Abstract
BackgroundParental reflective functioning (PRF) refers to parents’ mental capacity to understand their own and their children’s behaviors in terms of envisioned mental states. As part of a broader concept of parental mentalization, PRF has been identified as one of the central predictors for sensitive parenting. However, the unique contribution of PRF to the quality of various parenting behaviors has not yet been addressed systematically. Thus, the present article provides a systematic overview of current research on the associations between PRF or its sub-dimensions and observed parenting behaviors in infancy and early childhood, while considering the influence of contextual factors.MethodsThe review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Systematic searches were carried out in five electronic databases. The eligibility and methodological quality of the identified studies were assessed using pre-defined criteria and a standardized checklist.ResultsSixteen studies with moderate to high quality on a total of 15 parenting behaviors were included, the majority of which examined positive parenting behaviors, while negative parenting behaviors were rarely investigated. Most of the associations indicated a positive effect of PRF on parenting behavior, with mostly small-sized effects. The strength and direction of the associations varied depending on the dimensionality of PRF, observation settings, sample types, socioeconomic factors, and cultural background. Moreover, five assessment instruments for PRF and 10 observation instruments for parenting behaviors were identified.ConclusionIn summary, PRF has shown a positive association with parenting quality. However, its complex interaction with further contextual factors emphasizes the need for differentiation of PRF dimensions and the consideration of the observation settings, assessment time points, psychosocial risks, and sample types in observational as well as intervention studies. Further high-quality studies with multivariate analyses and diverse study settings are required.
Highlights
During infancy and early childhood, parental mentalization and parenting behavior are central to the quality of attachment relationships and child development (Fonagy and Target, 1997; Zeegers et al, 2017)
Studies in the current review indicate that parental reflective functioning (PRF) and its sub-dimensions were generally positively associated with positive parenting behaviors and negatively associated with negative parenting behaviors
Findings of the current review demonstrate that PRF is generally positively associated with positive parenting and negatively associated with negative parenting, this is not evident for all PRF sub-dimensions depending on sample types
Summary
During infancy and early childhood, parental mentalization and parenting behavior are central to the quality of attachment relationships and child development (Fonagy and Target, 1997; Zeegers et al, 2017). Parental mentalization is a parent’s ability to treat the child as a psychological agent and represents an umbrella concept under which reflective functioning (RF) is one of the most prominent and defining constructs (Fonagy et al, 1991). Parents’ RF is a psychological process that underlies parental self-regulation and co-regulation of the child’s affective states In this context, parenting behavior can be seen as a subsequent expression of parents’ RF as well as a crucial pathway in the transmission of parental emotion regulation to child’s affect regulation, as illustrated by the process of marked affect-mirroring (Fonagy et al, 2002; Slade et al, 2005). The present article provides a systematic overview of current research on the associations between PRF or its sub-dimensions and observed parenting behaviors in infancy and early childhood, while considering the influence of contextual factors
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