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. 2022 Jan;58(1):17-31.
doi: 10.1037/dev0001272. Epub 2021 Dec 20.

Explaining the relation between early mind-mindedness and children's mentalizing abilities: The development of an observational preschool assessment

Sarah Fishburn  1 , Elizabeth Meins  2 , Charles Fernyhough  2 , Luna C M Centifanti  2 , Fionnuala Larkin  2
Affiliations

Explaining the relation between early mind-mindedness and children's mentalizing abilities: The development of an observational preschool assessment

Sarah Fishburn et al. Dev Psychol. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

The aim of this research was to develop a new observation-based measure for assessing caregivers' mind-mindedness in the preschool years and investigate whether this measure could explain the link between mothers' early appropriate mind-related comments and children's later mentalizing abilities. The new measure was developed using a sample of mothers and 44-month-olds (N = 171), characterizing mind-mindedness in terms of (a) solicited child involvement, (b) adaptive communication, and (c) internal state talk. These indices were positively related to established assessments of mind-mindedness at 8, 44, and 61 months. Positive associations were also observed with children's later mentalizing abilities. The new measure of mind-mindedness did not, however, mediate the relation between mind-mindedness in the first year of life and children's mentalizing abilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

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