Mentor
Grazyna Kochanska
Participation year
2017
Project title

Minding the baby: Mothers' and Fathers' Talk to Their Infants as a Window Into Parental Perception of Infants' Internal State

Abstract

The concept of parental mind-mindedness (MM) – the ability to see the child as a psychological being, with internal states, emotions, and thoughts – has been gaining prominence in developmental psychology and psychopathology. MM has been increasingly recognized as a key parental characteristic that determines their sensitivity and responsiveness to the child’s cues, and consequently, promotes a secure attachment between the child and parent. In infancy, MM is typically assessed by coding parents’ comments directed to the child. No study of MM, however, has included both mothers and fathers of young children. The aims of the study were to implement the MM coding system to both mother- and father-child interactions, achieve inter-coder reliability, and explore initial descriptive data. We coded 102 mothers’ and 102 fathers’ MM from verbatim transcripts of their comments to their 7-month-old infants, observed in naturalistic, but structured contexts at home (snack and play).  Each comment was coded using a set of categories, each classified as MM or not MM. MM comments were further coded as attuned (appropriately referring to the infant’s likely internal state) or not attuned. We present reliability and initial descriptive data.

Kriss-Ann Gayle
Education
Pennsylvania State University