RT Journal Article
T1 The mediating role of reflective functioning in the association between childhood trauma and suicide attempt
A1 Andreo Jover, J.
A1 De La-Torre Luque, Alejandro Francisco
A1 Díaz Marsa, Marina Francisca
A1 Fernández Rodrigues, Verónica
A1 Pemau Gurumeta, Andrés
A1 Diaz Carracedo, Patricia Cristina
A1 Saiz González, María Dolores
A1 Ayad Ahmed, Wala
A1 Carrasco Perera, José Luis
AB Background: Childhood trauma is intimately related with suicidal behaviour. Patients who have suffered childhood trauma develop impaired Reflective Functioning (RF), which refers to the capacity to understand ourselves and others in terms of intentional mental states. An improvement in RF has been associated with a reduction in suicidal attempts, but the mediating role of RF between childhood trauma and suicidal behaviour has not been addressed so far.Objective: We aim to examine the potential mediating effect of RF among childhood trauma and suicide attempts.Method: We included 748 patients who had attempted suicide at least once. They were asked to complete the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ-8), the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating scale (CSSRS), and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF). We conducted linear regressions by simple mediating model to examine the role of RF in the indirect association between childhood trauma and the number of suicide attempts.Results: Our results show significant indirect effects through hypo and hypermentalizing between Emotional Abuse (EA) and Sexual Abuse (SA) in childhood and the number of suicide attempts in lifetime. These results indicate that ineffective RF significantly mediates the association between childhood trauma and suicidality.Conclusion: This is the first study supporting the mediational role of RF in the relationship between EA and SA, and the number of suicide attempt in lifetime. These findings have important implications for reducing suicide rates and preventing future re-attempts. Further studies analysing this mediating role and focusing efforts on increasing RF-based interventions are required.
PB Elsevier
SN 0022-3956
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/127345
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/127345
LA eng
NO Andreo-Jover J, Curto Ramos J, Bobes J, Bravo-Ortiz M, Cebria AI, Crespo-Facorro B, De la Torre-Luque A, Díaz-Marsa M, Fernández-Rodrigues V, Garrido-Torres N, Grande I, López Peña MP, Pemau A, Roberto N, Ruiz-Veguilla M, Saiz P, Rodríguez-Vega B, Pérez-Sola V; ACRONYM. The mediating role of reflective functioning in the association between childhood trauma and suicide attempt. J Psychiatr Res. 2024 Mar;171:30-37. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2024.01.005
NO Financiado por: European Union's Horizon 2020
NO European Commission
NO Instituto de Salud Carlos III (España)
NO Fundación Española de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental
DS Docta Complutense
RD 30 nov 2025