Parental Reflective Functioning
Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23367404 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Patrick Luyten (0000-0002-1161-2817, KU Leuven, corresponding author), Liesbet Nijssens (0000-0002-1805-7254, KU Leuven), P Fonagy (0000-0003-0229-0091, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London), Linda C Mayes (0000-0002-9590-7128, Yale Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 174-199 |
| Publication date | 2017-03-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0079-7308 • E-ISSN: 2474-3356 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00797308.2016.1277901 |
| OpenAlex | W2469785557 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 76 |
| References cited | 122 |
This paper reviews recent theoretical, empirical, and clinical work related to parental reflective functioning (PRF) or parental mentalizing. PRF refers to the capacity of the parent to envision his or her child as being motivated by internal mental states such as feelings, wishes, and desires, and to be able to reflect on his or her own internal mental experiences and how they are shaped and changed by interactions with the child. This paper first briefly discusses the historical and theoretical background of this concept and its purported role in child development, with a focus on the development of child attachment, affect regulation, and mentalizing. It then reviews recent thinking and research in four areas: (1) the neurobiology underlying PRF, (2) the multidimensionality of PRF, (3) the relationship between PRF and trauma, and (4) the broader relevance of attention to internal mental states for the development of epistemic trust as the basis of an evolutionary inbuilt capacity for learning from and within social communication. It closes with a brief review of the background of, and empirical evidence supporting, interventions rooted in theoretical considerations concerning the importance of PRF, as well as suggested directions for future research and clinical practice.
Affect (linguistics) · Attachment theory · Cognition · Cognitive psychology · Developmental psychology · Empirical research · Epistemology · Feeling · Mental health · Mentalization · Psychological intervention · Psychotherapist · Relevance (law) · Theory of mind · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Neuroscience · Psychology · Social Psychology
The effectiveness of the Inspiring Futures parenting programme in improving behavioural and emotional outcomes in primary school children with behavioural or emotional difficulties
Promoting interactive skills and mind-mindedness among early childcare professionals
Parental Reflective Functioning as a Moderator of the Link Between Prematurity and Parental Stress
Long-term sequelae of mothers’ and fathers’ mind-mindedness in infancy
Parenting Among Women in Methadone Treatment
Parental Reflective Functioning as a Moderator for the Relationship Between Maternal Depression and Child Internalizing and Externalizing Problems
The Mentalizing Approach to Psychopathology
Maintaining Factors of Anorexia Nervosa Addressed from a Psychotherapeutic Group for Parents
Does Parental Reflective Functioning Mediate the Associations between the Maternal Antenatal and Postnatal Bond with the Child in a Community Sample
The structural model of mother-infant bonding in the first pregnancy based on the mother’s attachment style and parenting style
Mediation-Moderation Links Between Mothers' ACEs, Mothers' and Children's Psychopathology Symptoms, and Maternal Mentalization During Covid-19
The influence of maternal reflective functioning and parenting behavior on infant development in the context of perinatal intimate partner violence
Childhood Trauma and Parental Burnout
Relationship of maternal childhood maltreatment and children’s emotional-behavioral problems
Mentalization in Typically and Atypically Developing Iranian Children and Its Associations with Age, Sex, and Externalizing/Internalizing Symptoms
Relationship between Mentalizing and Working Conditions in Health Care
Mentalizing as a Predictor of Well-Being and Emotion Regulation
The plasticity of ChatGPT’s mentalizing abilities
Insecure Minds through the Looking Glass
An Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Anxiety and Depression in Children
It Seems Much More Enjoyable Now”
An Evaluation of Self-Assessed Caregiver Readiness to Foster and Adopt After Participating in the National Training and Development Curriculum
Carer Wellbeing and Reflective Capacity
Crianza Reflexiva. Aproximación al estado actual de los estudios
Parental Attitudinal and Behavioral Change Associated With Prevention-Focused Parenting Education
Maternal narcissism and child maladjustment
Parents’ and professionals’ views on autistic motherhood using a participatory research design
DDAA and Maternal Reflective Functions
The evolving use of Mentalization informed thinking with the ‘Care Team’ in the Irish statutory child protection system
The impact of a brief observation intervention on parental homework involvement
Openly communicate about adoption
Parental childhood adversity and emotional functioning
Child temperament and parental stress
Paternal child‐focused reflective functioning, parental sense of competence, and parental emotions recognition
The Role of Adolescent Mentalizing and Parental Reflective Functioning for Adolescents' Peer Relationships
Parental reflective functioning in mothers and fathers of preschoolers
Middle childhood attachment‐based family therapy
Enhancing Caregiving in Traumatized Families
The family keyworker as a critical element for attachment resilience in the face of adversity
The Role of Parental Reflective Functioning in the Relation between Parents’ Self-Critical Perfectionism and Psychologically Controlling Parenting Towards Adolescents
Identifying Profiles of Parental Reflective Functioning in First-Time Parents and Associations with Parental Attachment and Infant Socioemotional Adjustment
Posttraumatic Stress and Mentalization in Accounting for Veteran Parents' Use of Corporal Punishment
