The Effects of Mentalizing and Attitudes Towards Ambiguity on Social Adaptation

Mentalizing influences mental health and social adaptation by facilitating flexible responses to ambiguous social stimuli, such as emotions and intentions. This study examined this process by focusing on attitudes toward ambiguity. A web-based survey of 460 adults employed the Japanese version of the Mentalization Scale, the Attitudes Towards Ambiguity Scale, and the Social Adaptation Self-Evaluation Scale. Structural equation modeling revealed that Other-Related Mentalization directly improved social adaptation. Enjoyment mediated the positive effects of Other-Related Mentalization and Motivation to Mentalize, while anxiety negatively impacted social adaptation. These findings suggest that attitudes toward ambiguity are key to adaptive mentalizing.