Relationship of reflective function, empathy & mindfulness among adolescent girls in Tehran City

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between reflective function, empathy and mindfulness of adolescent girls. The present study was descriptive of correlation analysis type. The statistical population included all high school girl students in Tehran City during the academic year 2019-2020 whose age was between 15 - 18 years old. A total of 167 students were selected by random sampling. They answered, Reflective Function Questionnaire for Youth (RFQ-Y), Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) and Adolescent Measure of Empathy and Sympathy (AMES). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multivariate regression. The result showed that mindfulness (r=434), empathy (r=439), and its components, including cognitive empathy (r=313), emotional empathy (r=244), and sympathy (r=197), had a positive and significant relationship with reflective function performance. Mindfulness also has a positive and significant relationship with empathy (r=245). The cognitive empathy and mindfulness could predict adolescent’s reflective function. Based on the results, efforts to improve empathy and mindfulness could lead to the improvement of reflective function capacity, so experts can design interventions to improve the reflective function capacity for adolescents