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Maternal and child characteristics as antecedents of maternal mind-mindedness

Isabelle Demers1, Annie Bernier1, George M Tarabulsy2

  • 1University of Montreal.

Infant Mental Health Journal
|May 26, 2017
PubMed

This article compares an expanded descriptive measure of maternal mind-mindedness to the original measure. We included assessments of the valence and richness of descriptions given by 106 mothers when asked to talk about their 18-month-old child (55 boys), in addition to assessing the proportion of mind-related descriptors. Contrary to previous findings, the proportion of mental descriptors was not associated with maternal sensitivity. However, the expanded measure revealed a significant positive link between positive mind-mindedness and maternal sensitivity, and between richness of the description and maternal sensitivity. We then investigated predictors of positive maternal mind-mindedness. Maternal state of mind regarding past attachment experiences, psychological adjustment, and perception of the child's temperament were considered. The findings revealed that attachment state of mind and parenting stress constitute independent predictors of positive mind-mindedness. These findings suggest that mind-mindedness is associated not only with parental state of mind but also to current factors related to parenthood.

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