Do Mothers' Executive Functions Contribute to Parental Mentalization? Child-related and Parent-related Contexts as Moderators

• In Event: 2-078 - Affective and Cognitive Aspects of Parental Self-Regulation in Early Parenting

Integrative Statement

Introduction. Parental mentalization (PM) refers to parents' capacity to regard their children as psychological agents and understand their mental-states (Zeegers et al., 2017). PM is measured using either representational interview-based measures (reflective-functioning) or interactional real-time measures (mind-mindedness). Interactional PM, commonly measured in infancy, includes two dimensions: appropriate and nonattuned interpretations of mental-states (Meins et al., 2012). Recent studies have found associations between mothers' representational PM and executive functions (EFs; Håkansson et al., 2018; Rutherford et al., 2018), a set of regulatory processes, including updating, inhibition, and shifting (Miyake et al., 2000). The aim of the current study was to examine the roles of specific EFs in interactional PM during infancy and representational PM during preschool, while considering contextual moderators.
Hypotheses. We hypothesized that maternal EFs would be associated with higher appropriate and lower nonattuned interactional PM, and with higher representational PM. Concerning interactional PM, we hypothesized that different EF processes would be associated with each dimension: (1) updating would be associated with appropriate PM; (2) inhibition would be associated with nonattuned PM; and (3) shifting would be associated with both. The moderating roles of child temperament and coparenting (i.e., contexts requiring higher regulation) and prematurity (i.e., a chronically-stressful context in which automaticity is promoted over EFs) were examined.
Methods. 102 mother-child pairs (61 preterm, 41 full-term) were followed from birth to preschool. At 6-months, mother-infant free-play interactions were coded for interactional PM using the mind-mindedness scale (Meins & Fernyhough, 2010). For PM assessment at 66-months, Parent Development Interviews were coded for Parental Reflective Functioning (Slade et al., 2007). For EFs assessment, mothers completed computerized tasks at 66-months: Updating was measured using the 2-back task; response-inhibition was measured using the antisaccade task; resistance to interference (i.e., cognitive-inhibition) was measured using the flanker and 2-back intrusion-cost effects; and shifting was measured using task-switching. At both time-points mothers completed age-appropriate questionnaires assessing child temperament. Mothers completed the Who Does What? (Cowan & Cowan, 1990) at 66-months for assessment of coparenting satisfaction.
Results. Regression analyses predicting interactional and representational PM, controlling for mothers' vocabulary, are presented in Table 1. Resistance to interference and prematurity interacted in predicting nonattuned interactional PM (Figure 1A): the link was negative in the full-term group but nonsignificant in the preterm group. Updating was associated with appropriate interactional PM, and this association was moderated by child temperament (Figure 1B): the link was stronger when infants were perceived as having more difficult temperament. Similarly, a general EF composite interacted with child temperament and with coparenting satisfaction in predicting representational PM, revealing a positive association only when children were perceived as difficult (Figure 1C) or when mothers reported low coparenting satisfaction (Figure 1D). The interaction between EF and prematurity was nearing-significance.
Discussion. These findings suggest that EFs support both interactional and representational PM, especially in situations requiring higher regulation: when mothers perceive their children as having more difficult temperament or are dissatisfied from division of child-rearing tasks with their partners. These associations are weaker under the chronically-stressful context of raising preterm children.

Authors

• Tal Yatziv, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  Presenting Author

• Yoav Kessler, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  Non-Presenting Author

• Naama Atzaba-Poria, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
  Non-Presenting Author