Maternal Representation Reassessed

Larney, Berinda; Cousens, Penelope; Nunn, Kenneth

doi:10.1177/1359104597021009

Cited by 13 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Results showed that size of social support network was the strongest predictor of prenatal RF. The availability of social support appears to benefit the adjustment to upcoming motherhood (Sadler et al., ; Smith, ), resulting in stable perceptions of the future infant in the last trimester of pregnancy (Larney et al., ). Feeling supported facilitates women to gain confidence in the new perceptions of themselves and eases the transition into motherhood (Darvill et al., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These factors could affect prenatal maternal RF. Maternal characteristics that have been negatively related to RF include psychiatric illness (Fonagy & Luyten, ; Levinson & Fonagy, ; Perry, Newman, Hunter, & Dunlop, ; Toth, Rogosch, & Cicchetti, ), substance use during pregnancy (Pajulo et al., ), single parenthood (Huth‐Bocks, Levendosky, Bogat, & Von Eye, ), unavailability of support from family and friends (Larney, Cousens, & Nunn, ; Sadler et al., ; Smith, ), scarcity of material resources (e.g., regarding housing or financially), and low educational attainment (Pajulo, Helenius, & Mayes, ; Rosenblum, McDonough, Sameroff, & Muzik, ; Sadler et al., ; Theran et al., ; Vrieze, ). These factors also have been used to define risk status with respect to child sociobehavioral outcomes (World Health Organization, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Prenatal Reflective Functioning in Primiparous Women With a High‐risk Profile

Smaling

Huijbregts

Suurland

et al. 2015

Infant Mental Health Journal

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The concept of maternal reflective functioning (RF) has been gaining increasing interest as a possible intermediate mechanism in associations between a wide range of psychosocial risk factors and poor child outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to determine which psychosocial risk factors are linked to prenatal RF in a high-risk (HR) group of primiparous women. Differences in prenatal RF between the HR group and a low-risk (LR) control group also were examined. The sample consisted of 162 women (M = 22.22 years, SD = 2.39; 83 classified as HR). RF was coded from the Pregnancy Interview (A. Slade, 2007a). Risk status was assessed by means of the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview-plus (M.I.N.I.-plus; D.V. Sheehan et al., 1997) and several questionnaires. HR women demonstrated significantly lower RF quality than did the LR group. Regression analyses indicated that maternal education, size of social support network, and substance use during pregnancy were the strongest predictors of prenatal RF for the HR group. The results suggest that maternal RF potentially could be an important target for those prevention and intervention programs that aim to reduce adverse psychosocial development in offspring of HR mothers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Prenatal Reflective Functioning in Primiparous Women With a High‐risk Profile

Smaling

Huijbregts

Suurland

et al. 2015

Infant Mental Health Journal

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“…Maternal representations are one important mediating pathway between a mother's personal history, especially of her childhood experiences, and her interactive behavior with the infant. Representations are mental constructions of reality based upon memories, expectations, and perceptions that guide both one's sense of self and interpersonal behavior (Larney, Cousens, & Nunn, 1997; Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985). During the transition to parenthood, the major representational domains involve the child, the self‐as‐mother, the self‐as‐woman, one's own mother‐as‐mother and the child's father (L. Cohen & Slade, 2000; Fava Vizziello, Antonioli, Cocci, & Invernizzi, 1993; Stern, 1995).…”

Section: Role Of Maternal Representationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Representations of the self, the child, the child's father, and one's own mother tend to remain quite stable from the prenatal to the postnatal period, and such stability has been found both among normative (Flykt et al, 2009; Larney et al, 1997; Stern, 1995) and psychosocial‐risk mothers (Theran, Levondosky, Bogat, & Huth‐Bocks, 2005; Wendland & Miljkovitch, 2003). If representational change occurs (i.e., prenatal representations do not match postnatal reality), the change appears to be in a positive direction (Flykt et al, 2009; Larney et al, 1997); however, we do not know whether these results apply specifically to drug‐abusing mothers.…”

Section: Role Of Maternal Representationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal representations and emotional availability among drug‐abusing and nonusing mothers and their infants

Flykt

Punamäki

Belt

et al. 2012

Infant Mental Health Journal

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Both negative and idealized maternal prenatal representations may constitute a risk for mother-infant interaction. This study analyzed the role of maternal prenatal representations and pre- to postnatal representational change in predicting mother-infant emotional availability (EA) among 51 drug-abusing mothers and their infants who participated in either psychodynamic group therapy (PGT) or received psychosocial support (PSS) and among 50 nonusing comparison dyads. Maternal representations of her child, the child's father, her own mother, self-as-mother, and self-as-woman were measured during pregnancy and at 4 and 12 months' postpartum with the Interview of Maternal Representations (M. Ammaniti et al., 1992; M. Ammaniti, R. Tambelli, & P. Perucchini, 1998). EA was measured with the Emotional Availability Scales, fourth edition (Z. Biringen, 2008) at 4 and 12 months. The results showed that drug-abusing mothers had more negative prenatal representations of the self-as-woman and of the child's father. Postnatally, PSS mothers tended to first idealize their child, but later to experience disillusionment of idealization. Both negative and idealized prenatal representations of the self-as-mother predicted mother-infant EA problems, but only among the PGT mothers. For all mothers, negative representational change was detrimental for the mother-infant EA whereas for drug-abusing mothers, also increasing idealization from the prenatal period to the postnatal period was harmful. Clinicians working with drug-abusing mothers should aim at supporting the development of a realistically positive view of motherhood.

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“…By stimulating early unconscious memories, the group provides material and experiences for new internal representations (Larney et al, 1997). Experiences with the therapists make it possible for the mothers to attempt to repair negative representations of their own mothers.…”

Section: Preventing Negative Projections Onto the Infantmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mother – infant group psychotherapy as an intensive treatment in early interaction among mothers with substance abuse problems

Belt¹,

Punamäki²

2007

Journal of Child Psychotherapy

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In this article we present a novel method of outpatient care: brief, dynamic mother-infant group psychotherapy with mothers who have substance use problems. In this therapy, substance abuse treatment is part of mental health and parenting interventions. The focus is on preventing disturbance in the mother-infant relationship in this high-risk group. The clinical material is taken from 16 motherinfant dyads from six psychotherapy groups, which met weekly over six months from pregnancy to postpartum. The therapy process consists of 20-24 three-hour sessions. The basis of the therapy is to offer mothers experience of care, which they, in turn, can give to their infants. In this paper we analyse the core therapeutic elements that may contribute to better mothering and child development. They involve: the group providing a symbolic maternal lap, and the meeting of the mothers' and the infants' needs. It is hoped that this may offer the mothers a new experience within which to reappraise their early memories. This may help prevent them from projecting traumatic past experiences onto their infants. Our analyses show that in the therapy, mothers, feeling safe within the group, gradually experienced pleasure with their infants and their peers. These effects, according to the mothers, were the most noticeable. Brief dynamic mother-infant group psychotherapy seems to be a promising form of treatment for those substance-abusing women able to commit to outpatient care and examine the causes of their drug dependence. The groups may also be used as a diagnostic tool to detect problems in early mother-baby interaction.

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Maternal Representation Reassessed

Cited by 13 publications

References 18 publications

Prenatal Reflective Functioning in Primiparous Women With a High‐risk Profile

Prenatal Reflective Functioning in Primiparous Women With a High‐risk Profile

Maternal representations and emotional availability among drug‐abusing and nonusing mothers and their infants

Mother – infant group psychotherapy as an intensive treatment in early interaction among mothers with substance abuse problems

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