Background Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is the capacity parents have to understand their own mental states and those of their children, as well as the influence of those mental states on behavior. Parents with greater capacity for PRF are more likely to foster secure attachment with their children. The Parental Development Interview is a gold standard measure of PRF but is hampered by cost, training, and length of administration. The 18-item Parent Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ-18) is a simpler option developed to capture 3 types of PRF: (1) prementalizing, (2) parent’s certainty, and (3) interest and curiosity surrounding a child’s mental state. Objective The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure and select psychometric properties of the PRFQ in a sample of Canadian parents. Methods We examined the factor structure and discriminant and construct validity of the PRFQ-18 among 306 parents (males=120 and females=186) across Canada; the age range of children was 0 to 12 years. Parents also completed Web-based measures of perceived stress, parental coping, parenting competence, and social support. Results A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the hypothesized 3-factor structure of the PRFQ-18 providing evidence that the PRFQ-18 may be a useful and practical measure of PRF in Canadian adults and showed minor revisions may improve the suitability of the PRFQ-18 for assessing PRF. Conclusions These results add support for the construct validity of the PRFQ-18.

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There is a paucity of research that is centred on cross-cultural transitioning for single mothers who immigrate to Canada. Focusing on the intersections of gender, ethnicity, social class, single motherhood, and immigration increases the understanding of challenges affecting single, immigrant mothers. As part of a qualitative description study, we examined the complex experiences of immigrant women who had navigated cross-cultural transitions and single motherhood through the lens of their intersecting cultural identities and social locations. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit single, immigrant mothers from multiple counselling agencies in a western Canadian city. Content analysis of six semi-structured interviews elucidated the women’s experience experiences of gender and mothering discourses within various social contexts, the impact of intersectionality on their acculturation processes in Canada, their relationships with their children, and the challenges of economic and psychosocial acculturation. One overarching theme that was related to the contrasts between the women’s former world and new world formed a lens through which they made meaning of their lived experiences. Implications for counselling and social services are provided.

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Objective: We sought to examine the factor structure and select psychometric properties of the PRFQ in a sample of Canadian parents. Methods:We examined the factor structure and discriminant and construct validity of the PRFQ-18 among 308 parents (Males=120; Females=186) across Canada who also completed online measures of perceived stress, parental coping Scale, parenting competence social support.Results: A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the hypothesized 3-factor structure of the PRFQ-18 providing evidence that the PRFQ-18 may be a useful and practical measure of PRF in Canadian adults and showed minor revisions may improve the suitability of the PRFQ-18 for assessing PRF. Conclusions IntroductionDecades of research unequivocally demonstrate that reflective processes enhance parental insight and sensitivity toward children's emotions [1]. Reflective functioning (RF), first introduced by Fonagy and colleagues in 1991 describes an individual's cognitive capacity to recognize and interpret one's own mental state as well as the mental state of others to identify and comprehend meaning behind behaviour [2,3]. In the literature, RF is akin to mentalizating, which is a fundamental and intrinsic human capacity to regulate affect and attune to interpersonal relationships [4]. Likewise, maternal mind-mindedness is described as a mother's ability to recognize her child as a separate agent with independent thoughts, experiences, and emotions [5], and parental insightfulness is defined as a parent's representation of their child's intentions and mental states [6].Rather than a natural ability, RF is believed to develop through the internal organization of an individual's understanding of one's own and other's feelings and behaviours through experiences, social and emotional information, meaning making [2,3] and interactions with primary caregivers [7,2,3]. In addition, social interactions, family structure, family size, parenting quality [7] and environmental responses [8] influence the development of RF. The development of the RF neurological function is noteworthy as it provides individuals with the ability to predict behaviour, distinguish between manifestation and reality, and enhance interpersonal communications, self-organization [3], impulse control and affect regulation [7].Understanding the development of RF is crucial given the relationship between how a parent chooses to respond to their child's needs, which affects the child's attachment status [2,9,10] as PARENT REFLECTIVE FUNCTIONING 4 well as the child's development and capacity to mentalize [1]; and circumscribes the health of the parent-child relationship overall [11,12].Parental reflective functioning (PRF) pertains to a parent's proclivity to understand and comprehend mental states influencing their child's behaviour [13]; playing a crucial role in how parents respond to their child`s needs and feelings [9,14], and behaviors [3]. Parent reflective functioning is a core cognitive capacity that connects parents to their child's emotions and a...