Niveles en los posicionamientos iniciales (TP1 y TP2)

Maternal depression has been linked to mothers experiencing distorted perceptions of their children’s behaviour (Fergusson, Horwood, Gretton, & Shannon, 1985; Field, 1992). Research into mind-mindedness has investigated whether the key symptoms of depression might have an effect on mothers’ ability to accurately read their infants’ internal states and respond appropriately (Lok & McMahon, 2006; Lundy, 2003; Pawlby et al., 2010; Walker et al., 2011). The participants in the Meins et al. study (2011) previously mentioned were from the general community and most reported minimal levels of depression. Therefore, when looking more closely at mother-centred factors, specifically whether women’s psychological state might be linked to levels of mind-mindedness, one might expect stronger effects in a clinical population. Pawlby et al. (2010) investigated this specific issue, looking at mind- mindedness and maternal responsiveness in infant-mother interactions with a community and a clinical sample, hypothesising a link between mothers with severe mental illness (SMI) and lower levels of mind-mindedness. Healthy mothers and infants were compared with mothers hospitalised with SMI including those given a diagnosis of schizophrenia or mood disorders with depression or predominantly mania. On admission, there was a trend for depressed mothers to be less likely to make appropriate comments on their infants’ internal states although this was not observed at discharge. There were also no group differences found in mothers’ tendency to make non-attuned comments. Overall, scant support was found for the prediction that mothers with SMI would show lower levels of mind-mindedness. Meins et al. (2011) subsequently interpreted Pawlby et al.’s findings, that mothers with SMI are able to respond appropriately to their infants’ cues, as providing support for mind-mindedness being a relational construct as mothers’ psychological state appeared not to be strongly related to levels of mind-mindedness. That said, it also does not rule out the possibility that mind-mindedness is a cognitive-

behavioural trait which is not influenced by mothers’ psychological state or these specific conditions.

However, the existing data regarding relations between mind-mindedness and mothers’ psychological state are equivocal. Other studies have demonstrated a link between maternal mind-mindedness and depression in community samples. Lundy (2003) modified the Meins et al. (2001) interactional measure coding scheme by categorising parents’ comments regarding their infants into one of five categories: 1) general thought processes, knowledge or desires; 2) mental processes concerned

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with task completion or problem solving; 3) emotional engagement; 4) attempts to manipulate other people’s thoughts; and 5) speaking from the infants’ perspective. The authors found that in an interaction with their 6-month-old infants, mothers with more depressive symptoms, measured by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies’ Depression scale (CES-D; Radloff, 1977), commented less frequently on one of these categories of mind-mindedness: infants’ general thought processes. It is noteworthy though that Lundy only looked at appropriate mind-related comments made by the mother and did not include non-attuned mind-related comments in analysis. Therefore, the relationship between mothers’ depression and a failure in their attunement to infants’ internal states was not examined. Also, out of the five mind-related categories observed, only one of these categories, appropriate thought-related comments, was negatively correlated with depressive symptoms. Further evidence adding to the mixed findings concerning mind-mindedness and the maternal factor of depression was found in a study by Lok and McMahon (2006). This measured mothers’ mind-mindedness with 4-year-old children using the representational measure and mothers’ depressive symptoms using the CES-D. The authors found that mind-mindedness was modestly related to maternal depressive symptoms with depressed mothers producing a smaller proportion of mind-related comments.

Socio-demographic factors may influence how mothers talk to their children and interact with them which may then affect children’s understanding of thoughts and feelings. Supporting this, mothers’ education (Cutting & Dunn, 1999, Meins & Fernyhough, 1999) and parental occupational class (Cutting & Dunn, 1999) have been found to correlate with children’s theory of mind performance. Consequently, research into mind-mindedness has looked at potential links with certain socio- demographic variables, in particular mothers’ SES and education, often to help control for possible confounding effects when investigating whether mind- mindedness correlates with children’s mentalising abilities. These findings can contribute to the discussion as to whether maternal mind-mindedness should be viewed as a cognitive-behavioural trait in the mother because if so, it should not be related to factors such as maternal education or SES. Indeed, fairly consistently mothers’ mind-mindedness indexed by the representational measure (Meins & Fernyhough, 1999; Walker et al., 2011) and by the interactional measure (Meins et al., 2002, 2011) has been found not to be related to maternal education; and mind- mindedness indexed by the representational measure (Meins et al., 1998; Walker et

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al., 2011) and by the interactional measure (Meins et al., 2013) has also been found to be unrelated to SES.

