Precursors and Effects of Self-reported Parental Reflective Functioning: Links to Parental Attachment Representations and Behavioral Sensitivity.

ABSTRACT: Parental reflective functioning is thought to provide a missing link between caregivers' own attachment histories and their ensuing parenting behaviors. The current study sought to extend research on this association involving 115 parents, both mothers and fathers, of 5-to-6-year-old preschoolers using the German version of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ). Our study was the first to combine Adult Attachment Interview classifications of parental attachment, behavioral observations of parental sensitivity and PRFQ ratings while drawing on a sizable father subsample. We found theoretically consistent significant relations between all measures, while our results particularly highlighted the role of dismissing attachment for decreases in parenting quality on both cognit

SUBMITTER: Kungl MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12628443 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature