Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ-8)
Background
The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ) is a brief self-report assessment developed by Peter Fonagy and colleagues in 2016 to measure an individual's reflective or mentalizing abilities which can be defined as the capacity to reflect on internal mental states such as feelings, wishes, goals, and attitudes, with regard to both the self and others. This concept goes beyond 'theory of mind' (ToM) - the understanding that other people have different feelings and thoughts than oneself- in the sense that reflective functioning (RF) explores why feelings exist, how they change under stress, and how past experiences shape current feelings in oneself and others. ToM abilities thus can be viewed as the necessary prerequisites for RF which develops later in life and continues to evolve throughout adulthood. Fonagy and colleagues argue that RF capabilities depend in large part on an individual's early attachment relationships.
The quick 8-question RFQ helps researchers and clinicians screen for severe difficulties in regulating emotions and interpreting interpersonal behavior.
Task Procedure
The questionnaire consists of 8 statements such as "People’s thoughts are a mystery to me". Participants are asked to evaluate those statements on a 7-point Likert scale with the answer options ranging from 'Strongly disagree' to 'Strongly agree' with higher scores indicating greater impairment in mentalizing.
What it Measures
The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ) is a measure of mentalizing abilities
Psychological domains
- Cognitive ToM: The ability to infer the beliefs and intentions of others
- Affective ToM: The ability to infer the emotional state of others
- Attachment Styles: Influence of attachment styles to early caregivers on RF
- Emotion Processing: The perception, interpretation and responding to emotional stimuli
Main Performance Metrics
- rfqTotal: Unidimensional measure of mentalizing; higher scores indicate greater impairment in mentalizing
- rfqC: 'Certainty about Mental States' subscale measure; low scores on this scale may imply hypermentalizing
- rfqU: 'Uncertainty about Mental States' subscale measure; high scores on this scale may imply hypomentalizing
Psychiatric Conditions
The following patient groups tend to show unusual RFQ score profiles
- Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
- Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
- Eating Disorders (ED)
- Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) & Anxiety Disorders
- Severe Trauma and Abuse Survivors
A self-report questionnaire with 8 likert items measuring mentalizing designed by Fonagy et al (2016).
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (RFQ-8).
Badoud, D., Luyten, P., Fonseca-Pedrero, E., Eliez, S., Fonagy, P., & Debbané, M. (2015). The French Version of the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire: Validity Data for Adolescents and Adults and Its Association with Non-Suicidal Self-Injury. PLoS One, 10(12), E0145892.
Fonagy P, Luyten P, Moulton-Perkins A, Lee YW, Warren F, Howard S, et al. Development and validation of a self-report measure of mentalizing: The Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. PLOS ONE. 2016;11(7):e0158678.
Perroud, Badoud, Weibel, Nicastro, Hasler, Küng, . . . Debbané. (2017). Mentalization in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: Comparison with controls and patients with borderline personality disorder. Psychiatry Research, 256, 334-341.