Conference Agenda

The present study aims at investigating conditions underlying positive interactions and relationships in the context of early child care. The study focuses on interindividual differences in caregivers’ attachment, mentalizing capacities, sensitivity and emotional distress. In a sample of N = 66 early childhood teachers in Germany, attachment representa­tions were assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview. In order to assess teachers’ mentalizing ca­pacities, based on the revised Parent Development Interview a semi-structured interview was developed, administered and coded using the Reflective Functioning Scale. To assess teachers’ emotional distress and supportive presence the same interviews were coded using the Assessment of Representational Risk.

Teachers with secure attachment showed the highest scores in RF and supportive presence. Higher RF was associated with higher supportive presence. Higher emotional distress was associated with lower supportive presence. Moderated mediation analyses were conducted to explain the links between attachment representation, RF, emotional distress and supportive presence. A moderated mediation model with secure attachment as reference indicated a significant moderating negative effect of emotional distress on the indirect effect of attachment representation via RF on supportive presence in caregivers with preoccupied attachment. The conditional indirect effect was strongest in those high in emotional distress. In contrast, emotional distress had little impact on the mentalizing ca­pacities of caregivers with secure and dismissing attachment. In caregivers with dismissing attachment the model demonstrated a direct negative effect of attachment on their supportive presence.

The results indicate that attachment security influences how early childhood teachers perceive and interpret current relationships and how they interact with the children. In particular, in teachers with preoccupied attachment emotional distress seems to have a moderating effect, whereas secure attachment seems to be a stable protective factor. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Infant regulatory problems, such as difficulties with crying, sleeping, and feeding, affect up to 20% of families in the first year and are a major concern for parents and clinicians (Ziegler et al., 2023). Maternal stress during the perinatal period is a well-established risk factor for infant dysregulation (Bush et al., 2017; Korja et al., 2017). Although prior research has focused on biological mechanisms (e.g. van den Bergh et al., 2020), psychosocial pathways concerning this association are less explored. Given the bidirectional link between stress and mentalizing (e.g., Yatziv et al., 2018), the ability to interpret behavior in terms of mental states, we examined maternal mentalizing as a potential mediator between early stress and infant regulation.

We used longitudinal data from 73 mothers assessed 1–5 days (T1) and again at 3–5 months postpartum (T2). Maternal stress at T1 was measured with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen et al., 1983), mentalizing at T2 via the prementalizing subscale of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ; Luyten et al., 2017), and infant regulatory problems using the Questionnaire for Crying, Feeding, and Sleeping (Groß et al., 2013). Mediation analysis was conducted using PROCESS Model 4.

Preliminary results showed that early maternal stress significantly predicted greater infant regulatory problems at T2 (b = .0175, p = .012). Stress was also associated with higher prementalizing (b = .0444, p = .010), which in turn predicted more regulatory difficulties (b = .0967, p = .042). The indirect effect was significant (b = .0043, 95% CI [0.0003, 0.0111]), with a small to moderate standardized effect (β = .072).

Findings highlight maternal mentalizing as a relevant psychosocial mechanism linking early stress and infant regulation. Early screening for stress and reflective functioning could inform targeted interventions to prevent cascading regulatory problems, potentially improving parent-infant dynamics and long-term outcomes.

Mentalization involves an understanding of our own and others’ minds and is considered integral to psychological wellbeing and the parent-child relationship. Mentalizing develops in the context of early attachment relationships, and parental mentalization has been identified as a key mechanism in attachment transmission (Sharp & Fonagy, 2008; Van IJzendoorn & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2019). Mind-mindedness is defined as a parent’s capacity to view their child as a psychological agent, with their own internal thoughts and feelings. Meins (2013) considers parental mind-mindedness to be closely related to that adult’s capacity for mentalization, and to inform sensitive behavior with their child. Reflective functioning is a way of operationalizing mentalization. Several studies have examined associations between parental reflective functioning, adult attachment and mind-mindedness. However, only a handful of studies have considered how mind-mindedness is related to a broader conceptualization of RF (expressed during the AAI) rather than a parenting specific indicator (expressed during a parenting interview about their child) (Crugnola et al., 2018). The current study therefore aimed to examine associations between adult attachment state of mind, reflective functioning, and parental mind-mindedness. Participants were 63 parent-infant dyads from Australia and New Zealand. Parents completed the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and responses were coded for attachment state of mind (Main et al., 2002) and reflective functioning (RF; Fonagy et al.,1998). Parents also completed measures of mental health and wellbeing. Mind-mindedness (MM) was assessed using both observed and representational approaches. Parent-infant free play episodes were coded for observed mind-mindedness: both appropriate and non-attuned comments. Representational mind-mindedness was coded from parents’ descriptions of their child (Meins & Fernyhough, 2015). Regression analyses (controlling for covariates) considered associations between both attachment classifications, coherence of mind, and reflective functioning and both observed and representational mind-mindedness. The implication of these findings for our understanding of reflective functioning during parenting will be discussed.

This study examines whether the capacity to reflect on mental states underlying parent-child behaviors promotes supportive parenting among mothers classified as unresolved/disorganized with respect to childhood trauma. Caregivers classified as Unresolved/disorganized are more likely to engage in frightening behavior with their children at 8 and 24 months, leading to internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 7 (Jacobvitz et al., 2024). Children of mothers who experienced loss were found to exhibit caregiving behavior to their mothers, suggesting a role-reversed relationship (Moss et al., 2004). However, the pathway from unresolved mental states to role-reversing and frightening maternal behavior remains unclear. One linking mechanism may be parental reflective functioning (PRF), the ability to process how parent-child behaviors reflect internal states (Fonagy & Target, 1997). Yet, the role of PRF in the pathway between maternal unresolved states and caregiving remains unexplored. We hypothesized that maternal unresolved states would predict frightening caregiving, mother-child role-reversal, and lower PRF, and PRF would mediate the path from mothers’ unresolved status to both frightening caregiving and role-reversal. Couples (N=125), mostly white and economically diverse, were followed over the transition to parenthood. Prenatally, mothers’ unresolved/disorganized status was assessed using the Adult Attachment Interview. At 24 months, George & Solomon’s Caregiving Interview (1988) was administered and scored with Fonagy et al.’s Reflective Functioning Scale (1998). Mother-child interactions were videotaped and coded with the Mothers' Anomalous/Frightening Parental Behavior Coding System (Jacobvitz et al., 2011) and the Toddler Caregiving Role-Reversal scale (Hazen, 2018). Structural equation modeling revealed that mothers’ unresolved status predicted lower parental reflective functioning (β=-.333, p=.000). Lower reflective functioning forecast greater frightening (β =-.257, p=.020) and role-reversing behavior (β=-.277, p=.001). Mediation analysis revealed that mothers’ unresolved status was significantly associated with greater frightening and role-reversal through diminished reflective functioning. Findings will be discussed in the context of family interventions facilitating positive caregiving.