Reflective Functioning and Emotion Socialization Behaviors in Caregivers of Preschoolers

• In Event: New Perspectives on Parenting: Implications for understanding adaptive and maladaptive family functioning

Abstract

Exposure to abuse, neglect, and invalidation in childhood can increase caregivers’ risk for parenting difficulties and put their children at risk for psychological and behavioral maladjustment. Some caregivers, however, can break this cycle by supportively responding to their children and establishing secure parent-child relationships. Reflective functioning (RF), or the ability to interpret behaviors as an expression of thoughts, feelings, and intentions, offers a framework to understand how early experiences with caregivers influence later parenting behaviors. There are two forms of RF: Parental RF refers to parents’ ability to reflect on their child’s state of mind, whereas adult RF involves parents’ capacity to reflect on their own experiences with childhood caregivers. Both forms of RF have been shown to predict more warm and sensitive caregiving behaviors; however, most of the research has examined these constructs separately, making it unclear whether adult and parental RF play similar or different roles in caregiving. Much of the RF literature has focused on the association between RF and parental sensitivity in predominately White, middle-class samples of mothers of infants. Caregiving can vary depending on the social and economic context in which it occurs, and therefore it is critical to understand the relation between RF and caregiving in diverse samples in order to inform early prevention efforts. Therefore, the current study used a multi-method approach to examine the associations between caregivers’ adverse experiences with childhood caregivers, adult and parental RF, and emotion socialization strategies in a sample of low-income caregivers of color. Adult RF also was examined as a moderator to provide additional insight into factors that protect caregivers from reenacting maladaptive behaviors learned in childhood.

Families (N=64 dyads) were recruited from Head Start preschools (Mchildage=4; 53% male; 81% Black). Caregivers’ adverse experiences with childhood caregivers were measured with self-report; caregivers’ RF abilities were assessed via self-report and interview; and caregivers’ emotion socialization strategies were assessed with two observational measures: playing a game designed to elicit pleasant and unpleasant emotions from the child and discussing the child’s emotional experiences. Analyses of the game task showed that adult and parental RF uniquely predicted caregiving behaviors after accounting for caregivers’ exposure to adverse childhood experiences, and adult RF moderated the association between caregivers’ exposure to maladaptive parenting in childhood and emotion socialization behaviors [β=-.72, p=.004] and ignoring [β=.59, p=.02] behaviors) while playing a game with their child. Specifically, caregivers low in adult RF exhibited less reflection of their children’s point of view and more ignoring when they had experienced more adverse experiences in their own childhood; adverse childhood experiences were not related to either behavior for caregivers high in adult RF. Future analyses will examine the association between RF and caregivers’ use of validating and invalidating strategies when discussing previous emotional experiences with their child. Findings thus far suggest that both types of RF are important for caregivers’ ability to accept and validate children’s emotions and that reflecting on caregiving received in childhood can act as a protective mechanism and help stop the intergenerational transmission of maladaptive parenting.

Authors

• Kristen Yule, CHOC - Children’s Health of Orange County
  Presenting Author

• John Grych, Marquette University