Application of the Reflective Self-function Scale to the clinical interview for couples during pregnancy

The Reflective Self-function Scale was originally devised by Fonagy and coworkers to assess parents' capacity to understand and reflect on the mental states of the self and others. The aim of this paper was to describe early normative data for rating the reflective self-function to the Clinical Interview for Parents During Pregnancy. The interview was administered to 112 middle-class couples living in northern Italy and expecting their first baby. Reflective self-function was rated in three areas of the interview: the expected child, the couple's relationship, and the relationship of parents-to-be with their own parents. The paper describes the rationale, rating process, and early normative data in our sample.