Stability and change in maternal reflective functioning in early childhood
Item
-
Title
-
Stability and change in maternal reflective functioning in early childhood
-
Identifier
-
d_2009_2013:57bd8850b60e:10652
-
identifier
-
10750
-
Creator
-
Poznansky, Olga,
-
Contributor
-
Arietta Slade
-
Date
-
2010
-
Language
-
English
-
Publisher
-
City University of New York.
-
Subject
-
Clinical psychology | Developmental psychology | Psychology | attachment | child development | implicit and explicit mentalization | parental reflective functioning | parent-infant psychotherapy
-
Abstract
-
The present study examines stability and change in maternal reflective functioning (RF), namely a mother's capacity to think in mental state terms about her own and her child's emotional experience, in early childhood. The aim of the study was to understand whether maternal RF changes over time and to examine the concept of parental RF in developmental terms. In particular, the study looked at whether the development of maternal RF over time is influenced by either the mother's (measured during the third trimester of pregnancy) or the child's' (measured at 14 months) attachment organization.;The 30-first time mothers in this study, ranging in age from 25 to 40-years-old were administered the Parent Development Interview (PDI; Aber, Slade, Berger, Bregsi, & Kaplan, 1985) at two intervals, when their children were 10-month old and then again when the children were 28-month-old. Maternal reflective functioning was measured using the PDI and scored for reflective functioning (RF) using an addendum to Fonagy, Target, Steele, & Steele's (1998) reflective functioning scoring manual (Slade, Bernbach, Grienenberger, Levy, & Locker).;Results indicate that (1) maternal attachment organization was the strongest predictor of change in RF over time and (2) insecure mothers show more change and less stability in their RF than do secure mothers between their children's infancy and toddlerhood. The findings suggest that insecure mothers may be more reliant on explicit, concrete and verbal cues to facilitate and activate their RF than secure mothers, such that they show greater reflective capacities with older, somewhat verbal toddlers than with nonverbal infants. Furthermore, insecure mothers also show greater RF with obviously elevated emotions than with more subtle emotional experiences. Implications for mentalization theory and clinical interventions with parents of young children are discussed.
-
Type
-
dissertation
-
Source
-
2009_2013.csv
-
degree
-
Ph.D.
-
Program
-
Psychology
