Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
2018-09-25T00:00:00Z
The present study was the first to investigate the association between mothers’ ability to reflect upon the relationship with her (unborn) infant during pregnancy and maternal and infant behavior...Show moreThe present study was the first to investigate the association between mothers’ ability to reflect upon the relationship with her (unborn) infant during pregnancy and maternal and infant behavior during the Still-Face Paradigm (SFP). The sample consisted of 52 mother-infant dyads, from both high (HR, N = 22)- and low (LR, N = 29) risk backgrounds, as defined by the presence/absence of unemployment, poverty or financial problems, housing problems, limited or instable social support network, being single or having changing partners, (subclinical) psychiatric problems (such as depression, anxiety, borderline, aggression), or substance abuse (smoking, alcohol, or drugs). High-risk (HR)-mothers had lower levels of reflective functioning than LR-mothers and showed less sensitive and more intrusive behavior in interaction with their infants. Infants from high risk backgrounds showed more negative affect during play and less gaze towards mother during the still-face episode of the SFP. Reflective functioning during pregnancy predicted maternal sensitive and intrusive behavior during play, but only for LR-mothers. In general, maternal reflective functioning predicted infant display of minimal positive affect during the still-face episode, an association that was not mediated by maternal behavior during the SFP. These results indicate that mothers’ reflective abilities predict later maternal sensitive and intrusive behavior, and even some infant behavior independently from maternal behavior. Future studies should further clarify the role of maternal reflective capacities in the development of children’s emotion regulation abilities, and its potential role in prenatal coaching and interventions.Show less
