Mentalisation and Resilience

Rita Fodorné Földi, Gábor Csikós and Éva Hadházi
Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem 1091 Budapest Kálvin Tér 9 . VAT Hu18060676

Abstract

Internationally Attention and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed neuropsychiatric disorders among children and adolescents that affects the quality of life. However, approximately 20 percent of people with ADHD succeed in all life areas. So, our study focuses on (mental) resilience which provide successful adaptation to different challenges. Another examined factor is the ability of mentalization that is associated with social difficulties. In our study, we focus on the correlation between the severity of the symptoms, the mentalizing ability and the mental resilience of the children with ADHD. 64 children and adolescents between 9 and 16 years participated in our research. The connection among the variables was explored by the CD-RISK Resilience Questionnaire, Faux Pas test, SDQ test and the Conners Child Behavior Questionnaire in clinical (32 with ADHD) and nonclinical (32 with typical development) sample. The degree of resilience was significantly lower among those with ADHD. While in the typical group some subscales of SDQ (hyperactivity, affective and behavioral problems, prosocial behavior) correlate with the total score on the CD RISK, in the ADHD group such correlation was only found in the prosocial subscale. In the case of the faux pas test, the story comprehension dimension was significantly lower in the ADHD population. The correct identification, the overall score and the story comprehension are those dimensions in faux pas test that show positive correlation with prosocial behavior in the ADHD group. Our results suggest that the prosocial behavior can be a protective factor that promotes higher levels of resilience.

Presentation