which validates the hypothesis that the subjects under different cultural backgrounds have different Mentalized Affectivity characteristics,which has enriched the relevant theories of Mentalized Affectivity.(3)The Chinese version of MAS is well differentiated among different populations,and it has been proved that adolescents’ mental and intellectual emotions are affected by demographic variables(such as gender differences,social environment,family structure)and family education methods.(4)The Chinese version of MAS can predict the trend of borderline personality disorder by predicting the immature defense mechanism of adolescents through mental emotion.