Magda Matetovici, Anouk Spruit, Cristina Colonnesi, Mauricio Garnier-Villarreal, Marc Noom
{"title":"Parent and child gender effects in the relationship between attachment and both internalizing and externalizing problems of children between 2 and 5 years old: A dyadic perspective.","authors":"Magda Matetovici, Anouk Spruit, Cristina Colonnesi, Mauricio Garnier-Villarreal, Marc Noom","doi":"10.1002/imhj.70002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Acknowledging that the parent-child attachment is a dyadic relationship, we investigated differences between pairs of parents and preschool children based on gender configurations in the association between attachment and problem behavior. We looked at mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, and father-son dyads, but also compared mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, and same versus different gender pairs. We employed multigroup structural equation modeling to explore moderation effects of gender in a sample of 446 independent pairs of parents and preschool children (2-5 years old) from the Netherlands. A stronger association between both secure and avoidant attachment and internalizing problems was found for father-son dyads compared to father-daughter dyads. A stronger association between both secure and avoidant attachment and externalizing problems was found for mother-son dyads compared to mother-daughter and father-daughter dyads. Sons showed a stronger negative association between secure attachment and externalizing problems, a stronger positive association between avoidant attachment and externalizing problems, and a stronger negative association between secure attachment and internalizing problems compared to daughters. These results provide evidence for gender moderation and demonstrate that a dyadic approach can reveal patterns of associations that would not be recognized if parent and child gender effects were assessed separately.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143383860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Philip Trepiak, Audrey-Ann Deneault, Jean-François Bureau
{"title":"A systematic review and meta-analysis of parental mentalization in fathers and mothers.","authors":"Philip Trepiak, Audrey-Ann Deneault, Jean-François Bureau","doi":"10.1002/imhj.70001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite the growing literature on parental mentalization (including measures such as mind-mindedness, parental reflective functioning, and parental insightfulness), considerably less research on parental mentalization has been conducted with fathers than with mothers, leaving important gaps in our understanding of gender differences in the construct. Specifically, it is not clear whether mothers and fathers exhibit similar levels of parental mentalization, and whether their scores are correlated. This knowledge can help inform the literature on similarities and differences between maternal and paternal behaviors, as well as the literature on their correlates. This study sought to answer these questions using a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies evaluating parental mentalization capacities in partnered mothers and fathers. Across 36 studies (32 unique samples and 87 effect sizes, N = 3,996 fathers and 4,414 mothers), mainly from Europe and North America, the results show that fathers presented lower scores than mothers (d = -.17, p < .001). There was also a significant correlation in scores between mothers and fathers of the same family (r = .15, p < .001). There were no significant moderators. Findings from this study emphasize the need for research on parental mentalization to use a family system approach.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143123129","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anne Christine Stuart, Ida Egmose, Katrine Isabella Wendelboe, Johanne Smith-Nielsen, Mette Skovgaard Væver
{"title":"Validating the parental reflective functioning questionnaire - infant version using a rasch model.","authors":"Anne Christine Stuart, Ida Egmose, Katrine Isabella Wendelboe, Johanne Smith-Nielsen, Mette Skovgaard Væver","doi":"10.1002/imhj.70004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.70004","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parental reflective functioning is the parent's ability to reflect on the psychological processes in their child and in themselves as a parent. Recently, an infant version of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, PRFQ-I, has been developed and validated using confirmatory factor analyses. The present study aims to validate the PRFQ-I using a Rasch model in a sample of 531 Danish mothers at risk of depression and their infants aged 2-11 months. Our findings indicate that seven response categories were too many for the mothers to distinguish across all items. Prementalizing showed adequate psychometric properties, while Certainty of Mental States and Interest and Curiosity required recoding with 4 and 5 as the optimal scores, respectively. After rescoring, both subscales overall showed adequate psychometric properties. However, shortening Certainty of Mental States may be advisable due to local dependency between items 8 and 17. Additionally, items 2 and 14 (\"I always know what my child wants\" and \"I always know why I do what I do to my child\") may function better as a separate subscale. We recommend that scores on both Certainty of Mental States and Interest and Curiosity should be analyzed and interpreted in a curvilinear rather than linear manner.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143068936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Rebecca B. Silver, Christine M. Low, Lindsay Huffhines, Rebecca Newland, Rachel Herman, Stephanie H. Parade
