Fathers’ and Mothers’ Early Mind-Mindedness Predicts Social Competence and Behavior Problems in Childhood

Abstract

Parental mind-mindedness, the parent’s propensity to treat the child as an intentional agent, has repeatedly shown to promote children’s development of social understanding and secure attachment. Less is known about whether the impact of maternal and paternal mind-mindedness extends to children’s social and behavior problems. We investigated the combined effect of mothers’ and fathers’ ( N = 104) mind-mindedness at 4, 12, and 30 months on children’s social competence and externalizing and internalizing behavior problems at 4.5 years. Besides, we examined the stability, continuity, parental concordance, and inter-parental differences in the use of mind-related comments. Appropriate mind-mindedness (i.e., correct interpretations of the child’s mental states) and nonattuned mind-mindedness (i.e., misinterpretations of the child’s mental states) were observed during parent-child free-play interactions. Social competence, internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were assessed using both parents’ reports. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed that, at 12 months, infrequent use of appropriate mind-related comments of both parents predicted children’s externalizing problems, while their frequent use of nonattuned comments predicted children’s low social competence. Furthermore, mothers’ frequent use of nonattuned comments at 12 and 30 months and fathers’ nonattuned comments at 30 months predicted children’s externalizing behavior. The findings suggest that both parents’ low use of mind-related comments, and frequent misinterpretations of their child’s mind, may act as risk factors for later social and behavior problems of their child.

Mind-mindedness in out-of-home Care for Children: Implications for caregivers and child

“…The results are also in line with previous studies in which the same association was investigated measuring parents' mind-mindedness during parent-child interaction (e.g., Camisasca, Procaccia, Miragoli, Valtolina, & Di Blasio, 2017;Colonnesi, Zeegers, Majdandžić, Van Steensel, & Bögels, 2019). This finding suggests that children's externalizing problems might direct caregivers' attention to their behavior, hindering their capacity to understand the mental states of their child (Colonnesi et al, 2019). In the long term, the lack of caregivers' understanding can increase the child's behavior problems, resulting in a vicious circle between the caregiver and the child.…”

“…The negative association between caregivers' mind-mindedness and children's conduct problems is in line with previous findings on foster parents (Fishburn et al, 2017) and biological parents (Hughes et al, 2017;Walker et al, 2012). The results are also in line with previous studies in which the same association was investigated measuring parents' mind-mindedness during parent-child interaction (e.g., Camisasca, Procaccia, Miragoli, Valtolina, & Di Blasio, 2017;Colonnesi, Zeegers, Majdandžić, Van Steensel, & Bögels, 2019). This finding suggests that children's externalizing problems might direct caregivers' attention to their behavior, hindering their capacity to understand the mental states of their child (Colonnesi et al, 2019).…”

Does Mothers’ Self-Reported Mindful Parenting Relate to the Observed Quality of Parenting Behavior and Mother-Child Interaction?

“…Parental mind-mindedness has shown to be an independent predictor of secure parent-infant attachment, over and above parental sensitivity (Zeegers et al 2017 ). Particularly, parents’ frequent misreading of their child’s behavior and mind (i.e., non-attuned mind-mindedness) has shown to predict insecure attachment and later externalizing problems and low social competence in children (Colonnesi et al, 2019 ; Zeegers et al, 2017 ). Since MP reflects parental awareness of the child’s own emotions, whether they are similar or different from their own, higher IM-P scores may be associated with mothers’ mind-mindedness.…”

‘Caring for children who have experienced trauma’ – an evaluation of a training for foster parents

“…Mothers’ mind-mindedness is found to be associated with both their sensitive behaviour and secure child-caregiver attachment relationships (see Zeegers, Colonnesi, Stams, & Meins, 2017 ). Parental mind-mindedness has been shown to be related with children’s behaviour problems and parenting stress (Colonnesi, Zeegers, Majdandžić, van Steensel, & Bögels, 2019 ; Hughes, Aldercotte, & Foley, 2017 ; Walker, Wheatcroft, & Camic, 2011 ).…”