Structure of reflective functioning and adult attachment scales: overlap and distinctions.

This investigation examined the structure of reflective functioning (RF) - an understanding of the links between mental states and behaviors - and adult attachment scales. Both RF and traditional adult attachment scales were coded based on 194 prebirth Adult Attachment Interviews (AAI). Correlational and factor analyses indicated considerable overlap between RF and traditional AAI coding. Exploratory factor analyses of RF and AAI state-of-mind scales indicated that RF loaded, along with coherence of mind, on the primary factor distinguishing between individuals categorized as secure and dismissing. These findings indicate substantial overlap between RF and AAI scales; however, the magnitude of the correlations between these scales indicates that they are not redundant.

Maternal Supportive Behavior, Cognitive Talk, and Desire/Emotion Talk at 24 Months: Distinct Factors and Differential Antecedents.

Objective: Mental-state talk is an important aspect of parenting, but it is not clear whether this type of talk is structurally distinct from behavioral support or sensitivity. Although assessment of sensitive, supportive behavior captures a mother's responses to her child's needs, mental-state talk assesses a mother's consideration of (and comments on) her child's inner world. This study examined the structure and antecedents of mental-state talk, behavioral support, and sensitivity. Design: Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used, and mothering was assessed during a laboratory session when children were 24 months old (N = 1114). Results: Confirmatory factor analyses provided support for the hypothesized three-factor model, in which maternal supportive behavior, cognitive talk, and desire/emotion talk formed distinct factors. Furthermore, maternal depressive symptoms assessed at 1 and 6 months predicted less supportive behavior, whereas traditional parenting beliefs assessed at 1 month predicted lower levels of all three mothering outcomes. Conclusion: Maternal talk about mental states is a unique component of parenting, and cognitive talk is distinct from desire and emotion talk.

Stability and antecedents of coparenting quality: the role of parent personality and child temperament.

This investigation explored how parent personality and infant temperament were associated with the development and stability of coparenting over the first 3 years of life. We examined the stability of supportive and undermining coparenting from 13 months to 3 years and whether infant difficult temperament moderated the stability of coparenting. We also examined how two dimensions of parent personality, communion and negative emotionality, were directly associated with coparenting quality and how these personality variables interacted with infant difficult temperament in predicting subsequent coparenting quality. Both supportive and undermining coparenting demonstrated moderate stability; however, stability in undermining coparenting was present only for families with less difficult infants. Fathers' communion and negative emotionality were associated with higher and lower coparenting quality, respectively, but only for families with an infant with a more challenging temperament. Mothers' negative emotionality was associated with higher coparenting quality. The results of this study suggest that parents' and children's characteristics are associated in direct and interactive ways with the development of the coparenting relationship across the first few years of a child's life.

Parents' differential susceptibility to the effects of marital quality on sensitivity across the first year.

The current investigation examined the differential susceptibility of parents to the effects of marital quality on changes in parenting. We predicted that parents who were high on the personality constructs Negative Affect and Constraint would be more susceptible to the effects of marital quality on their level of sensitivity. Sensitivity was assessed at 3.5 and 13 months for both mothers and fathers during a triadic interaction. Consistent with the differential susceptibility theory, results suggested that when mothers were high on Negative Affect and when fathers were high on Constraint, their marital quality was associated with changes in sensitivity. This investigation suggests that personality factors may create "vulnerabilities" in parents that make them differentially susceptible to the effects of the family environment on parenting.

Mentalization in children exposed to parental methamphetamine abuse: relations to children's mental health and behavioral outcomes.

This study examined the mentalization capabilities of children exposed to parental methamphetamine abuse in relation to symptom underreporting, mental health, and behavioral outcomes. Twenty-six school-aged children in foster care participated in this study. Mentalization was assessed using the My Family Stories Interview (MFSI), a semi-structured interview in which children recalled family stories about a happy, sad or scary and fun time. An established scale of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC), a self-report measure, provided information on children's symptom underreporting. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), completed by the children's foster caregivers, assessed children's mental health and behavioral outcomes. Children with higher mentalization were significantly less prone to underreport symptoms. These children had fewer mental health problems and were rated by their foster caregivers as more socially competent. The findings underscore that mentalization could be an important protective factor for children who have experienced parental substance abuse.