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. 2019 Jan;36(1):82-92.
doi: 10.1037/pap0000166. Epub 2017 Oct 26.

Does maternal reflective functioning mediate associations between representations of caregiving with maternal sensitivity in a high-risk sample?

Mauricio Alvarez-Monjarás  1 , Thomas J McMahon  1   2 , Nancy E Suchman  1   2
Affiliations

Does maternal reflective functioning mediate associations between representations of caregiving with maternal sensitivity in a high-risk sample?

Mauricio Alvarez-Monjarás et al. Psychoanal Psychol. 2019 Jan.

Abstract

Although it is known that mothers with substance abuse disorders struggle to provide adequate parenting to their children, little is understood about the mechanisms behind this. This cross-sectional study uses an attachment perspective to examine whether reflective functioning mediates the relationship between mental representations of caregiving and maternal sensitivity, in an ethnically diverse sample of 142 substance-abusing mothers (M [SD] = 29.83 [5.79] years of age) and their toddlers (M [SD] = 24.04 [15.15] months of age). Data were baseline measures from two randomized controlled trials. The three variables of primary interest were positively correlated. As expected, there was a significant relationship between mental representations of caregiving and maternal sensitivity that was largely explained by reflective functioning. Confounding and alternate explanations were not supported by a secondary data analyses. The findings underscore the importance of reflective functioning in positive parenting within this high-risk population of mothers, and they provide support for the development of attachment-based interventions.

Keywords: attachment; maternal sensitivity; mentalization; parenting; substance abuse.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of statistical tests for mediation of the relationship between maternal representation of caregiving and maternal sensitivity by maternal reflective functioning. Values represent unstandardized coefficients (se). *p < .05; **p < .01
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of statistical tests for mediation of the relationship between maternal reflective functioning and maternal sensitivity by maternal representation of caregiving functioning. Values represent unstandardized coefficients (se). *p < .05; **p < .01
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