ArticlePsychology and psychotherapy2025
The role of parental mentalizing on the link between parental depression and child emotion regulation.
Article in Psychology and psychotherapy, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Current directions in child and adolescent psychotherapy: Overview and introduction to the Special Issue.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2026Article
- Parental Psychiatric Symptoms and Child Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties: Exploring the Mediating Role of Parental Reflective Functioning in Parents With Mental Disorders.Early intervention in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The role of parental mentalizing on the link between parental depression and child emotion regulation.Psychology and psychotherapy · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundParental depression has consistently been shown to impact child's emotion regulation (ER), with limited research on risk and protective factors, especially in preschoolers. Grounded in Morris and colleagues' model of emotion socialization, this study addresses this gap by examining the mediating and moderating roles of parental mentalizing (reflective functioning).
aimsWe aimed to explore whether pre-mentalizing modes mediate the link between parental depressive symptoms and the child's ER tendencies and whether parental interest and curiosity and parental certainty about mental states can buffer this link. MATERIALS &
methodsThe study sample included 732 parents (91% females) of children aged 3-7 years. To assess parental mentalizing, the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire was used. Child ER skills were assessed with the Emotion Regulation Checklist, and depression was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire.
resultsFindings demonstrated a negative link between parental depressive symptoms and children's ER skills, mediated by heightened parental pre-mentalizing modes. Contrary to expectations, parental interest and curiosity did not moderate this link, but parental certainty about mental states emerged as a protective factor, weakening the link between depressive symptoms and child ER skills.
conclusionThe results contribute to the understanding of ER development, particularly in the context of parental depressive symptoms, emphasizing parental mentalizing as a pivotal factor within this intricate dynamic.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.