Poster #156 - Reflective Parenting Predicts Children's Expressive Language Via Toddler Social-Emotional Competence and Attachment Security

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Parenting & Parent-Child Relationships

Integrative Statement

Research has shown that early and accurate parental mind-mindedness, or observable, real-time interpretations of children’s mental states during parent-child interactions, predicts children’s language development beyond the effect of mothers’ verbosity (Bernier et al., 2017; Laranjo & Bernier, 2013; Meins et al., 2013). Therefore, mothers’ ability to appropriately describe their children’s thoughts and feelings may contribute uniquely to children’s understanding and use of language. Furthermore, early social-emotional competence and attachment security have been found to be related to better language and cognitive development in early childhood (Irwin et al., 2002; van IJzendoorn et al., 1995), presumably because early attachment security facilitates more exploration and learning about the world. Little to no research, however, has examined the role of parents’ internal mentalization, or reflective functioning, about their child in the development of early child language. That is, it is unclear whether a mother’s ability to internally consider and think about her child’s mental states also predicts child language development. In the present study, it was hypothesized that toddlers’ social-emotional competence and attachment security would mediate the association between mothers’ prenatal parental reflective functioning and children’s expressive language at 3 years of age.

Participants in the present study included 120 ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged women who participated in a larger, longitudinal study on parenting which began during pregnancy. Prenatal parental reflective functioning was assessed using the Reflective Parenting Scale (Rosenblum et al., 2008) for the Working Model of the Child Interview (Zeanah & Benoit, 1995). Toddlers’ social-emotional competence (assessed using the Brief Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment; Briggs-Gowan & Carter, 2007) and attachment security (assessed using the Attachment Q-Set; Waters, 1987) were measured when children were 2 years old. Children’s expressive language was assessed using the Expressive Vocabulary Test – 2nd Edition (Williams, 2007) at 3 years.

Bivariate analyses demonstrated significant positive correlations among all study variables (See Table 1). A series of mediation analyses in PROCESS (Hayes, 2013) revealed that, after controlling for maternal education, there was a significant indirect effect of prenatal parental reflective functioning on children’s expressive language through toddlers’ attachment security and an indirect effect through toddlers’ social-emotional competence (See Figure 1). These results suggest that the capacity for mothers to reflect on their children’s mental states and the future parent-child relationship during pregnancy predicts toddlers’ attachment security and social-emotional competence, which then fosters child expressive language development.

The results of the present study extend upon prior research by demonstrating that parents’ early mentalization plays an important role in children’s later use of expressive language through toddler’s secure attachment and social-emotional competence. Considering the association between parental reflective functioning and observed mind-mindedness (Rosenblum et al., 2008), it may be that mothers who think about their children’s mental states prior to their birth are more likely to engage in mind-minded discourse with their children, with both contributing to positive child outcomes such as secure attachment, social-emotional competence, and later expressive language development.

Authors

• Jerrica Pitzen, Eastern Michigan University
  Presenting Author

• Shannon Franz, University of Michigan
  Non-Presenting Author

• Scott Tomey, Eastern Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kristin Aho, Eastern Michigan University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alissa C Huth-Bocks, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author