‘When my mummy and daddy aren't looking at me when I do my maths she helps me’; Children can be taught to create imaginary companions: An exploratory study

Spontaneous imaginary companion (SIC) creation in childhood is a typical imaginative play behaviour associated with advanced sociocognitive skills; however, the direction of causality has not been established. To investigate this experimentally, researchers must determine whether children can create, on request, qualitatively equivalent imaginary companions (ICs) to those created spontaneously. We examined whether children could create ICs, and how these compared to SICs. Nine elementary school children were encouraged to create ICs in a 3-month intervention. Accounts of elicited ICs were compared with an age-matched sample of interviewees with SICs. Seven children maintained ICs for 6 months post intervention. Template analysis of IC interviews found four themes: Realistic Play, Multifaceted IC Mind, Utility of the IC, and Elicited IC Across Time. Analysis suggests elicited and SICs were similar in nature and utility, although intervention ICs tended to have animal rather than human appearances. Findings support the argument that children can be encouraged to create ICs similar to SICs

Individual and relational contributions to parallel and joint attention in infancy

Objective: This study examined the contributions of maternal bids for joint attention, relationship quality, and infant characteristics, to individual differences in infants’ parallel and joint attention. Method: Fifty-two 10-month-olds and their mothers were assessed in order to investigate concurrent predictors of infant parallel attention, responding to joint attention, and initiating joint attention. Results: Parallel attention was predicted by infants’ higher mental development, low expression of negative emotionality, and maternal entertaining behaviors. Responding to joint attention was marginally predicted by total maternal bids for joint attention. Initiating joint attention was predicted by the infants’ low expression of negative emotionality, as well as marginally predicted by fewer maternal teaching behaviors. Conclusion: These results further the understanding of the factors influencing infant parallel as well as joint attention.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Child and mother mental-state talk in shared pretense as predictors of children's social symbolic play abilities at age 3.

This study investigated relations between mother and child (N = 49) mental-state talk during shared pretense and children’s social symbolic play at age 3. Social symbolic play was not related to mothers’ mental-state talk. In contrast, children’s own use of desire-state talk in shared pretense was a better predictor of social symbolic play than their general use of mental-state talk, even after accounting for general verbal ability as well as mothers’ use of desires terms. Conclusion: These results highlight for the first time a link between children’s references to desires and their performance on social symbolic play at age 3 years – a social cognitive ability thought to precede theory of mind.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Are restricted and repetitive behaviours in two‐ and six‐year‐olds associated with emotional and behavioural difficulties?

Background: Restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour (RRBs) serve an adaptive role in development. Elevated levels of RRBs beyond the early years, however, are associated with poorer outcome in language, cognition, and wellbeing, and are seen across a range of neurodevelopmental conditions. This study aimed to characterize the association of distinct RRB subtypes at two and six years of age, with internalising and externalising difficulties in a community sample of children. Methods: 485 parents reported on their child's insistence on sameness (IS) and repetitive sensory and motor (RSM) RRBs at two and six years of age using the Repetitive Behaviour Questionnaire (RBQ‐2). Emotional and behavioural difficulties were measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) at age six. Results: Consistent with previous research, RRBs later in development better predicted emotional and behavioural difficulties at age six than RRBs earlier in development. Moreover, IS RRBs were selectively associated with internalising behaviours and RSM RRBs with externalising behaviours. Importantly, these selective associations depended on when RRBs were measured. Only IS RRBs at age six were significantly associated with internalising behaviour. By contrast, while more RSM RRBs at age six were associated with higher rates of externalising behaviours, higher rates of RSM RRBs at age two were associated with fewer externalising behaviours, adding further support to the previously reported adaptive role of RRBs in early behaviour regulation. Conclusion: Although there is a need for further research to provide a detailed profile of the adaptive periods for IS and RSM RRBs, the present findings support the potential utility of elevated RRBs as a signal for emotional and behavioural difficulties at age six

Proof of Concept of a Smartphone App to Support Delivery of an Intervention to Facilitate Mothers’ Mind-Mindedness

The present study reports on the first evaluation of a parenting intervention utilizing a smartphone app, BabyMind. The intervention aimed to facilitate mothers’ mind-mindedness—attunement to their infants’ internal states. Mothers in the intervention group (n=90) used the BabyMind app from their infants’ births and were followed up at age 6 months (n=66). Mothers in the control group (n=151) were recruited when their infants were age 6 months and had never used the BabyMind app. Mind-mindedness when interacting with their infants was significantly higher in intervention group mothers than in control group mothers. The intervention was equally effective in facilitating mind-mindedness in young and older mothers. These findings are discussed in terms of the potential for interventions utlizing smartphone apps to improve parenting and children’s developmental outcome in vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups

Verbal and non-verbal parental mentalizing profiles: distinct profiles, different effects on infant attachment

