The Psychometric Properties of The Reflective Functioning on the Parent Development Interview

Abstract

Parental reflective function is parents’ ability to think about, infer, and interpret mental states of themselves, their child, and their relationship. In the current study, we examined the psychometric properties of the reflective function coding system on the Parent Development Interview. Data collected from 115 mothers who applied to a university mental health clinic seeking services (Mage = 36.01 years, SD = 4.96) and their children (Mage = 6.99 years, SD = 2.09, 41.7% girls). Parents were interviewed via the Parent Development Interview which was coded via mentalization coding system. Information about parents’ socio-demographics and attachment organization, and children’s affect-regulation, linguistic aptitude, history of maltreatment, and problem behaviors was collected. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed three-dimensional structure and reliability analyses revealed good internal consistencies for each dimension. These dimensions were termed as child- (parents’ reflective function about child’s feelings), relation- (parents’ reflective function about mother-child relationship), and self-focused (parents’ reflective function about their own feelings) dimensions. Child-focused parental reflective function was associated with socioeconomic status. Relation-focused parental reflective function was related to parents’ avoidant attachment style, education level, socioeconomic status, number of children, and children’s positive and adverse experiences. Self-focused parental reflective function was associated with the number of children, children’s expressive language, affect regulation, and externalizing problems. The results demonstrated that reflective function coding on the Parent Development Interview is a good measure to assess self- and relation-focused parental reflective function, yet improvement seems necessary on child-focused parental reflective function of clinical sample in Turkey.

Keywords

• parental mentalization
• reflective function
• Parent Development Interview
• psychometric properties

Project Number

215K180

Ebeveyn Gelişim Görüşmesi Üzerinden Yapılan Yansıtıcı İşleyiş Kodlama Sisteminin Psikometrik Özellikleri

Abstract

Ebeveynin yansıtıcı işleyişi kendisi, çocuğu ve ikisi arasındaki ilişkiye dair zihin durumları hakkında düşünebilme, bunları birbirine bağlayabilme ve etkilerini tahmin etme becerisidir. Bu çalışmada, Ebeveyn Gelişim Görüşmesi üzerinden yapılan yansıtıcı işleyiş kodlama sisteminin psikometrik özellikleri incelenmiştir. Çalışmaya bir üniversite kliniğinde psikoterapi hizmetine başvurmuş 115 anne (Ortyaş = 36.01 yaş, SS = 4.96) ve çocukları (Ortyaş = 6.99 yaş, SS = 2.09, %41.7 kız) katılmıştır. Ebeveynlerle Ebeveyn Gelişim Görüşmesi yapılmış, görüşme yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesi kodlama sistemi üzerinden değerlendirilmiştir. Ayrıca, ebeveynlerin sosyo-demografik bilgileri ve bağlanma stili ile çocukların duygu düzenlemesi, ifade edici dil becerisi, çocukluk çağı deneyimleri ve davranış sorunları ile ilgili bilgiler toplanmıştır. Açımlayıcı ve Doğrulayıcı Faktör analizi sonuçları üç faktörlü bir yapı ortaya çıkarmış ve her faktörün iç tutarlılık değerlerinin yeterli olduğu görülmüştür. Bunlar kavramsal olarak, çocuk- (ebeveynin çocuğunun duygularını yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesi), ilişki- (ebeveynin anne-çocuk arasındaki ilişkiyle ilgili yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesi) ve kendi-odaklı (ebeveynin kendi duygularını yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesi) faktörler şeklinde isimlendirilmiştir. Çocuk-odaklı yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesi sosyoekonomik durum ile pozitif yönde ilişkilidir. İlişki-odaklı yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesi ebeveynin kaçınmacı bağlanma stili, eğitim seviyesi, sosyoekonomik durumu, annenin sahip olduğu çocuk sayısı ve çocuğun olumlu ve olumsuz deneyimleri ile ilişkilidir. Kendi-odaklı yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesi ise annenin sahip olduğu çocuk sayısı, çocuğun ifade edici dil becerisi, duygu düzenlemesi ve dışsallaştırma sorunlarıyla ilişkilidir. Sonuçlar Ebeveyn Gelişim Görüşmesi üzerinden yapılan yansıtıcı işleyiş kodlama sisteminin Türkiye’deki klinik örneklemde kendi-ve ilişki-odaklı yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesini ölçmek için yeterli olabileceğini, çocuk-odaklı yansıtıcı işleyiş kapasitesini ölçmek için geliştirilmesi gerektiğini göstermektedir.

