Suggested Reading

Aber, J. L., Belsky, J., Slade, A., & Crnic, K. (1999). Stability and change in mothers’ representations of their relationship with their toddlers. Developmental Psychology, 35(4), 1038-1047.

Aber, J. L., Slade, A., Berger, B., Bresgi, I., & Kaplan, M. (1985). The Parent Development Interview [Unpublished manuscript]. Add Department, University, Location.Bateman, A., & Fonagy, P. (2016). Mentalization-based treatment for personality disorders: A practical guide. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Benbassat, N., & Priel, B. (2012). Parenting and adolescent adjustment: The role of parental reflective function. Journal of Adolescence, 35(1), 163-174.

Berthelot, N., Ensink, K., Bernazzani, O., Normandin, L., Luyten, P., & Fonagy, P. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of attachment in abused and neglected mothers: The role of trauma‐specific reflective functioning. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36(2), 200-212.

Berthelot, N., Lemieux, R., Garon-Bissonnette, J., Lacharité, C., & Muzik, M. (2019). The protective role of mentalizing: Reflective functioning as a mediator between child maltreatment, psychopathology and parental attitude in expecting parents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 95, Article 104065.

Borelli, J. L., Cohen, C., Pettit, C., Normandin, L., Target, M., Fonagy, P., & Ensink, K. (2019). Maternal and child sexual abuse history: An intergenerational exploration of children’s adjustment and maternal trauma-reflective functioning. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 1062.

Borelli, J. L., St. John, H. K., Cho, E., & Suchman, N. E. (2016). Reflective functioning in parents of school-aged children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 86(1), 24-36.

Cooper, A., & Redfern, S. (2015). Reflective parenting: A guide to understanding what’s going on in your child’s mind. Routledge.

Crumbley, A. H. (2009). The relationship specificity of the reflective function: An empirical investigation [Unpublished dissertation]. City University of New York, New York, NY.

Enav, Y., Erhard-Weiss, D., Goldenberg, A., Knudston, M., Hardan, A. Y., & Gross, J. J. (2020). Contextual determinants of parental reflective functioning: Children with autism versus their typically developing siblings. Autism, 1362361320908096.

Ensink, K., Bégin, M., Normandin, L., & Fonagy, P. (2016). Maternal and child reflective functioning in the context of child sexual abuse: Pathways to depression and externalising difficulties. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 7(1), 30611.

Ensink, K., Bégin, M., Normandin, L., & Fonagy, P. (2017). Parental reflective functioning as a moderator of child internalizing difficulties in the context of child sexual abuse. Psychiatry Research, 257, 361-366.

Ensink, K., Berthelot, N., Bernazzani, O., Normandin, L., & Fonagy, P. (2014). Another step closer to measuring the ghosts in the nursery: Preliminary validation of the Trauma Reflective Functioning Scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, Article 1471.

Ensink, K., Borelli, J. L., Roy, J., Normandin, L., Slade, A., & Fonagy, P. (2019). Costs of not getting to know you: Lower levels of parental reflective functioning confer risk for maternal insensitivity and insecure infant attachment. Infancy, 24(2), 210-227.

Ensink, K., Leroux, A., Normandin, L., Biberdzic, M., & Fonagy, P. (2017). Assessing reflective parenting in interaction with school-aged children. Journal of Personality Assessment, 99(6), 585-595.

Håkansson, U., Söderström, K., Watten, R., Skårderud, F., & Øie, M. G. (2018). Parental reflective functioning and executive functioning in mothers with substance use disorder. Attachment & Human Development, 20(2), 181-207.

Håkansson, U., Watten, R., Söderström, K., Skårderud, F., & Øie, M. G. (2018). Adverse and adaptive childhood experiences are associated with parental reflective functioning in mothers with substance use disorder. Child Abuse & Neglect, 81, 259-273.

Huber, A., McMahon, C. A., & Sweller, N. (2015). Efficacy of the 20-week COS Intervention: Changes in caregiver reflective functioning, representations, and child attachment in an Australian clinical sample. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36(6), 556-574.

Huth-Bocks, A. C., Muzik, M., Beeghly, M., Earls, L., & Stacks, A. M. (2014). Secure base scripts are associated with maternal parenting behavior across contexts and reflective functioning among trauma-exposed mothers. Attachment & Human Development, 16(6), 535-556.

Ilardi, M. (2010). Maternal mentalization and child psychosocial adaptation for children with learning and behavioral disorders. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, City University of New York, New York, New York.

Jessee, A. (2020). Associations between maternal reflective functioning, parenting beliefs, nurturing, and preschoolers’ emotion understanding. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(11), 3020-3028.

Kilbride, A., Terry, M., Lyons-Ruth, K., & Slade, A. (2020). Pervasively unintegrated, highly defended/helpless states of mind on the Parent Development Interview: A classification and coding manual [Unpublished manuscript]. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT.

Kim, S. (2015). The mind in the making: Developmental and neurobiological origins of mentalizing. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 6(4), 356-365.

Kim, P., Strathearn, L., & Swain, J. E. (2016). The maternal brain and its plasticity in humans. Hormones and Behavior, 77, 113-123.

Kolomeyer, E., Renk, K., Cunningham, A., Lowell, A., & Khan, M. (2016). Mothers’ adverse childhood experiences and negative parenting behaviors: Connecting mothers’ difficult pasts to present parenting behavior via reflective functioning. Zero to Three, 37(1), 5-12.

Krink, S., Muehlhan, C., Luyten, P., Romer, G., & Ramsauer, B. (2018). Parental reflective functioning affects sensitivity to distress in mothers with postpartum depression. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(5), 1671-1681.

Leroux, J., Terradas, M. M., & Grenier, C. (2017). Mothers’ prementalizing psychic functioning and reactive attachment disorder: Two clinical cases. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 16(1), 60-72.

Levy, D. W. (2004). The impact of prenatal cocaine use on maternal reflective functioning. [Unpublished dissertation]. City University of New York, New York, NY.

Luyten, P., & Fonagy, P. (2015). The neurobiology of mentalizing. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 6(4), 366-379.

Luyten, P., Mayes, L. C., Nijssens, L., & Fonagy, P. (2017). The Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire: Development and preliminary validation. PLoS ONE, 12(5), Article e0176218.

Luyten, P., Mayes, L. C., Sadler, L., Fonagy, P., Nicholls, S., Crowley, M., & Slade, A. (2009). The parental reflective functioning questionnaire-1 (PRFQ-1) [Unpublished manuscript]. University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Luyten, P., Nijssens, L., Fonagy, P., & Mayes, L. C. (2017). Parental reflective functioning: Theory, research, and clinical applications. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 70(1), 174-199.

Midgley, N., Ensink, K., Lindqvist, K., Malberg, N., & Muller, N. (2017). Mentalization-based treatment for children: A time-limited approach. American Psychological Association.

Mikic, N., & Terradas, M. M. (2018). Understanding maternal mentalizing capacity and attachment representations of children with reactive attachment disorder: Two case illustrations. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 35(2), 260.

Nijssens, L., Vliegen, N., & Luyten, P. (2020). The mediating role of parental reflective functioning in child social–emotional development. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(8), 2342-2354.

Pally, R. (2017). The reflective parent: How to do less and relate more with your kids. W. W. Norton & Company.

Pajulo, M., Pyykkönen, N., Kalland, M., Sinkkonen, J., Helenius, H., Punamäki, R. L., & Suchman, N. (2012). Substance‐abusing mothers in residential treatment with their babies: Importance of pre‐and postnatal maternal reflective functioning. Infant Mental Health Journal, 33(1), 70-81.

Pajulo, M., Tolvanen, M., Karlsson, L., Halme‐Chowdhury, E., Öst, C., Luyten, P., Mayes, L., & Karlsson, H. (2015). The prenatal parental reflective functioning questionnaire: Exploring factor structure and construct validity of a new measure in The Finn Brain birth cohort pilot study. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36(4), 399-414.

Pajulo, M., Tolvanen, M., Pyykkönen, N., Karlsson, L., Mayes, L., & Karlsson, H. (2018). Exploring parental mentalization in postnatal phase with a self-report questionnaire (PRFQ): Factor structure, gender differences and association with sociodemographic factors. The Finn brain birth cohort study. Psychiatry Research, 262, 431-439.

Pajulo, M., Suchman, N., Kalland, M., & Mayes, L. (2006). Enhancing the effectiveness of residential treatment for substance abusing pregnant and parenting women: Focus on maternal reflective functioning and mother‐child relationship. Infant Mental Health Journal, 27(5), 448-465.

Pazzagli, C., Germani, A., Buratta, L., Luyten, P., & Mazzeschi, C. (2019). Childhood obesity and parental reflective functioning: Is there a relation? International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 19(3), 209-217.

Pazzagli, C., Delvecchio, E., Raspa, V., Mazzeschi, C., & Luyten, P. (2018). The parental reflective functioning questionnaire in mothers and fathers of school-aged children. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(1), 80-90.

Poznansky, O. (2010). Stability and change in maternal reflective functioning in early childhood. [Unpublished dissertation]. City University of New York, New York, NY.

Rostad, W. L., & Whitaker, D. J. (2016). The association between reflective functioning and parent–child relationship quality. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(7), 2164-2177.

Rutherford, H. J., Booth, C. R., Luyten, P., Bridgett, D. J., & Mayes, L. C. (2015). Investigating the association between parental reflective functioning and distress tolerance in motherhood. Infant Behavior and Development, 40, 54-63.

Rutherford, H. J., Byrne, S. P., Crowley, M. J., Bornstein, J., Bridgett, D. J., & Mayes, L. C. (2018). Executive functioning predicts reflective functioning in mothers. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(3), 944-952.

Rutherford, H. J., Maupin, A. N., Landi, N., Potenza, M. N., & Mayes, L. C. (2017). Parental reflective functioning and the neural correlates of processing infant affective cues. Social Neuroscience, 12(5), 519-529.

Sadler, L. S., Novick, G., & Meadows-Oliver, M. (2016). “Having a baby changes everything”: Reflective functioning in pregnant adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 31(3), S219-S231

San Cristobal, P., Santelices, M. P., & Miranda Fuenzalida, D. A. (2017). Manifestation of trauma: The effect of early traumatic experiences and adult attachment on parental reflective functioning. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 449.

Schechter, D. S., Coots, T., Zeanah, C. H., Davies, M., Coates, S. W., Trabka, K. A., Marshall, R. D., Liebowitz, M. R., & Myers, M. M. (2005). Maternal mental representations of the child in an inner-city clinical sample: Violence-related posttraumatic stress and reflective functioning. Attachment & Human Development, 7(3), 313-331.

Schultheis, A. M., Mayes, L. C., & Rutherford, H. J. (2019). Associations between emotion regulation and parental reflective functioning. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 28(4), 1094-1104.

Slade, A. (2002). Keeping the baby in mind. Zero to Three, 6, 10-15.

Slade, A. (2003). The Pregnancy Interview [Unpublished manuscript]. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT.

Slade, A. (2005). Parental reflective functioning: An introduction. Attachment & Human Development, 7(3), 269-281.

Slade, A. (2007). Reflective parenting programs: Theory and development. Psychoanalytic Inquiry, 26(4), 640-657.

Slade, A. (2017). The Pregnancy Interview for Fathers [Unpublished manuscript]. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT.

Slade, A., Aber, J. L., Berger, B., Bresgi, I., & Kaplan, M. (2004). Parent Development Interview – Revised [Unpublished manuscript]. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT.

Slade, A., Belsky, J., Aber, J. L., & Phelps, J. L. (1999). Mothers’ representations of their relationships with their toddlers: Links to adult attachment and observed mothering. Developmental Psychology, 35(3), 611-619.

Slade, A., Bernbach, E., Grienenberger, J., Levy, D., & Locker, A. (2004). Manual for scoring reflective functioning on the Parent Development Interview [Unpublished manuscript]. Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Slade, A., Grienenberger, J., Bernbach, E., Levy, D., & Locker, A. (2005). Maternal reflective functioning, attachment, and the transmission gap: A preliminary study. Attachment & Human Development, 7(3), 283-298.

Slade, A., Patterson, M., & Miller, M. (2004). Addendum to Reflective Functioning Scoring Manual for use with the Pregnancy Interview [Unpublished manuscript]. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT.

Sleed, M., Isosavi, S., & Fonagy, P. (2021).  The assessment of relational risk: Development and psychometric properties of a new coding system for assessing risk in the parent–infant relationship.  Infant Mental Health Journal.

Sleed, M., Slade, A., & Fonagy, P. (2018). Reflective Functioning on the Parent Development Interview: validity and reliability in relation to socio-demographic factors. Attachment & Human Development, 22(3), 310-331.Smaling, H. J., Huijbregts, S. C., Suurland, J., Van Der Heijden, K. B., Van Goozen, S. H., & Swaab, H. (2015). Prenatal reflective functioning in primiparous women with a high‐risk profile. Infant Mental Health Journal, 36(3), 251-261.

Smaling, H. J., Huijbregts, S. C., Suurland, J., van der Heijden, K. B., Mesman, J., van Goozen, S. H., & Swaab, H. (2016). Prenatal reflective functioning and accumulated risk as predictors of maternal interactive behavior during free play, the still‐face paradigm, and two teaching tasks. Infancy, 21(6), 766-784.