{"title":"One state's journey with a reflective supervision professional development series: Development, implementation, and adaptation","authors":"Rebecca B. Silver, Christine M. Low, Lindsay Huffhines, Rebecca Newland, Rachel Herman, Stephanie H. Parade","doi":"10.1002/imhj.22165","DOIUrl":"10.1002/imhj.22165","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Reflective supervision (RS) has been viewed as best practice and is therefore incorporated—and often mandated—as a key feature of many relationship-based infant and early childhood serving programs. To promote the implementation of high-quality RS for infant and early childhood professionals, it is critical that a focus is placed on <i>how</i> infant and early childhood professionals are trained to build RS capacities. To this end, we describe Rhode Island, United States's journey developing, implementing, and iteratively adapting an RS professional development series. We describe the structure of the curricula as well as the content and learning objectives, which strive to bridge the gap between the theoretical concepts foundational to RS, process-oriented self-reflection, and the practical application of RS skills and strategies. We also outline the development and process of iterative adaptation that has refined the curricula over the past decade. Finally, we chronicle the history of coordination and collaboration that promoted the development and implementation of this series, which has been disseminated within home visiting and early care and education settings. This narrative can serve as a model for organizations, systems, and states that are undertaking efforts to provide professional development focused on RS.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":"46 3","pages":"328-342"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143061207","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nia R. Barbee, Anne L. Dunlop, Elizabeth Corwin, Patricia A. Brennan
{"title":"Intergenerational impacts of racial discrimination on child executive functioning problems","authors":"Nia R. Barbee, Anne L. Dunlop, Elizabeth Corwin, Patricia A. Brennan","doi":"10.1002/imhj.22161","DOIUrl":"10.1002/imhj.22161","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The proposed study sought to investigate whether maternal experiences of racial discrimination and gendered racial stress are associated with offspring executive functioning. Total 266 Black mother–child pairs in the United States were assessed from pregnancy through child age of 4 years. We hypothesized that children whose mothers reported higher rates of perceived gendered racial stress during pregnancy and racial discrimination throughout their lifetime would have lower scores on executive functioning assessments. Furthermore, we hypothesized that low maternal education and income would act as risk moderators whereas social support would act as a protective moderator in the associations between maternal experiences of discrimination (EOD) and child executive functioning. Main effect findings support our hypothesis of an intergenerational association between maternal EOD and gendered racial stress and lower child executive functioning scores. Income was a significant moderator. As hypothesized, the association between mothers reports of lifetime discrimination and lower child executive functioning scores was stronger at <i>lower</i> levels of income. In contrast, however, the association between maternal prenatal reports of gendered racial stress and lower child executive functioning scores was stronger at <i>higher</i> levels of maternal education and income. Social support did not have a significant moderating effect on any of the association.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":"46 3","pages":"268-284"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143048293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Agnes Bohne, Ragnhild Sørensen Høifødt, Dag Nordahl, Vibeke Moe, Inger Pauline Landsem, Unni Tranaas Vannebo, Siri Langmoen Holstad, Catharina E. Arfwedson Wang, Gerit Pfuhl
{"title":"Transaction of parental cognition, stress and depressive symptoms, and infant regulatory challenges","authors":"Agnes Bohne, Ragnhild Sørensen Høifødt, Dag Nordahl, Vibeke Moe, Inger Pauline Landsem, Unni Tranaas Vannebo, Siri Langmoen Holstad, Catharina E. Arfwedson Wang, Gerit Pfuhl","doi":"10.1002/imhj.22160","DOIUrl":"10.1002/imhj.22160","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Parental cognitions, stress, depression, and infant regulatory challenges might reinforce each other in the early parent–infant relationship. A transactional model was used as a framework to investigate these relationships. Two hundred and twenty pregnant women and their partners were recruited during pregnancy and followed 7 months postnatally in the NorBaby study in Norway. To investigate risk and protective factors for parental stress and depressive symptoms at 2, 5, and 7 months postnatally, the following variables were entered antenatally: repetitive negative thinking, implicit associations to infants, parity, and social support. Postnatally, observed infant regulatory challenges at 2 months, parent's perception of infant temperament at 5 months, and signs of infant social withdrawal at 7 months. The model yielded that repetitive negative thinking predicted parenting stress and depressive symptoms, while infant regulatory challenges did not. Repetitive negative thinking is also related to infant temperament. For mothers, parity was beneficial against stress, depressive symptoms, and infant regulatory challenges. Implicit associations to infants were not related to parenting stress or depressive symptoms postnatally. Parenting stress and depressive symptoms were not related to infant social withdrawal at 7 months. In sum, how parents perceive their infant's temperament is associated with their own tendency to engage in repetitive negative thinking, and not by their infant's observed regulatory behavior. Accordingly, parental cognition and well-being should be considered when families struggle to adapt in the perinatal period.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":"46 2","pages":"199-214"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143025364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Bridging attachment theory and interpersonal acceptance-rejection theory in the strange situation procedure in a low-risk sample in Egypt.","authors":"Nour M Zaki, Maya A Shehata","doi":"10.1002/imhj.22159","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.22159","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study is the first to explore the relation between children's attachment classifications, assessed by Mary Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), and mothers' acceptance-rejection behaviors from the lens of Interpersonal Acceptance-Rejection Theory (IPARTheory). As a pilot study, the sample consisted of 23 Egyptian mother-child dyads. The mean age of children in the SSP was 18.6 months (SD = 3.10). Mothers' acceptance-rejection behaviors were explored through the Parental Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire (PARQ/Control). The pilot study's findings revealed that maternal acceptance-rejection behaviors significantly differed across children's attachment classifications. The findings also shed light on gender differences in parenting, as mothers tended to show a higher level of hostility/aggression, undifferentiated rejection, and control with their daughters more than sons. This study is an important stepping-stone for attachment research in the Arab world. It highlights several cultural aspects to be taken into account for future research using the SSP in Egypt or any other Arab country.