Parental Reflective Functioning on the Parent Development Interview
A narrative review of measurement, association, and future directions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14636008 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Arietta Slade (0000-0002-7100-8531, Child Study Center Yale University New Haven Connecticut USA), Michelle Sleed (0000-0002-2321-2116, Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research Unit (ChAPTRe) Anna Freud Centre and University College London London UK) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 464-480 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Infant Mental Health Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0163-9641 • E-ISSN: 1097-0355 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/imhj.22114 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 76 |
A caregiver's capacity to mentalize is thought to be one of the most important features of secure parent–child relationships. Parental mentalizing can be measured using the Reflective Functioning (RF) coding system applied to the Parent Development Interview (PDI). In this narrative review, we summarize the research using this measure and synthesize what has been learnt about the predictors, correlates and sequelae of parental RF. Studies have consistently shown that PRF on the PDI is associated with both parent and child attachment and is an important factor in the intergenerational transmission of attachment. It is also related to the quality of parental representations, parent–child interactions, and child outcomes. While a number of social and clinical risk factors are associated with lower PRF, it is difficult to disentangle the unique contribution of each of these. We discuss these findings and present the direction of future work that is planned to expand and refine the PRF scale for the PDI
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| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |