The Italian validation of the Brief Mentalized Affectivity Scale (B-MAS)

Introduction: The concept of “mentalized affectivity” describes the capacity to reflect on, process, and express emotions through the prism of autobiographical memory. It is a bridge concept that integrates previous contributions on emotion regulation and mentalization. It requires the ability to reflect on various factors that could influence emotional experiences, such as thoughts and beliefs, personality traits, previous experiences, or the relational context. The first aim of this study was to validate a brief (12 items) Italian version of the Mentalized Affectivity Scale, a self-report instrument developed by Greenberg and colleagues in 2017. Secondly, the study explored the correlations between mentalized affectivity and various constructs and experiences. Methods: Participants were recruited through snowball sampling. Data was collected through a survey online via a website hosted by SurveyMonkey. Besides the Brief-Mentalized Affectivity Scale, the survey included an ad hoc schedule with questions investigating socio-demographic characteristics, previous psychopathological diagnoses, traumatic experiences and other personal history factors, as well as measures on affective personality traits, empathy, and reflective functioning. Results: Statistical analysis has shown a three-component structure underlying mentalized affectivity: Identifying, Processing, and Expressing emotions. Convergent validity was assessed correlating the subscales to empathy and reflective functioning. Moreover, mentalized affectivity was found to be correlated with several affective systems (e.g. SEEK and CARE). Conclusions: The results of our study show that the B-MAS is a reliable instrument to assess mentalized affectivity. Its brevity makes it easily administered and thus particularly useful both with clinical and non-clinical samples.