Maternal Mentalization Research Articles

A Dream Mother: Maternal Function and Mentalization in Little Bear

This essay explores how the childred’s book Little Bear , written by Else Homelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, depicts the emotional and cognitive experience of developing a sense of self. In its portrayal of an idealized mother-child interaction the book illustrates the growth of the capacity for mentalization, mediated through fantasy, in the context of a secure attachment. Necessary in childhood for the consolidation of a coherent identity, this process is similar to the situation in psychoanalysis, where the transference offers a transitional space between psychic reality and “real life” and where the safety of the relationship is a playground for practicing a new skill.

REMOVED: The cross-generational effects of maternal maltreatment histories: Implications for children's mentalizing development

The current study sought to explicate the nature of the associations between mothers' childhood experiences of maltreatment, depressive symptoms, and children's mentalizing, with a particular interest in examining the effect mothers' histories of emotional maltreatment (EMT) may have on children's outcomes. Within this context, maternal EMT was examined as a moderator of the relationship between mothers' depressive symptoms and children's mentalizing. Further, the unique mediating role of maternal reflective functioning (RF), relative to women's more general mentalizing abilities, in explaining these processes was explored. Participants included 106 women with children 3-6 years of age. Questionnaires and interactive tasks were used to assess the variables under study. FINDINGS revealed that maternal depressive symptoms and histories of physical, sexual, and emotional maltreatment were all associated with impaired mentalizing in offspring; however, after controlling for each form of abuse, EMT was the only maltreatment type that remained significantly associated with children's outcomes. EMT also emerged as a significant moderator of the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and children's mentalizing, indicating that depressive symptoms only have detrimental effects on children's mentalizing when mothers' histories of EMT are high. These effects were transmitted via emotionally traumatized mothers' impairments in RF. FINDINGS highlight the particularly pernicious effects of EMT for both survivors of abuse and their offspring and suggest that the cross-generational effects of maternal EMT are transmitted via mothers' impairments in RF. Implications for future research and parent-child interventions are discussed. Language: en

A randomized controlled trial comparing Circle of Security Intervention and treatment as usual as interventions to increase attachment security in infants of mentally ill mothers: Study Protocol

BackgroundPsychopathology in women after childbirth represents a significant risk factor for parenting and infant mental health. Regarding child development, these infants are at increased risk for developing unfavorable attachment strategies to their mothers and for subsequent behavioral, emotional and cognitive impairments throughout childhood. To date, the specific efficacy of an early attachment-based parenting group intervention under standard clinical outpatient conditions, and the moderators and mediators that promote attachment security in infants of mentally ill mothers, have been poorly evaluated.Methods/DesignThis randomized controlled clinical trial tests whether promoting attachment security in infancy with the Circle of Security (COS) Intervention will result in a higher rate of securely attached children compared to treatment as usual (TAU). Furthermore, we will determine whether the distributions of securely attached children are moderated or mediated by variations in maternal sensitivity, mentalizing, attachment representations, and psychopathology obtained at baseline and at follow-up. We plan to recruit 80 mother-infant dyads when infants are aged 4-9 months with 40 dyads being randomized to each treatment arm. Infants and mothers will be reassessed when the children are 16-18 months of age. Methodological aspects of the study are systematic recruitment and randomization, explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria, research assessors and coders blinded to treatment allocation, advanced statistical analysis, manualized treatment protocols and assessments of treatment adherence and integrity.DiscussionThe aim of this clinical trial is to determine whether there are specific effects of an attachment-based intervention that promotes attachment security in infants. Additionally, we anticipate being able to utilize data on maternal and child outcome measures to obtain preliminary indications about potential moderators of the intervention and inform hypotheses about which intervention may be most suitable when offered in a clinical psychiatric outpatient context.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN88988596

The role of child and parental mentalizing for the development of conduct problems over time

The current study aimed to investigate the role of parental and child mentalizing in the development of conduct problems over time in a community sample of 7- to 11-year-olds (N = 659). To measure child mentalizing, children were asked to complete a social vignettes task at baseline as a measure of distorted mentalizing. Parents (primarily mothers) were asked to complete the same task, guessing their child's responses in the social scenarios as a measure of maternal mentalizing. Conduct problems were evaluated using repeated measures from multi-informant (self-, teacher-, and parent-report) questionnaires completed at baseline and 1-year follow-up. As expected, children who had an overly positive mentalizing style were more likely to be reported by teachers as having conduct problems at 1-year follow-up. These findings held when controlling for baseline conduct problems, IQ, SES, and sex. Findings for maternal mentalizing were significant for follow-up parent-report conduct problem symptoms at the bivariate level of analyses, but not at the multivariate level when controlling for baseline conduct problems and age. These findings extend previous reports by providing predictive validity for distorted mentalizing in the development of conduct problems.

The relationship of maternal mentalization and executive functioning to maternal recognition of infant cues and bonding

The study examined associations between maternal mentalization ability, executive functioning, recognition of infant cues, and bonding in a non-clinical sample of mothers. It employed a correlational design. Sixty-four mothers of young infants completed assessments of mentalization ability, executive functioning, and bonding. Photographs of infant facial expressions were utilized to assess ability to recognize infant cues of emotion, but this was not found to correlate with either maternal mentalization or executive functioning ability. Whilst a trend towards a significant positive relationship between mothers' cued ability to attribute mental states and their ability to recognize infant facial expressions was observed, no significant relationships were found between bonding scores and performance on the executive functioning and mentalization measures. The present study contributes to our current understanding of the influence of maternal cognitive factors, specifically mentalization and executive functioning, on the development of the mother-infant relationship. Future research, methodological issues, and clinical and theoretical implications are discussed.