Keywords

• ebeveynin zihinselleştirme kapasitesi
• yansıtıcı işleyiş
• Ebeveyn Gelişim Görüşmesi
• psikometrik özellikler

Supporting Institution

Tübitak-Kısmi destek

Project Number

215K180

References

1. Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist: 4-18 and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.
2. Achenbach, T. M. ve Rescorla, L. A. (2001). Manual for the ASEBA School-Age Forms & Profiles. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, & Families.
3. Alvarez-Monjarás, M., McMahon, T. J. ve Suchman, N. E. (2019). Does maternal reflective functioning mediate associations between representations of caregiving with maternal sensitivity in a high-risk sample?. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 36, 82-92. doi: 10.1037/pap0000166
4. Batum, P. ve Yagmurlu, B. (2007). What counts in externalizing behaviors? The contributions of emotion and behavior regulation. Current Psychology: Developmental Learning Personality Social, 25, 272-294. doi: 10.1007/bf02915236
5. Baydar, N. ve Akcinar, B. (2015). Ramifications of socioeconomic differences for three year old children and their families in Turkey. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 33, 33-48. doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.05.002
6. Benbassat, N. ve Priel, B. (2012). Parenting and adolescent adjustment: The role of parental reflective function. Journal of Adolescence, 35, 163-174. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.03.004
7. Berument, S. K. ve Güven, A. G. (2010). Türk İfade Edici ve Alıcı Dil Testi: İfade edici dil kelime alt-testi kullanma kılavuzu. Ankara: Türk Psikologlar Derneği.
8. Borelli, J. L., St John, H. K., Cho, E. ve Suchman, N. E. (2016). Reflective functioning in parents of school-aged children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 86, 24-36. doi: 10.1037/ort0000141

