The Parent's Capacity to Treat the Child as a Psychological Agent: Constructs, Measures and Implications for Developmental Psychopathology

TLDR

Recent studies of parenting and child development have focused on the parent's capacity to treat the child as a psychological agent, with constructs such as maternal mind‑mindedness, reflective functioning, and parental mentalizing. This review compares and contrasts diverse parental mentalizing constructs, examines their potential shared neurobiological basis, and proposes a testable model linking parental mentalization, child mentalizing development, and child psychopathology. The authors review empirical evidence and the measures associated with each construct to evaluate their support. They propose a testable model that describes the links between parental mentalization, the development of mentalizing in children, and child psychopathology.

Abstract

Abstract Recent studies of the relationship between parenting and child development have included a focus on the parent's capacity to treat the child as a psychological agent. Several constructs have been developed to refer to this capacity, for example maternal mind‐mindedness, reflective functioning, and parental mentalizing. In this review article, we compare and contrast different constructs from diverse theoretical backgrounds that have been developed to operationalize parental mentalizing. We examine the empirical evidence to date in support of each of the constructs and review the relevant measures associated with each construct. Next, we discuss the possibility that these apparently diverse constructs may tap into the same underlying neurobiological socio‐cognitive system. We conclude by proposing a testable model for describing the links between parental mentalization, the development of mentalizing in children, and child psychopathology.