Smaling, H. J., Huijbregts, S. C. J., Van der Heijden, K. B., Van Goozen, S. H. M., & Swaab, H. (2016). Maternal reflective functioning as a multidimensional construct: Differential associations with children’s temperament and externalizing behavior. Infant Behavior and Development, 44, 263-274.

Smaling, H. A., Huijbregts, S. C. J., Van der Heijden, K. B., Hay, D. F., Van Goozen, S. H. M., & Swaab, H. (2017). Prenatal reflective functioning and development of aggression in infancy: The roles of maternal intrusiveness and sensitivity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 45(2), 237-248.

Stacks, A. M., Barron, C. C., & Wong, K. (2019). Infant mental health home visiting in the context of an infant—toddler court team: Changes in parental responsiveness and reflective functioning. Infant Mental Health Journal, 40(4), 523-540.

Stacks, A. M., Muzik, M., Wong, K., Beeghly, M., Huth-Bocks, A., Irwin, J. L., & Rosenblum, K. L. (2014). Maternal reflective functioning among mothers with childhood maltreatment histories: Links to sensitive parenting and infant attachment security. Attachment & Human Development, 16(5), 515-533.

Steele, M., Kaniuk, J., Hodges, J., Asquith, K., Hillman, S., & Steele, H. (2008). Measuring mentalization across contexts: Links between representations of childhood and representations of parenting in an adoption sample. In E. L. Jurist, A. Slade, & S. Bergner (Eds.), Mind to mind: Infant research, neuroscience, and psychoanalysis (pp. 115-138). Other Press.

Steele, H., & Steele, M. (2008). On the origins of reflective functioning. In F. Busch (Ed.), Mentalization: Theoretical considerations, research findings, and clinical implications (pp. 133-158). Analytic Books.

Stover, C. S., & Kiselica, A. (2014). An initial examination of the association of reflective functioning to parenting of fathers. Infant Mental Health Journal, 35(5), 452-461.

Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C., Borelli, J. L., & McMahon, T. J. (2018). Does improvement in maternal attachment representations predict greater maternal sensitivity, child attachment security and lower rates of relapse to substance use? A second test of Mothering from the Inside Out treatment mechanisms. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 85, 21-30.

Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C., Castiglioni, N., McMahon, T. J., Rounsaville, B., & Mayes, L. (2010). The Mothers and Toddlers Program, an attachment-based parenting intervention for substance using women: Post-treatment results from a randomized clinical pilot. Attachment & Human Development, 12(5), 483-504.

Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C., Leigh, D., & Borelli, J. (2010). Reflective functioning in mothers with drug use disorders: Implications for dyadic interactions with infants and toddlers. Attachment & Human Development, 12(6), 567-585.

Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C. L., McMahon, T. J., Dalton, R., Mayes, L. C., & Borelli, J. (2017). Mothering From the Inside Out: Results of a second randomized clinical trial testing a mentalization-based intervention for mothers in addiction treatment. Development and Psychopathology, 29(2), 617-636.

Suchman, N. E., DeCoste, C., McMahon, T. J., Rounsaville, B., & Mayes, L. (2011). The mothers and toddlers program, an attachment‐based parenting intervention for substance‐using women: Results at 6‐week follow‐up in a randomized clinical pilot. Infant Mental Health Journal, 32(4), 427-449.

Suchman, N. E., Decoste, C., Rosenberger, P., & McMahon, T. J. (2012). Attachment‐based intervention for substance‐using mothers: A preliminary test of the proposed mechanisms of change. Infant Mental Health Journal, 33(4), 360-371.

Suchman, N. E., Ordway, M. R., de Las Heras, L., & McMahon, T. J. (2016). Mothering from the Inside Out: results of a pilot study testing a mentalization-based therapy for mothers enrolled in mental health services. Attachment & Human Development, 18(6), 596-617.

Terry, M., Finger, B., Lyons‐Ruth, K., Sadler, L. S., & Slade, A. (2021). Hostile/Helpless maternal representations in pregnancy and later child removal: A pilot study. Infant Mental Health Journal, 42(1), 60-73.

Wong, K., Stacks, A. M., Rosenblum, K. L., & Muzik, M. (2017). Parental reflective functioning moderates the relationship between difficult temperament in infancy and behavior problems in toddlerhood. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 63(1), 54-76.

Yatziv, T., Kessler, Y., & Atzaba-Poria, N. (2020). When do mothers’ executive functions contribute to their representations of their child’s mind? A contextual view on parental reflective functioning and mind-mindedness. Developmental Psychology, 56(6), 1191-1206.