Parental Mind-Mindedness and Child Executive Functions During Toddlerhood: A Biparental and Longitudinal Study.

IF 2.6 2区心理学 Q3 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

Infancy Pub Date : 2026-05-01 DOI:10.1111/infa.70086

Julien Massicotte, Frédéric Thériault-Couture, Charles-Anthony Dubeau, Célia Matte-Gagné

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Executive functions (EF) are crucial for children's optimal functioning in several spheres. Therefore, understanding the factors involved in their early development is of paramount importance. The present longitudinal study aimed to obtain deeper insight into the role of fathers' and mothers' mind-mindedness in toddlers' EF. The sample included 131 families visited at home when children were aged around 6 (T1) and 19 (T2) months. At T1, both parents' mind-mindedness was rated, based on a 10-min parent-infant free play period, using a widely recognized and validated coding system capturing the number of appropriate and non-attuned comments on the child's mental states (emotions, thoughts, needs, and desires). At T2, child EF were measured with three behavioral tasks targeting inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. Regressions revealed that mothers' non-attuned comments were negatively and prospectively associated with all components of toddlers' EF, whereas mothers' appropriate comments were positively and prospectively associated with cognitive flexibility. Fathers' mind-mindedness was not associated with any EF components. The findings highlight the importance of maternal mind-mindedness in infancy for child EF during toddlerhood. This study provides novel insights into how maternal appropriate and non-attuned comments on children's mental states are distinctly related to child EF early in life.

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父母心智与幼儿期儿童执行功能：一项双父母纵向研究。

执行功能（EF）对儿童在几个领域的最佳功能至关重要。因此，了解影响他们早期发展的因素是至关重要的。本研究旨在更深入地了解父亲和母亲的心智在幼儿英语学习中的作用。样本包括131个家庭，当孩子在6个月（T1）和19个月（T2）大的时候去家里拜访。在第1阶段，父母双方的思维能力被评估，基于10分钟的亲子自由游戏时间，使用一个广泛认可和有效的编码系统，捕捉对孩子精神状态（情感、思想、需求和欲望）适当和不协调的评论的数量。在T2时，用抑制控制、认知灵活性和工作记忆三个行为任务来测量儿童EF。回归分析显示，母亲的不协调评论与幼儿EF的所有组成部分呈负向和前瞻性相关，而母亲的适当评论与认知灵活性呈正向和前瞻性相关。父亲的心智与任何EF成分无关。研究结果强调了母亲在婴儿期的心智对儿童在幼儿期EF的重要性。本研究提供了新的见解，说明母亲对儿童心理状态的适当和不协调的评论如何与儿童早期的EF明显相关。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Infancy PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL-

CiteScore

4.00

自引率

7.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： Infancy, the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies, emphasizes the highest quality original research on normal and aberrant infant development during the first two years. Both human and animal research are included. In addition to regular length research articles and brief reports (3000-word maximum), the journal includes solicited target articles along with a series of commentaries; debates, in which different theoretical positions are presented along with a series of commentaries; and thematic collections, a group of three to five reports or summaries of research on the same issue, conducted independently at different laboratories, with invited commentaries.