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143014132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Young mothers’ prenatal attachment and later attachment-related representations of their young children","authors":"Nora Y. Medina, Renee C. Edwards, Sydney L. Hans","doi":"10.1002/imhj.22162","DOIUrl":"10.1002/imhj.22162","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Although mother-to-infant attachment begins during pregnancy, few studies have explored correlates of prenatal attachment and associations with later measures of attachment representations. This study explored whether prenatal attachment is related to attachment representations during toddlerhood and whether associations between them reflect the broader quality of mothers’ relationships. Young, ethnically/racially diverse, low-income American women (<i>n</i> = 160) were followed from pregnancy through 30 months postpartum. Questionnaires assessed prenatal attachment (Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale [MAAS]) and mothers’ relationships prenatally (Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment [IPPA]; Social Provisions Scale [SPS]). At 30 months, the Working Model of the Child Interview (WMCI) assessed attachment representation classifications (balanced, disengaged, distorted) and affective themes. Stronger prenatal attachment was associated with balanced representations of the child, greater positive affect, and less negative affect at 30 months, even when accounting for quality of mothers’ other relationships. Relationship quality generally and with the parent figure and infant's father specifically, was associated with prenatal attachment, and relationship quality with the parent figure was related to 30-month attachment representations. Findings support theory that mother-to-child attachment formed during pregnancy contributes to attachment representations and affective qualities of the relationship years later. Data highlight the role young mothers’ parent figures play during the transition to parenthood.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":"46 3","pages":"285-297"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143025366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sarah Hinshaw, Julianna Finelli, Lindsay Usry, Camille Knable, Geoffrey Nagle, Charles H. Zeanah
{"title":"The undertold story: A leadership program to expand recognition of the importance of early childhood experiences","authors":"Sarah Hinshaw, Julianna Finelli, Lindsay Usry, Camille Knable, Geoffrey Nagle, Charles H. Zeanah","doi":"10.1002/imhj.22155","DOIUrl":"10.1002/imhj.22155","url":null,"abstract":"<p>There are considerable data documenting the importance of early experiences for healthy human development. Though widely accepted amongst mental health clinicians, developmental researchers and early childhood policymakers, this information is not well known by much of the public. We describe a specialized program designed for established and emerging leaders in Louisiana, United States of America, to help them become better informed to take action to support young children and their families and to facilitate connections across sectors for greater impact. Conducted annually for 6 years, the program drew leaders from a variety of professional sectors working in every region of the state. To evaluate the effectiveness of the program, we conducted semi-structured interviews of program graduates and tabulated responses by thematic analysis. We conclude that translation efforts delivered in this kind of format can lead to gains in knowledge among leaders and action to support early childhood development and well-being.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":"46 2","pages":"215-227"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/imhj.22155","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143025362","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emiddia Longobardi, Mara Morelli, Matilde Brunetti, Stefania Sette, Pietro Spataro, Fiorenzo Laghi
{"title":"Parents’ reflective functioning and stress: The associations with preschoolers’ social understanding","authors":"Emiddia Longobardi, Mara Morelli, Matilde Brunetti, Stefania Sette, Pietro Spataro, Fiorenzo Laghi","doi":"10.1002/imhj.22164","DOIUrl":"10.1002/imhj.22164","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Social understanding competence develops in sensitive and co-regulating caregiver interactions. Parental reflective functioning (PRF) and parenting stress can affect children's social understanding. This study investigated if children's social understanding was associated with PRF and parenting stress. Parents of 305 Italian children aged from 24 to 72 months (<i>M<sub> </sub></i>= 48.2, SD = 13.9; 47.9% girls) completed an online survey. Parents completed the following questionnaire: The <i>Parenting Stress Index—Short Form</i>, the <i>Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire</i>, and the <i>Children's Social Understanding Scale</i>. Results showed that children's social understanding was predicted by lower parenting stress, <i>b</i> = .002, <i>p</i> = .017, and parent's interest and curiosity about the child's mental states, <i>b</i> = .07, <i>p</i> = .013. Findings confirm that high levels of parenting stress and low PRF constitute unfavorable conditions for preschoolers’ socio-cognitive development. Thus, the present study can have implication for interventions aimed at improving children's social understanding that should focus on reducing parenting stress and enhancing parental mentalizing.</p>","PeriodicalId":48026,"journal":{"name":"Infant Mental Health Journal","volume":"46 3","pages":"260-267"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143014144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}