Italian Validation of the Short Version of the Failure to Mentalize Trauma Questionnaire in Adults at Risk Due to Childhood Trauma

Abstract

The impact of recurrent traumatic experiences during childhood may impede the integration of mentalization abilities and lead to psychopathology. Recently, the Failure to Mentalize Trauma Questionnaire (FMTQ), a comprehensive 29-item self-report scale aimed at identifying deficits in mentalization arising from childhood trauma, was developed. However, the length of the FMTQ may render it impractical for epidemiological studies involving multiple variables and measures. Furthermore, the initial testing revealed inadequate factor reliabilities for the two first-order factors. Therefore, this study aimed to shorten and create a unidimensional version (FMTQ-s) and investigate its psychometric properties, including internal consistency and convergent and concurrent validity, in a non-clinical Italian adult sample. The factor analysis supported a 13-item unidimensional version of the FMTQ with acceptable internal consistency (ordinal alpha = 0.88) and satisfactory convergent and concurrent validity. The FMTQ-s obtained scalar invariance between individuals with and without self-reported childhood traumas. Overall, the FMTQ-s appears to be a feasible and reliable tool for assessing deficits in mentalization resulting from childhood trauma.

Keywords

• adverse childhood experiences
• mentalization
• factor analysis
• psychopathology
• discriminant analysis