Investigation of the effects of mentalization and psychological flexibility on the relationship between family communication and psychological resilience

The main purpose of this research is to examine the effects of mentalization and psychological flexibility on the relationship between individuals' family communication approaches at home and their current psychological resilience. For this purpose, it was investigated whether mentalization has a mediator and psychological flexibility has a moderating effect on the relationship between family communication orientations and psychological resilience. The sample of the study consisted of 610 participants in the 18-70 age range (M = 31.78, SD = 9.25) who grew up in a family at least until puberty. Personal Information Form, Family Communication Patterns Scale, Adult Resilience Scale, Mentalization Scale, and Psychological Flexibility Scale were used as data collection tools in the study. SPSS program and PROCESS macro plugin were used to analyze the obtained data. According to the findings of the research; the relationship between conformity and conversation orientation in family communication, mentalization, psychological flexibility and resilience was found to be significant. In the study, there is no significant difference gender and psychological resilience and no significant relationship between age and resilience. Moreover, mentalization mediates the relationship between both the conversation-oriented family approach and the conformity-oriented family approach and psychological resilience. In addition, it has been observed that psychological flexibility can moderate the indirect relationship between the conformity-oriented family communication approach and psychological resilience through mentalization. The findings were discussed in line with the literature, and it is thought that the data provide important information that can be used both in the theoretical field and in clinical applications. Keywords: Family communication, resilience, mentalization, psychological flexibility, family communication patterns