Professional Carers’ Reflective Functioning: Abilities that Moderate the Association Between Carer Attachment and Youth Adaptation.

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Prevention and Interventions

Abstract

Adolescent placement in residential care is considered a measure of “last resort” to ensure youth security and promote their optimal development. However, traditional rehabilitation approaches, centered on behavior management, prove to be of little benefit to adolescents’ adaptive functioning (Denis, 2014). In contrast, research suggests that a key ingredient to youth socio-emotional functioning in care is the professional carer’s level of sensitivity, that is, their ability to invest in positive relationships with adolescents and to adequately interpret and respond to their needs and behaviors (Poulin, 2017).

However, carers’ personal characteristics, such as their insecure attachment models, could interfere with their ability to respond with sensitivity and constitute an important barrier to promoting youth adaptation in care (Zegers et al., 2006). On the other hand, reflective functioning, that is, the ability to take a step back and to reflect on the internal experiences (feelings, intentions) underscoring one’s behaviors and those of others (Fonagy & Target 1997) is argued to be at the root of sensitive caregiving (Ensink et al., 2017; Pazzagli et al., 2017). Given that reflective functioning has been associated with greater parental involvement and communication with their child (Rostad & Whitaker, 2016), these qualities of connection and support are expected to be essential for sensitive caregiving in the context of residential care as well. In fact, these attributes have been found to encourage youth adaptive outcomes and treatment success (Ackerman & Hilsenroth, 2003).

Although, research has underscored the relevance of investigating the professional carer-adolescent relationship in residential care as a means for promoting youth adaptation (Mota & Matos, 2016), very little is known on the processes at work. Namely, can reflective functioning, abilities that are expected to be developed among professional carers, weaken the negative association between carers’ insecure attachment and adolescents’ poor socio-emotional functioning? The present study is an important first step to answering this question.

Thirty-four dyads consisting of professional carers and adolescents boys (M = 15.19, SD = 1.41) living in juvenile residential care units participated in this study. Carers completed the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ; Feeney et al., 1994) as well as an adapted version of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ; Luyten et al. 2017). Adolescents completed the Youth Self-Report (YSR; Achenbach, 1991), as a measure of socio-emotional adaptation.
Results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis reveal that greater carer confidence on the ASQ and reflective functioning were associated with fewer internalizing problems in adolescents. Results also revealed that carers’ reflective functioning moderated the association between anxious carer attachment and youth internalizing problems. Specifically, for carers low in reflective functioning (-1 SD), as their anxious attachment increased, adolescents’ internalized behavior problems increased as well, t(34) = 2.42. For carers high in reflective functioning (+1 SD), anxious attachment was not related to youth internalizing problems, t(34) = -1.59. No other significant interactions were found. The role of carers’ reflective functioning, a capacity that can be developed and enhanced despite one’s insecure attachment model, on youth adaptation within the context of residential care will be discussed.

Authors

• Katherine Pascuzzo, Université de Sherbrooke
  Presenting Author

• Chantal Cyr, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mégan Rollin, Université de Sherbrooke
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daphnée Bédard, Université de Sherbrooke
  Non-Presenting Author