IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i22p8664-d449045.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mentalization Impairment Is Associated with Problematic Alcohol Use in a Sample of Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Author

Listed:
  • Claudio Imperatori

    (Cognitive and Clinical Psychology Laboratory, Department of Human Science, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy)

  • Ornella Corazza

    (Department of Clinical, Pharmaceutical and Biological Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield AL109AB, UK
    Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Sapienza University of Rome, 04100 Latina, Italy)

  • Angelo Panno

    (Cognitive and Clinical Psychology Laboratory, Department of Human Science, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy)

  • Raffaella Rinaldi

    (Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic and Orthopaedic Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Massimo Pasquini

    (Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Benedetto Farina

    (Cognitive and Clinical Psychology Laboratory, Department of Human Science, European University of Rome, 00163 Rome, Italy)

  • Massimo Biondi

    (Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Francesco Saverio Bersani

    (Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

Background : Alcohol is one of the most widely used drugs among adolescents and young people, and problematic alcohol use (PAU) is related to significant long-term biological, clinical, and psychosocial sequelae. Although preliminary reports have linked deficits in mentalization to increased vulnerability to addiction, no studies have specifically explored this phenomenon in relation to PAU. Methods: The association between mentalization impairment and PAU severity was investigated in a sample of 271 young adults (183 females, 65.9%; mean age: 23.20 ± 3.55 years; range: 18–34). Self-report measures investigating PAU and mentalization were administered to all participants. Results: Individuals with PAU reported a more frequent use of tobacco and illicit drugs in the last 12 months. PAU severity was negatively associated with mentalization capacity ( rho = −0.21; p < 0.001), and also, when possible, confounding variables (i.e., gender, age, occupation, education, tobacco and illegal drugs use) were controlled for ( rho = −0.17; p = 0.004). Conclusion : The present data showed that mentalization impairment is significantly associated with PAU among young adults, suggesting that it may have a role in the development and/or maintenance of alcohol use.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudio Imperatori & Ornella Corazza & Angelo Panno & Raffaella Rinaldi & Massimo Pasquini & Benedetto Farina & Massimo Biondi & Francesco Saverio Bersani, 2020. "Mentalization Impairment Is Associated with Problematic Alcohol Use in a Sample of Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-9, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8664-:d:449045
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8664/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8664/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Green, M.P. & McCausland, K.L. & Xiao, H. & Duke, J.C. & Vallone, D.M. & Healton, C.G., 2007. "A closer look at smoking among young adults: Where tobacco control should focus its attention," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(8), pages 1427-1433.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gianluca Santoro & Antonino Costanzo & Christian Franceschini & Vittorio Lenzo & Alessandro Musetti & Adriano Schimmenti, 2024. "Insecure Minds through the Looking Glass: The Mediating Role of Mentalization in the Relationships between Adult Attachment Styles and Problematic Social Media Use," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(3), pages 1-15, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cinzia Novi & Rowena Jacobs & Matteo Migheli, 2020. "Smoking inequality across genders and socio-economic positions. Evidence from Italian data," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 177-203, October.
    2. Di Novi, Cinzia & Jacobs, Rowena & Migheli, Matteo, 2018. "Smoking Inequality across Genders and Socio-economic Classes. Evidence from Longitudinal Italian Data," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201802, University of Turin.
    3. Becky Wade & Joseph Lariscy & Robert Hummer, 2013. "Racial/Ethnic and Nativity Patterns of U.S. Adolescent and Young Adult Smoking," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(3), pages 353-371, June.
    4. Braciszewski, Jordan M. & Colby, Suzanne M., 2015. "Tobacco use among foster youth: Evidence of health disparities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 142-145.
    5. Adrian E. Ghenadenik & Katherine L. Frohlich & Lise Gauvin, 2016. "Beyond Smoking Prevalence: Exploring the Variability of Associations between Neighborhood Exposures across Two Nested Spatial Units and Two-Year Smoking Trajectory among Young Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8664-:d:449045. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.