Recent research in child developmental psychology has shed light on the key role played by parents’ capacity to make sense and interpret accurately child’s mental states (i.e., cognition, emotions) – namely parental mentalizing – on the quality of parent-infant relationships. Despite this increasing interest, previous research has examined parental mentalizing as a unidimensional construct focusing on verbal and explicit processes (i.e., mind-mindedness, parental reflective functioning, PRF). A recent tendency to consider the multidimensional nature of parental mentalizing is observed in current research, particularly by considering the verbal and non-verbal (i.e., parental embodied mentalizing, PEM) dimensions of parental mentalizing (Gagné et al., 2021; Shai et al., 2017; Shai & Meins, 2018). Consistent with these recent developments, this symposium includes three presentations that highlights the unique and complementary roles of verbal and non-verbal parental mentalizing for the parent-infant relationship. First presentation identifies the unique contribution of PEM to the longitudinal prediction of toddlers’ cognitive and linguistic development above and beyond sensitivity and PRF. Based on data collected in three different countries (Canada, England, and Israel), the second presentation shows four distinct profiles of verbal and non-verbal parental mentalizing: Low, High, Good Enough, and Non-Attuned. When compared to the Low profiles, Good Enough, High, and Non-Attuned profiles were associated with distinct infant attachment security and disorganized patterns. The last presentation reveals that exposure to attachment-based intervention was linked to a greater level of parental mind-mindedness and sensitivity. Together, these presentations shed light on how parent ability to mentalize verbally and non-verbally contributes to parent-infant interaction

Parental mentalizing profiles : When distinct patterns of verbal and nonverbal parental mentalizing profiles are associated with different effects on infant attachment

In the last 50 years, researchers have been intrigued by uncovering mechanisms involved in the development of parent-child attachment security. Contemporary researchers have identified parental mentalizing as an important contributor of child attachment security. Although empirical studies and a meta-analysis have highlighted the role played by parental mentalizing on child attachment, most of the research thus far has focused on verbal and explicit processes involved in parental mentalizing. To deepen understanding the role played by parental mentalizing, some researchers have recently been interested in the relative contributions of these two dimensions, verbal (i.e., mind-mindedness) and nonverbal (i.e., parental embodied mentalizing, PEM) parental mentalizing. Current studies tend to support the unique role played by verbal and nonverbal dimensions particularly on infant attachment security. However, how verbal and nonverbal parental mentalizing interact with one another on the individual level, and subsequently, how they relate to the parent-infant attachment relationship remains largely unknown. Using a person-centered approach, this study aimed to identify verbal and nonverbal mentalizing profiles and their associations with infant attachment (security and disorganization). Based on longitudinal studies from three different countries (Canada, United Kingdom, and Israel), the sample of this study included 412 mothers-infant dyads. Mind-mindedness (verbal) and PEM (nonverbal) were assessed based on observations made during a 15-minutes mother-infant interactions free play interactions when the infants were 6 to 8 months old according to two distinct observational procedures. Infant attachment security and disorganized were measured using The Strange Situation Procedure at 16 months. Through latent profile analyses, three distinct profiles based on verbal and nonverbal parental mentalizing profiles were identified (low consistent, high consistent, and inconsistent). Results showed that the low consistent profile, compared to high consistent or inconsistent one, had distinct associations regarding infant attachment security. Infant whose parents were in the low consistent-profile present more disorganization compared to high consistent-profile. To our knowledge, this study is the first to explore parental mentalizing profile based on verbal and nonverbal parental mentalizing and their associations with infant attachment. Our results thus highlight the importance of considering both aspects parental mentalization within the parent-infant relationship

Translation and preliminary validation of a Korean version of the parental reflective functioning questionnaire

This study aimed to explore the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a Korean translation of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ). The PRFQ consists of three subscales: prementalizing modes , certainty about mental states , and interest and curiosity in mental states . A convenience sample of 163 Korean parents completed the K‐PRFQ. Exploratory factor analysis showed three factors mapped on to the original PRFQ factors, but items from the original prementalizing modes subscale clustered into two additional factors. Data from a subsample (n = 67) showed that the certainty about mental states and interest and curiosity in mental states subscales correlated positively with more optimal self‐reported parenting. We discuss the validity of using the PRFQ in collectivistic culture

Between Will and Thought: Individualism and Social Responsiveness in Amazonian Child Rearing

This essay provides an ethnographic account of how moral dispositions towards independence and social responsiveness are forged during infancy and toddlerhood among the Runa, an indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I will show how two local concepts, munay (will) and yuyay (thought) shape children’s early experiences of the self and the self in relation to others. In particular, I will argue that, unlike middle class Anglo-Americans who repute paternal responsiveness to be necessary for a “healthy” child development, Runa adults strategically chose not to respond to children’s will in order to make them “thoughtful”. Such state of thoughtfulness, I argue, emerges from socialization practices which stress a child’s unique will while at the same time forcefully encourage the development of social responsiveness