Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov;12(6):567-85.
doi: 10.1080/14616734.2010.501988.

Reflective functioning in mothers with drug use disorders: implications for dyadic interactions with infants and toddlers

Nancy E Suchman  1 , Cindy DeCoste, Denise Leigh, Jessica Borelli
Affiliations

Reflective functioning in mothers with drug use disorders: implications for dyadic interactions with infants and toddlers

Nancy E Suchman et al. Attach Hum Dev. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

In this study, we examined maternal reflective functioning as a bi-dimensional construct in a sample of 47 mothers with drug use disorders caring for infants and toddlers. We first tested a two-factor solution with scale items from the Parent Development Interview and confirmed the presence of two related but distinct dimensions: self-mentalization and child-mentalization. We then tested predictions that (a) self-mentalization would be associated with overall quality of maternal caregiving and that (b) child-mentalization would be associated with (i) maternal contingent behavior and (ii) child communication. Results partially supported hypotheses (a) and (bii). Unexpectedly, self-mentalization alone was associated with maternal contingent behavior. Findings suggest that self-mentalization may be a critical first step in improving mother-child relations involving mothers with drug use disorders. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Allen JG, Fonagy P, Bateman AW. Mentalising in clinical practice. American Psychiatric Publishing; Washington, DC: 2008.
    1. Barnard KE, Eyres SJ, editors. Child health assessment, Part 2: The first year of life. U.S. Government Printing Office; Washington, D.C.: 1979. Publication Number DHEW No. HRA 79-25.
    1. Beck AT, Steer RA, Brown GK. Beck Depression Inventory Manual (2nd ed.) The Psychological Corporation; NY: 1996.
    1. Cattell RB. Factor analysis: an introduction to essentials. (I) the purpose and underlying models, (II) the role of factor analysis in research. Biometrics. 1965;21:190–215. 404–435. - PubMed
    1. Derogatis LR. Brief Symptom Inventory: Administration, scoring, and procedures manual (3rd ed.) National Computer Systems; Minneapolis, MN: 1993.

Publication types