Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California.
Department of Psychology, Pomona College, Claremont, California.
Infant Ment Health J. 2021 Jul;42(4):473-487. doi: 10.1002/imhj.21904. Epub 2020 Dec 29.
Parental reflective functioning (RF), the ability to consider the child's behavior as a function of mental states (cognitions, emotions), is theorized to promote emotion regulation in children via its positive impact on parenting sensitivity. Using a sample of mothers and toddlers (N = 151 dyads; 41% Latinx; 54% girls; M = 21 months; SD = 2.5 months), we measured mothers' self-reported RF (high RF = low certainty/high interest-curiosity/low prementalizing), toddlers' distress during a standardized challenging behavioral task (toy removal), and three methods of children's coping with distress. Then, we tested whether RF moderated the association between children's observed distress and coping during the task (mother-directed adaptive coping, task-directed adaptive coping, maladaptive aggression) as an index of emotion regulation. Although RF was not associated with toddlers' distress, indices of RF moderated the associations between distress and coping. As maternal RF increased, the positive association between toddler distress and mother-oriented behavior increased, whereas the association between toddler distress and child aggression decreased. Findings were present only for certainty of mental states, whereas no effects were present for prementalizing or interest/curiosity. We discuss these findings in terms of their contributions to theory regarding parent-child relationships, maternal RF, and child emotion regulation.
父母的反思功能（RF），即考虑孩子行为是心理状态（认知、情绪）的功能的能力，据理论推测，它通过对育儿敏感性的积极影响，促进儿童的情绪调节。本研究使用了母亲和幼儿（N=151 对；41%拉丁裔；54%女孩；M=21 个月；SD=2.5 个月）样本，测量了母亲自我报告的 RF（高 RF=低确定性/高兴趣/好奇心/低心理化）、幼儿在标准化挑战性行为任务（玩具移除）中的痛苦，以及三种应对痛苦的方法。然后，我们测试了 RF 是否调节了儿童在任务中观察到的痛苦与应对之间的关系（母亲导向的适应性应对、任务导向的适应性应对、适应不良的攻击）作为情绪调节的指标。尽管 RF 与幼儿的痛苦无关，但 RF 的指标调节了痛苦和应对之间的关系。随着母亲 RF 的增加，幼儿痛苦与母亲导向行为之间的正相关增加，而幼儿痛苦与儿童攻击之间的关联减少。只有心理状态的确定性存在影响，而心理化或兴趣/好奇心没有影响。我们根据这些发现，从亲子关系、母亲 RF 和儿童情绪调节的理论角度讨论了这些发现。
