No abstract

This study investigated the impact of maternal reflective functioning (RF) and attachment security on children’s mentalization. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) was administered to mothers in a sample of 41 mother–preadolescent dyads. AAI transcripts were rated in terms of the Berkeley AAI System (Main and Goldwyn, 1998) and the Reflective Functioning Scale (RFS; Fonagy et al., 1998). Preadolescent mentalization was assessed using a semi-structured interview adapted from O’Connor and Hirsch (1999) and also by analyzing mental-state talk produced during an autobiographical interview. Relationships between maternal RF and children’s mentalization were analyzed, with consideration given to the different RFS markers and references to positive, negative, and mixed-ambivalent mental states. Children’s mentalization was positively correlated with the mother’s RF, particularly the mother’s ability to mentalize negative or mixed-ambivalent mental states. No significant differences in mentalization were observed between children of secure and insecure mothers.

The aim of this study is to examine how caretakers speak to young children in a day-care centre and particularly to investigate how they adjust their language, according to children's age and to size of groups. Five Italian teachers were observed, each one during six different sessions. Children's ages were o; 10-1 ;2 and 256-3;o. The number of children varied from a rather large group (seven children) to a small group (three children) to a single child. Language was taperecorded during free-play sessions of ten minutes. Context was noted by two observers. Transcripts were analysed according to structural features (syntactical complexity, redundancy, type-token ratio, speed) and functional features (proportion of utterances with different purpose: control and organization of child behaviour, empathy, conversation and teaching). Results show some significant differences in structure and function according to children's age and group size.

This study aims to investigate the association between the mental state talk of mothers and their preadolescent children, with the hypothesis that an intergenerational transmission of mentalizing abilities may extend beyond early childhood. The participants were 41 mother−preadolescent child nonclinical dyads. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) and the Child Attachment Interview (CAI) were administered to the mothers and their children, respectively, to evaluate the frequency and the quality of their mental state talk. The AAI transcripts were coded according to the Reflective Functioning Scale. Analyses revealed a clear albeit complex relationship between the mentalizing abilities of mothers and their preadolescent children. The correlations between the mental state talk of mothers and children were generally limited. In contrast, children's use of mental terms was significantly predicted by maternal education and maternal reflective functioning, whereas the production of markers of uncertainty in children was associated with the mothers' use of markers of uncertainty.

No abstract