IntroductionChildhood adversity is a well-established transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology, yet the mechanisms linking specific adversity types to mental health remain unclear. The Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology (DMAP) distinguishes deprivation, defined as the absence of expected social and cognitive inputs, from threat, defined as exposure to violence or danger, and links them to impairments in cognitive and socio-emotional development. These forms of adversity may critically impact socio-cognitive mechanisms such as mentalization, the capacity to interpret one’s own and others’ behavior in terms of mental states. Mentalization may thus represent a key pathway through which adversity dimensions confer risk or protection for psychopathological expression.MethodsA community sample of 302 adults (53% female; M = 37.1, SD = 12.3) completed validated self-report measures of childhood trauma (CTQ), self- and other-mentalizing (MentS), and psychological symptoms (Global Severity Index, SCL-90-R). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) examined direct and indirect pathways linking deprivation and threat to psychological symptoms, associated with self- and other-mentalizing. Supplementary analyses tested age and gender moderation.ResultsThe measurement model showed good reliability and validity. The structural model explained 36.8% of the variance in psychopathological expression. Deprivation was negatively associated with other-mentalizing. Threat was positively associated with other-mentalizing and negatively with self-mentalizing. Self-mentalizing was strongly and negatively related to psychopathology, whereas other-mentalizing showed positive associations with symptomatology and self-mentalizing. A significant indirect path emerged from threat to other-mentalizing through self-mentalizing to psychopathology. Age moderated the self-mentalizingpsychopathology link.Conclusion/discussionFindings support DMAP and mentalization-based frameworks, indicating that threat and deprivation exert distinct effects on mentalization and psychopathology. Self-mentalizing functions as a protective factor, whereas difficulties in understanding others reflect compensatory but maladaptive adaptations to adversity. Together, these results identify mentalization as a transdiagnostic mechanism linking early adversity with adult psychological functioning.
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