Interestingly though, relations between mind-mindedness and socio-demographic variables have been found in some studies. Meins et al. (2011) showed that appropriate mind-related comments in a socially diverse sample of 8 month infant- mother dyads, were positively correlated with SES, albeit with a small effect size. The authors suggested this finding meant that mothers’ mind-mindedness was not strongly related to their social background. In addition, Rosenblum, McDonough, Sameroff, and Muzik (2008) found that the frequency of mothers’ appropriate mind- related comments made with their 7-month-old infants was positively correlated with maternal education levels. However, a methodological issue regarding Rosenblum and colleagues’ measurement of mind-mindedness might, in part, be responsible for the relationship found. Mind-mindedness was based on mothers’ comments made during a 3-minute free-play episode and two 3-minute teaching tasks whereas Meins and Fernyhough (2010) advised that they have typically observed mind- mindedness during a 20-minute free play session. It is possible that some social contexts may provide more opportunities than others for the production of mind- related comments in the same way that maternal internal state language has been found to differ across contexts (Beeghly, Bretherton, & Mervis,1986). Also, different situations, specifically task constraints, have been shown to affect the quantity and quality of mothers’ speech (Gelman & Shatz, 1977). Therefore, the relationship between mind-mindedness and maternal education might have been influenced by these different tasks requiring the mothers to teach the children. In addition, the study might be less representative of mothers’ mind-mindedness due to the shorter observational time period than that generally employed in research investigating mind-mindedness.

In summary, evidence so far has tended to show that mothers’ mind-mindedness is not strongly or consistently related to their social background, suggesting that mind- mindedness is not being heavily or consistently governed by general social factors. Mothers’ mind-mindedness could be either a maternal trait or influenced by the relationship with a particular child, regardless of their social background, occupation or years spent in the education system.

Mothers’ personality and empathy have also been considered as potential maternal traits which may influence maternal mind-mindedness. Illingworth and MacLean

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(2011) conducted a study with 25 mothers with children aged between 3- and 8- years-old using the representational measure of mind-mindedness. The study investigated whether maternal mind-mindedness might be an aspect of a mother’s socio-cognitive style, influenced by personality factors or related to mothers’ empathising ability. Maternal personality, specifically the traits of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, openness and conscientiousness, was assessed using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1991). Empathy, the intuitive ability to understand other people’s mental states and to respond in an emotionally appropriate way, was investigated due to its promising commonality with mind-mindedness regarding the perception of others’ internal states. Maternal empathy was assessed using The Empathy Quotient (EQ; Baron-Cohen &

Wheelwright, 2004). No association was found between maternal mind-mindedness and mothers’ self-reported personality traits or empathy. None of the traits

investigated were found to preclude a mother from being mind-minded nor to increase the likelihood of a mother being more mind-minded.

Given the mixed findings concerning whether mind-mindedness is potentially related to factors within the mother, this thesis focuses on a variable which has not been examined in previous research but, due to how mind-mindedness is defined, may be promising as a possible correlate. The literature stresses that maternal mind- mindedness refers to a mother’s WHQGHQF\to treat her child as a “mental agent”, a

SURSHQVLW\ to treat her infant as an individual with a mind, and a SURFOLYLW\ to use

mental state terms in her speech (Meins, 1997); and that mind-mindedness is a

SURFOLYLW\ to use an understanding of other people’s internal states to describe and

explain their behaviour (Meins et al., 2008). By definition, this focuses on mind- mindedness being a general tendency or inclination in the mother to read behaviour in light of the internal states which might be shaping this behaviour. This led to an exploration of mothers’ psychological mindedness as a possible correlate of mind- mindedness. Psychological mindedness refers to mothers’ tendency to think about psychological factors while explaining events and people’s behaviour. If mind- mindedness is indeed a cognitive-behavioural trait, it may be part of a more general tendency in the mother to consider psychological factors in everyday life. It may be that mothers with high levels of mind-mindedness generally consider the internal states underpinning other people’s behaviour. The background and development of a new measure looking at psychological mindedness will be examined in Chapter 6.

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