Validation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire among maltreating and nonmaltreating mothers.

Edler, Katherine; Behrens, Brigid; Wang, Limin; Valentino, Kristin

doi:10.1037/fam0001045

Cited by 3 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Moreover, the original wording of item 11 requires a mother to reflect on her certainty about her internal mental states (as opposed to her certainty about her child’s mental states), and the answers may depend on the mother’s reflective and metacognitive capacities. A similar remark was made by Edler et al [ 30 ]. The original wording of item 18 is opposed to the remaining items on the IC scale, as they show cognitive curiosity and attentive sensitivity to the child’s needs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…Moreover, it emphasizes whether a mother thinks it is valuable to guess what the child is feeling rather than directly indicating whether she is interested in her child’s feelings. As Edler et al [ 30 ] note, mothers who question their parenting abilities may answer these items differently than those who directly refer to their children’s mental states. Nevertheless, modification of the wording of this item did not improve its factor parameters.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The convergent validity of the PRFQ was confirmed by its significant correlations with narrative measures of general reflective functioning [ 22 , 25 , 26 ] and task-based measures of mentalizing [ 27 ]. In addition, the three PRFQ dimensions are typically related in theoretically expected ways to criterion variables such as parental attachment dimensions, emotional availability, parenting stress, and infant attachment status [ 1 , 10 , 21 , 23 , 25 , 30 ]. Yet, several studies found that some items of the original PRFQ showed low loadings on their hypothesized factor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychometric evaluation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire in Polish mothers

Kamza,

Luyten,

Piotrowski

2024

PLoS ONE

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Parental reflective functioning (PRF) refers to a parent’s capacity to reflect on and understand the inner mental states of their child, their own mental states with regard to their child, and how these mental states may influence their behavior and interactions. This capacity has been shown to foster secure attachment in children and their socio-emotional development. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Polish translation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ), a brief screening measure of PRF, in a large community sample of Polish mothers of children aged 0–5 years (N = 979). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized three-factor structure of the PRFQ, which consists of three subscales: prementalizing modes, certainty about mental states, and interest and curiosity in mental states. However, item loadings suggested that the 15-item version fitted the data better than the original 18-item version. These three PRFQ subscales exhibited satisfactory and moderate six-month test–retest reliability. They also correlated in theoretically expected ways with several criterion measures such as maternal attachment, maternal parenting stress, parental role restriction, depression severity, and borderline symptoms. In conclusion, this study is the first to provide preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of the PRFQ as a measure of parental reflective functioning in Polish mothers.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychometric evaluation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire in Polish mothers

Kamza,

Luyten,

Piotrowski

2024

PLoS ONE

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“…The Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ, Luyten, Mayes, Nijssens et al., 2017, Appendix E) is an 18 item scale that is designed to assess the mentalizing abilities of parents, with evidence of validity and internal consistency, such as with mothers distress tolerance with infants (Rutherford et al., 2015) and in a variety of other parenting contexts (Camoirano, 2017; Carlone et al., 2023; Edler et al., 2023) including an Australian community sample (Cooke et al., 2017). The PRFQ was selected for use in this study because of its brevity and ease of administration compared to other established assessments of PRF.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship focused mother–infant groups: Preliminary evaluation of improvements in maternal mental health, parenting confidence, and parental reflective functioning

Cooke,

Hauck

2023

Infant Mental Health Journal

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We report on two preliminary evaluations of a group intervention, targeting vulnerable infants and their mothers within the first 6‐months postpartum. The Mother–Baby Nurture® program aims to strengthen the developing infant–mother attachment relationship by increasing maternal mentalizing. These studies were undertaken with pre‐post evaluations with the mothers of infants under 10‐months of age. The mother–infant dyads participated in ten 2‐h group sessions. Study one (N = 69 dyads) included self‐reported maternal depression, anxiety, and parenting confidence. In study two (N = 27 dyads), parenting stress and reflective functioning were measured by self‐report, and reflective functioning coded on the 5 min speech sample (completed by N = 22). Results from study one confirmed a decrease in depression (p < .001, d = .79) and anxiety (p < .001, d = .72) symptoms, and an increase in mothers’ scores for parenting confidence (p < .001, d = −.98). Results from Study Two demonstrated a significant decrease in parenting stress (p < .001, d = .94) and significant improvement in measures of self‐report reflective functioning (p = .007, .024; d = .56, .61). These findings are preliminary yet promising indications that this program could be effective in alleviating parenting stress, depression, and anxiety, and improving mother's reflective functioning and parenting confidence. Further research is needed, with a control group and long‐term follow‐up assessments.

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“…Parental mentalization is strongly associated with parenting practice (Smaling et al, 2016a , b ; Yule, 2021 ; Cohen et al, 2022 ; Edler et al, 2022 ). Higher levels of parental mentalization were associated with reduced parents' insensitivity (Smaling et al, 2016a ) and decreased physical aggression (Smaling et al, 2016b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harsh parenting among veterans: parents' military-related PTSD, mentalization, and pre-military trauma

Wang,

Liu,

Merrin

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

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ObjectivesVeteran parents experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may resort to harsh parenting. The indirect pathway from parental military-related PTSD to harsh parenting, and the moderating role of parents' pre-military trauma histories, has been less explored. Informed by mentalization theory, as well as trauma-sensitive and posttraumatic growth perspectives, we aim to explore the associations between veteran parents' military-related PTSD, mentalization, harsh parenting, and prior trauma before military service.MethodsData were collected from an online research panel of 509 veteran parents with children under 10. We employed Structural Equation Models to test indirect and moderating effects.ResultsWe identified an indirect effect of parental pre-mentalization from military PTSD to harsh parenting [corporal punishment: b = 0.35, p < 0.001, 95% CI (0.23, 0.46); psychological aggression: b = 0.14, p < 0.001, 95% CI (0.09, 0.19)]. Multi-group analysis on four parent groups (parents with only pre-military physical trauma, parents with only pre-military psychological trauma, parents with both pre-military physical and psychological trauma, and parents with no pre-military physical or psychological trauma) highlighted differences in these associations, particularly between parents with only pre-military physical trauma and those without any physical and psychological trauma. The military-related PTSD effects on psychological aggression, corporal punishment, and pre-mentalization were all significantly higher for parents without pre-military physical and psychological trauma.ConclusionModifying parents' interpretation of their child's mental states can potentially counteract the effects of veterans' military PTSD on harsh parenting. Family-based programs should be created considering veteran parents' pre-military trauma histories.

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Validation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire among maltreating and nonmaltreating mothers.

Cited by 3 publications

References 52 publications

Psychometric evaluation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire in Polish mothers

Psychometric evaluation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire in Polish mothers

Relationship focused mother–infant groups: Preliminary evaluation of improvements in maternal mental health, parenting confidence, and parental reflective functioning

Harsh parenting among veterans: parents' military-related PTSD, mentalization, and pre-military trauma

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