9. Camoirano, A. (2017). Mentalizing makes parenting work: A review about parental reflective functioning and clinical interventions to improve it. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 14-26. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00014
10. Collins, W. A., Madsen, S. D. ve Susman-Stillman, A. (2002). Parenting during middle childhood. M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Children and parenting içinde (ss. 73-101). New Jersey, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
11. Corapci, F., Aksan, N. ve Yagmurlu, B. (2012). Socialization of Turkish children’s emotions: Do different emotions elicit different responses? Global Studies of Childhood, 2, 106-116. doi: 10.2304/gsch.2012.2.2.106
12. Ensink, K., Bégin, M., Normandin, L. ve Fonagy, P. (2016). Maternal and child reflective functioning in the context of child sexual abuse: Pathways to depression and externalising difficulties. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 7, 30611-30621. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v7.30611
13. Erol, N. ve Şimşek, Z. (2010). Okul çağı çocuk ve gençler için davranış değerlendirme ölçekleri el kitabı: Achenbach ampirik temelli değerlendirme sistemi (ASEBA). Ankara: Mentis Yayınevi.
14. Fonagy, P. ve Allison, E. (2013). What is mentalization? The concept and its foundations in developmental research and social-cognitive neuroscience. N. Midgley ve I. Vrouva (Ed.), Minding the child: Mentalization-based interventions with children, young people and their families içinde (ss. 11-34). Londra; New York, NY: Routledge.
15. Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., Jurist, E. L. ve Target, M. (2002). Affect regulation, mentalization, and the development of the self. New York, NY: Other Press.
16. Fonagy, P. ve Target, M. (1997). Attachment and reflective function: Their role in self-organization. Developmental Psychopathology, 9, 679-700. doi: 10.1017/s0954579497001399
17. Fonagy, P. ve Target, M. (1998). Mentalization and the changing aims of child psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 8, 87-114. doi: 10.1080/10481889809539235
18. Fonagy, P., Target, M., Steele, H. ve Steele, M. (1998). Reflective-functioning manual, version 5.0, for application to adult attachment interviews. Londra: University College London.
19. Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G. ve Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350-365. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.78.2.350
20. Gocek, E., Cohen, N. ve Greenbaum, R. (2008). Mothers’ mental state language and emotional availability: An investigation of the dyadic interaction between mothers and their children. VDM Verlag.
21. Göregenli, M. (1995). Individualistic-collectivistic tendencies in a Turkish sample. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 28, 787-794. doi: 10.1177/0022022197286009
22. Grienenberger, J. F. (2007). Group process as a holding environment facilitating the development of the parental reflective function: Commentary on the article by Arietta Slade. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 26, 668-675. doi: 10.1080/07351690701310714
23. Grienenberger, J. F., Kelly, K. ve Slade, A. (2005). Maternal reflective functioning, mother-infant affective communication, and infant attachment: Exploring the link between mental states and observed caregiving behavior in the intergenerational transmission of attachment. Attachment & Human Development, 7, 299-311. doi: 10.1080/14616730500245963
24. Gündüz, A., Yaşar, A. B., Gündoğmuş, I., Savran, C. ve Konuk, E. (2018). Çocukluk Çağı Olumsuz Yaşantılar Ölçeği Türkçe Formunun geçerlilik ve güvenilirlik çalışması. Anadolu Psikiyatri Dergisi, 19, 68-75.
25. Ha, C., Sharp, C. ve Goodyer, I. (2011). The role of child and parental mentalizing for the development of conduct problems over time. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 20, 291-300. doi: 10.1007/s00787-011-0174-4
26. Halfon, S., Bekar, O., Ababay, S. ve Çoklu-Dorlach, G. Ç. (2017). Dyadic mental state talk and sophistication of symbolic play between parents and children with behavioral problems. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 16, 291-307. doi: 10.1080/15289168.2017.1370952
27. Hu, L. ve Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55. doi: 10.1080/10705519909540118
28. Imamoglu, E. O. ve Karakitapoglu-Aygun, Z. (2006). Actual, ideal and expected relatedness with parents across and within cultures. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 721-745. doi: 10.1002/ejsp.313
29. Katznelson, H. (2014). Reflective functioning: A review. Clinical Psychology Review, 34, 107-117. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2013.12.003
30. Kullgard, N., Persson, P., Möller, C., Falkenström, F. ve Holmqvist, R. (2013). Reflective functioning in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)-preliminary findings of a comparison between reflective functioning (RF) in general and OCD-specific reflective functioning. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, 27, 154-169. doi: 10.1080/02668734.2013.795909
31. Luyten, P. ve Fonagy, P. (2014). Assessing mentalising in attachment contexts. S. Farnfield ve P. Holmes (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of attachment: Assessment içinde (ss. 210-226). Londra; New York, NY: Routledge.
32. Luyten, P., Nijssens, L., Fonagy, P. ve Mayes, L. C. (2017). Parental reflective functioning: Theory, research, and clinical applications. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 70, 174-199. doi: 10.1080/00797308.2016.1277901
33. Murphy, A., Steele, M., Dube, S. R., Bate, J., Bonuck, K., Meissner, P., ... Steele, H. (2014). Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) questionnaire and adult attachment interview (AAI): Implications for parent child relationships. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38, 224-233. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.09.004
