MBT-C is a transdiagnostic, time-limited, and manualized psychotherapy for children, delivered with parallel parent sessions. The model emphasizes a predetermined number of sessions, a treatment calendar, and a focused case formulation. A clear therapeutic contract is established at the beginning with both parents and children, fostering collaboration, agency, and transparency which is a significant aspect of the mentalizing stance.

While MBTC is designed to address multiple domains, including explicit mentalization, attention control, and relational capacities, these domains were considered supportive targets in the present study, as they contribute to strengthening children's emotion regulation.

Emotional awareness is defined as the conscious ability to recognize, differentiate, and verbalize one's own emotions, while also identifying and interpreting the emotions of others, thereby supporting adaptive coping and psychological wellbeing. It was measured using the Emotion Awareness Questionnaire (EAQ). It is a 30-item self-report measure of emotional awareness comprising six subscales: Differentiating Emotions, Verbal Sharing of Emotions, Bodily Awareness of Emotions, Acting Out Emotions, Analysis of Emotions, and Awareness of Others' Emotions. Subscale scores may be examined separately, and a total score can be calculated to reflect overall emotional awareness. Total scores range from 30 to 90, with higher scores indicating greater emotional awareness.

Emotion regulation refers to the internal and external processes through which individuals monitor, evaluate, and modify emotional experiences to achieve adaptive functioning. It was measured using The Emotional Regulation Checklist (ERC). This 24-item checklist is a caregiver-report measure designed to assess children's emotional expressiveness and regulation. Respondents rate each item on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (rarely/never) to 4 (almost always). The ERC comprises two distinct subscales: Emotion Regulation (8 items; score range = 8-32) and Lability/Negativity (15 items; score range = 15-60). Scores for each subscale can be interpreted independently, with higher scores on the Emotion Regulation subscale indicating stronger regulatory capacities and higher scores on the Lability/Negativity subscale reflecting greater emotional dysregulation.