Parents With Substance Use Disorder in the Holding Tight Treatment System
Attachment Insecurity and Partner Reflective Functioning in the Context of Long‐Distance Interracial Romantic Relationships
Representational mind-mindedness in Danish early childcare professionals
Chinese and Turkish parents’ reflective parenting
Theory of mind and emotion regulation in school‐aged children
The Reflective Fostering Programme – Improving the wellbeing of children in care through a group intervention for foster carers
The development of DDP-informed parenting groups for parents and carers of children looked after or adopted from care
An exploration of the experience of foster carers in holding the life stories of the children in their care
Mentalization-based group intervention for parents of autistic children
Caring for the carers
A thematic synthesis of foster carer experiences when engaging in attachment-informed interventions for children in care
Maternal mentalizing and quality of interactive behavior with their infant in the first year postpartum
Negative internal working models as mechanisms that link mothers’ and fathers’ personality with their parenting
The Relationship Between Psychological Flexibility and Parental Reflective Functioning, and Their Association With Parental Stress
Exhausted Minds
When parents and clinicians disagree
Linking mentalizing capacity, shame, and depressive symptoms in the context of childhood maltreatment
The effectiveness of a therapeutic parenting program for children aged 6–11 years with behavioral or emotional difficulties
Professional carers’ attachment style and reflective functioning
The parental reflective functioning questionnaire
Offline and online parental mentalizing in mothers with symptoms of postpartum depression
Evaluation of the Danish version of the prenatal parental reflective functioning questionnaire in early pregnancy as a screening tool
Self‐report measure of parental reflective functioning
The protective effects of social support and family functioning on parenting stress among Hispanic/Latino/a American immigrant parents with traumatic life experiences
Self‐reported reflective functioning and father–child interactions in a sample of fathers who have used intimate partner violence
Evaluation of early relational disturbance in high‐risk populations
Infant carrying
Translation and preliminary validation of a Korean version of the parental reflective functioning questionnaire
The Role of Parental Reflective Functioning in Associations between Daily Autonomy-Relevant Parenting, Parenting Stress, and Early and Middle Adolescents’ Day-to-Day Difficulties
Mentalizing Care
Understanding Parenting Stress in Adoptive Parents
Examining associations between Adult Attachment Interview responses and multiple indicators of parental mentalizing
Profiles of parental reflective functioning and mind‐mindedness in first‐time parents of 4‐month‐old infants
Maternal reflective functioning in pregnancy and parenting during the preschool period
Mentalizing in Clinical Practice
Handbook of Mentalization‐Based Treatment
Meaning and Relevance
Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder
Social cognition and the brain
Parental reflective functioning
False-belief understanding in infants
The Neural Basis of Empathy
Natural pedagogy
Maternal reflective functioning, mother–infant affective communication, and infant attachment
The Neural Basis of Mentalizing
Rethinking Maternal Sensitivity
Unresolved states of mind, anomalous parental behavior, and disorganized attachment
Reflective Functioning Scale
Adult Attachment Interview
The parent–infant dyad and the construction of the subjective self
Maternal reflective functioning, attachment, and the transmission gap
Child Maltreatment
From External Regulation to Self-Regulation
The Neurobiology of Stress and Development
Mentalization based treatment for borderline personality disorder
Disorganized attachment in early childhood
Pathways to Understanding Mind
Social Cognitive Neuroscience
Self-referential processing in our brain—A meta-analysis of imaging studies on the self
The Distress Tolerance Scale
Maternal Mind–Mindedness and Attachment Security as Predictors of Theory of Mind Understanding
Epistemic Petrification and the Restoration of Epistemic Trust
The parental reflective functioning questionnaire
Ghosts in the Nursery
Reflective functioning
The Social Sense
Gaze Following in Human Infants Depends on Communicative Signals
Evidence of Dysregulated Peripheral Oxytocin Release Among Depressed Women
Epistemic Vigilance
Mind‐Mindedness as a Multidimensional Construct
Disruption of Maternal Parenting Circuitry by Addictive Process
The Parent's Capacity to Treat the Child as a Psychological Agent
The capacity for understanding mental states
Substance‐abusing mothers in residential treatment with their babies
The mothers and toddlers program, an attachment‐based parenting intervention for substance‐using women
Emotionally avoidant language in the parenting interviews of substance‐dependent mothers
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment in Abused and Neglected Mothers
Borderline personality disorder, mentalization, and the neurobiology of attachment
The Prenatal Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire
Traumatized mothers can change their minds about their toddlers
Minding the Baby
Attachment‐based intervention for substance‐using mothers
Six-week postpartum maternal self-criticism and dependency and 4-month mother-infant self- and interactive contingencies
Automated gaze-contingent objects elicit orientation following in 8-month-old infants
Mind to Mind
An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment
Adult attachment style and information processing
Distressed Mothers and Their Infants Use a Less Efficient Timing Mechanism in Creating Expectancies of Each Other's Looking Patterns
| Unique citing works | 76 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 9,5 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 72 |