34. Muthén, L. K. ve Muthén, B. O. (1998-2018). Mplus users’ guide (7. Baskı). Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
35. Nacak, M., Yagmurlu, B., Durgel, E. ve van de Vijver, F. (2011). Metropol ve Anadolu’da ebeveynlik: Biliş ve davranışlarda şehrin ve eğitim düzeyinin rolü. Türk Psikoloji Dergisi, 26, 85-100.
36. Öztuna, D., Elhan, A. H. ve Tüccar, E. (2006). Investigation of four different normality tests in terms of type 1 error rate and power under different distributions. Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences, 36, 171-176.
37. Rudden, M., Milrod, B., Target, M., Ackerman, S. ve Graf, E. (2006). Reflective functioning in panic disorder patients: A pilot study. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 54, 1339-1343. doi: 10.1177/00030651060540040109
38. Schultheis, A. M., Mayes, L. C. ve Rutherford, H. J. (2019). Associations between emotion regulation and parental reflective functioning. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28, 1094-1104. doi: 10.1007/s10826-018-01326-z
39. Scopesi, A. M., Rosso, A. M., Viterbori, P. ve Panchieri, E. (2015). Mentalizing abilities in preadolescents’ and their mothers’ autobiographical narratives. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 35, 467-483. doi: 10.1177/0272431614535091
40. Selcuk, E., Gunaydin, G., Sumer, N. ve Uysal A. (2005). Yetişkin bağlanma boyutları için yeni bir ölçüm: Yakın İlişkilerde Yaşantılar Envanteri-II’nin Türk örnekleminde psikometrik açıdan değerlendirilmesi. Türk Psikoloji Yazıları, 8, 1-11.
41. Sen, H., Yavuz‐Muren, M. ve Yagmurlu, B. (2014). Parenting: The Turkish context. H. Selin (Ed.), Parenting across cultures: Childrearing, motherhood and fatherhood in non‐western cultures. Science across cultures: The history of non‐western science içinde (7. Baskı) (ss. 175-192). Hollanda: Springer.
42. Shaffer, A. ve Obradović, J. (2017). Unique contributions of emotion regulation and executive functions in predicting the quality of parent-child interaction behaviors. Journal of Family Psychology, 31, 150-159. doi: 10.1037/fam0000269
43. Shields, A. ve Cicchetti, D. (1997). Emotion regulation among school-age children: The development and validation of a new criterion Q-sort scale. Developmental Psychology, 33, 906-916. doi: 10.1037//0012-1649.33.6.906
44. Sibley, C. G., Fischer, R. ve Liu, J. H. (2005). Reliability and validity of the Revised Experiences in Close Relationships (ECR-R) self-report measure of adult romantic attachment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1524-1536. doi: 10.1177/0146167205276865
45. Slade, A. (2005). Parental reflective functioning: An introduction. Attachment & Human Development, 7, 269-281. doi: 10.1080/14616730500245906
46. Slade, A., Aber, J. L., Berger, B., Bresgi, I. ve Kaplan, M. (2003). The parent development interview-revised. New York, NY: The City University of New York.
47. Slade, A., Bernbach, E., Grienenberger, J., Levy, D. ve Locker, A. (2005). Manual for scoring reflective functioning on the parent development interview. New York, NY: The City University of New York.
48. Slade, A., Grienenberger, J., Bernbach, E., Levy, D. ve Locker, A. (2005). Maternal reflective functioning, attachment, and the transmission gap: A preliminary study. Attachment & Human Development, 7, 283-298. doi: 10.1080/14616730500245880
49. Sleed, M., Slade, A. ve Fonagy, P. (2018). Reflective functioning on the Parent Development Interview: Validity and reliability in relation to socio-demographic factors. Attachment & Human Development, 13, 1-22. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2018.1555603
50. Smaling, H. J. A., Huijbregts, S. C. J., Van der Heijden, K. B., Van Goozen, S. H. M. ve Swaab, H. (2016). Maternal reflective functioning as a multidimensional construct: Differential associations with children’s temperament and externalizing behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 44, 263-274. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.06.007
51. Stacks, A. M., Muzik, M., Wong, K., Beeghly, M., Huth-Bocks, A., Irwin, J. L. ve Rosenblum, K. L. (2014). Maternal reflective functioning among mothers with childhood maltreatment histories: Links to sensitive parenting and infant attachment security. Attachment & Human Development, 16, 515-533. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2014.935452
52. Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C., Leigh, D. ve Borelli, J. (2010). Reflective functioning in mothers with drug use disorders: Implications for dyadic interactions with infants and toddlers. Attachment & Human Development, 12, 567-585. doi: 10.1080/14616734.2010.501988
53. Taumoepeau, M. ve Ruffman, T. (2006). Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding. Child Development, 77, 465-481. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00882.x
54. van IJzendoorn, M. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness, and infant attachment: A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the Adult Attachment Interview. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 387-403. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.387
55. Wade, M., Madigan, S., Plamondon, A., Rodrigues, M., Browne, D. ve Jenkins, J. M. (2018). Cumulative psychosocial risk, parental socialization, and child cognitive functioning: A longitudinal cascade model. Developmental Psychology, 54, 1038-1050. doi: 10.1037/dev0000493
56. Wilmshurst, L. (2015). Essentials of behavioral science series. Essentials of child and adolescent psychopathology (2. Baskı). Hoboken, NJ, US: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
57. Yagmurlu, B. ve Altan, O. (2010). Maternal socialization and child temperament as predictors of emotion regulation in Turkish preschoolers. Infant and Child Development, 19, 275-296. doi: 10.1002/icd.64