Maternal reflective functioning among mothers with childhood maltreatment histories: links to sensitive parenting and infant attachment security

Abstract

This study examined relationships among maternal reflective functioning, parenting, infant attachment, and demographic risk in a relatively large (N = 83) socioeconomically diverse sample of women with and without a history of childhood maltreatment and their infants. Most prior research on parental reflective functioning has utilized small homogenous samples. Reflective functioning was assessed with the Parent Development Interview, parenting was coded from videotaped mother–child interactions, and infant attachment was evaluated in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation by independent teams of reliable coders masked to maternal history. Reflective functioning was associated with parenting sensitivity and secure attachment, and inversely associated with demographic risk and parenting negativity; however, it was not associated with maternal maltreatment history or PTSD. Parenting sensitivity mediated the relationship between reflective functioning and infant attachment, controlling for demographic risk. Findings are discussed in the context of prior research on reflective functioning and the importance of targeting reflective functioning in interventions.

Keywords:

• reflective functioning
• parenting sensitivity
• infant attachment security
• maternal history of childhood maltreatment
• demographic risk

Acknowledgements

We thank the families who participated in this longitudinal study, and acknowledge the valuable efforts of the MACY project staff in data collection, especially Heather Cameron, Amanda Ellis, Ellen McGinnis, Rena Menke, Patricia Richardson, and Kelsie Rodriguez. We also are grateful to Lauren Earls, Catherine Hiltz, Lori Stark, Andrea A. Clemmons, Nikole Karnesky, and others for their diligent work in coding the behavioral observations.