The relationship between parents' childhood traumas and emotion regulation in the parent-child relationship: The mediating role of mentalization

The aim of this study is to investigate the mediating role of mentalization in the relationship between parents' childhood psychological traumas and emotion regulation skills in the parent-child relationship. The participants consisted of 369 parents (307 mothers, 83.2%; 62 fathers, 16.8%) with children aged between 3 and 10 years. Their ages ranged from 25 to 58 years (M = 37.46, SD = 5.64). The Demographic Information Form, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Mentalization Scale, and the Parental Emotion Regulation Scale were used in this study. The mediating role of mentalization (self-oriented mentalization, other-oriented mentalization, and motivation for mentalization) in the relationship between parents' childhood psychological traumas and parent emotion regulation (parental orientation toward the child's emotions, parental acceptance of both their own and their child's emotions, and parental avoidance of the child's emotions) was examined using SPSS PROCESS Macro Model 4. Mediation analysis findings indicated that other-oriented mentalization mediated the relationship between parents' childhood psychological traumas and parental orientation toward the child's emotions, controlling for parental education level. Other-oriented mentalization also mediated the relationship between parents' childhood psychological traumas and parental acceptance of both their own and their child's emotions, controlling for parental education level and perceived income level. Additionally, self-oriented mentalization mediated the relationship between parents' childhood psychological traumas and parental avoidance of the child's emotions, controlling for parental education level and the number of children. In conclusion, parents' childhood traumas were found to be associated with emotion regulation skills in the parent-child relationship through mentalization.