Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Infancy. 2022 Nov;27(6):1091-1103. doi: 10.1111/infa.12498. Epub 2022 Aug 26.
Parental mind-mindedness (MM), defined as the propensity to view one's child as an agent with thoughts, feelings, and desires, is associated with positive child outcomes (McMahon & Bernier, 2017) and can be assessed in expectant parents by using five-minute speech samples (Magaña et al., 1986). Individual differences in MM appear stable across the transition to parenthood (Foley et al., in press), offering an exciting intervention opportunity, as expectant mothers' thoughts and feelings about their unborn infants are associated with the quality of mother-infant interactions. To assess prenatal MM as a predictor of parent-infant conversation at 7 months, we followed 93 low-risk British heterosexual couples across the transition to parenthood. Mothers' and fathers' MM was measured both in the third trimester of pregnancy and at 4 months. Wearable LENA devices were used to gather detailed measures of mother-, father-, and infant-initiated conversations at 7 months. Prenatal MM in both parents was associated with more frequent infant-initiated conversations at 7 months, while prenatal maternal (not paternal) MM was also associated with more mother- and father-initiated conversations. While longitudinal research with more diverse samples is needed, these findings highlight the importance of parental mentalizing in the prenatal period for early family interactions.
父母心理理论（MM），即倾向于将自己的孩子视为具有思想、情感和欲望的主体，与积极的儿童发展结果相关（McMahon & Bernier，2017），可以通过使用五分钟的演讲样本（Magaña 等人，1986）来评估准父母的 MM。在向父母过渡期间，MM 的个体差异似乎是稳定的（Foley 等人，即将出版），这提供了一个令人兴奋的干预机会，因为准母亲对未出生婴儿的想法和感受与母婴互动的质量有关。为了评估产前 MM 作为 7 个月时母婴对话的预测指标，我们在向父母过渡期间对 93 对低风险的英国异性恋夫妇进行了跟踪研究。在妊娠晚期和 4 个月时，测量了母亲和父亲的 MM。使用可穿戴的 LENA 设备在 7 个月时收集了母亲、父亲和婴儿发起的对话的详细测量值。父母双方的产前 MM 与 7 个月时婴儿发起的对话更频繁相关，而产前母亲（而不是父亲）的 MM 也与更多的母亲和父亲发起的对话相关。虽然需要进行具有更多样本人群的纵向研究，但这些发现强调了父母心理理论在产前对早期家庭互动的重要性。
