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Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure
Published on: September 19, 2019
Language skills and interpersonal trust in adolescents with and without mental illness
Angela Clarke1,2, Tanya A Rose1, Pamela J Meredith1,3
1School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia.
Purpose:
The primary aim was to compare adolescents with mental illness and non-clinical adolescents on vocabulary, social problem-solving, trust in parents, attachment and mentalisation. A secondary aim was to investigate whether adolescents' language skills were associated with trust in parents.
Method:
Seventy-eight adolescents (16-18 years) participated in this cross-sectional quantitative study: a clinical sample (n = 28, M = 16.7 years, 19F) recruited from a mental health service and a non-clinical sample (n = 50, M = 17.0 years, 28F). Standardised language measures and self-report measures of trust in parents; communication quality; attachment; and mentalisation were used. Primary and secondary aims were addressed through independent samples t-tests and Pearson's correlation analyses, respectively.
Result:
Adolescents experiencing mental illness reported significantly poorer vocabulary, less trust in mother/father, greater attachment anxiety/avoidance, and poorer reflective functioning, than non-clinical adolescents. Expressive vocabulary of clinical (but not non-clinical) adolescents significantly negatively correlated with trust in mother (but not father).
Conclusion:
Results highlight a role for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in supporting communication needs of adolescents with mental illness. SLPs should consider trust by: i) understanding adolescents with mental illness may have difficulty trusting them potentially impacting therapeutic engagement; and ii) delivering services in ways that might build trust, such as involving adolescents in treatment planning.
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