The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment

Abstract

Epidemiologists and psychoanalysts have been equally concerned about the intergenera‐tional concordance of disturbed patterns of attachment. Mary Main's introduction of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) has provided the field with an empirical tool for examining the concordance of parental and infant attachment patterns. In the context of a prospective study of the influence of parental patterns of attachment assessed before the birth of the first child upon the child's pattern of attachment to that parent at 1 year and at 18 months, the Anna Freud Centre—University College London Parent‐Child Project reported a significant level of concordance between parental security and the infant's security with that parent. In the context of this study, a new measure, aiming to assess the parent's capacity for understanding mental states, was developed and is reported on in this paper. The rating of Reflective‐Self Function, based upon AAI transcripts, correlated significantly with infant security classification based on Strange Situation assessments. The philosophical background and clinical importance of the measure are discussed.

Supervision and training in child care: Does reflective supervision foster caregiver insightfulness?

“…Researchers have explored caregivers' capacities to understand children's intentionality as a possible mechanism underlying sensitive caregiving behavior and secure attachment relationships (Fonagy, Steele, Steele, Moran, & Higgitt, 1991;Meins, 1999;. Specifically, caregivers' ability to reflect upon the intentions underlying children's behavior and upon their own actions in response to children's behaviors is likely to contribute to their capacity for sensitive caregiving.…”

Reflection in thought and action: Maternal parenting reflectivity predicts mind‐minded comments and interactive behavior

“…For example, Fonagy, Steele, Moran, Steele, and Higgitt (1991) reported that parents' ability to reflect on the mental states of their own parents is predictive of their infant's attachment security. High RF in adoptive mothers has been associated with lower reports of child externalizing problems (Priel, Melamed-Hass, Besser, & Kantor, 2000).…”

Struggling with one’s own parenting after an upbringing with substance abusing parents

“…An infant needs sensitive and attentive caregivers who can interpret and respond to her different signals and who understand the intentions behind her communicative behaviour (Fonagy, Steele, Steele, Moran, & Higgitt, 1991; Slade, Grienenberger, Bernbach, Levy, & Locker, 2005; Sroufe, Egeland, Carlson, & Collins, 2005). In the first years the development of an attachment bond between the child and her parents is helped and strengthened by the infant’s affective communication (Schore & Newton, 2013).…”