Safe haven in adolescence: Improving parental reflective functioning and youth attachment and mental health with the Connecting and Reflecting Experience |
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Authors: | Amanda Zayde Olivia J. Derella Anna Kilbride |
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Affiliation: | Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, USA |
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Abstract: | Attachment security provides a well-documented protective developmental function for children exposed to individual- and community-level trauma, yet the effectiveness of prevention and intervention efforts targeting attachment during adolescence has been relatively underexplored. The Connecting and Reflecting Experience (CARE) program is a transdiagnostic, bi-generational, group-based, mentalizing-focused parenting intervention developed to dismantle the intergenerational transmission of trauma and support secure attachment relationships across the developmental spectrum within an under-resourced community. This exploratory study evaluated outcomes among caregiver-adolescent dyads (N = 32) in the CARE condition of a nonrandomized clinical trial at an outpatient mental health clinic within a diverse, urban U.S. community with disproportionate trauma exposure exacerbated by COVID-19. Caregivers predominantly identified as Black/African/African American (47%), Hispanic/Latina (38%), and/or White (19%). At pre- and post-intervention, caregivers completed questionnaires regarding parental mentalizing and their adolescents’ psychosocial functioning. Adolescents completed scales regarding attachment and psychosocial functioning. Results showed a significant decrease in caregivers’ prementalizing on the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, improvement in adolescent psychosocial functioning on the Youth Outcomes Questionnaire, and an increase in adolescents’ reports of attachment security on the Security Scale. These preliminary findings suggest that mentalizing-focused parenting interventions may be effective in fostering improved attachment security and psychosocial functioning during adolescence. |
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Keywords: | adolescence attachment group therapy mentalizing parenting afectividad mentalización crianza adolescencia terapia de grupo Attachement mentalisation parentage adolescence thérapie de groupe Bindung Mentalisierung Elternschaft Adoleszenz Gruppentherapie 愛着、メンタライジング、子育て、青年期、集団療法 关键词:依恋 心智化 育儿 青春期 群体治疗 الكلمات المفتاحية: التعلق ، التفكير الذهني ، الأبوة والأمومة ، المراهقة ، العلاج الجماعي |
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