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Mentalization and Parenting: Preliminary Validation of the Parent Development Interview-Brief (PDI-B): Optimizing the Assessment of Parental Reflective Functioning

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Parental Reflective Functioning is considered a critical variable, both for the exercise of parenthood and for child development. For some years now, there has been a need for sufficiently sensitive and effective instruments to explore and evaluate Parental Reflective Functioning. This preliminary study presents the construction and validation of a short version of the Parent Development Interview-Revised, which we call Parent Development Interview-Brief. The main objective of this abbreviation is to maintain the semi-structured nature of the interview while decreasing the time needed to administer it. A multicenter and cross-sectional study with a normative sample of 60 mothers of children under five years of age with normotypical development is presented. To analyze the criterion validity of the Parent Development Interview-Brief, participants completed the Cuestionario de Apego Adulto [Adult Attachment Questionnaire] and the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form. The psychometric qualities of the new instrument are discussed, as well as the need for sufficiently sensitive, reliable, and effective tools to tap Parental Reflective Functioning for use in clinical contexts and research.
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Contemporary Family Therapy
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-024-09730-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Mentalization andParenting: Preliminary Validation oftheParent
Development InterviewBrief (PDI‑B): Optimizing theAssessment
ofParental Reflective Functioning
MartaGolanó1 · LeireGordo2· CarlosPitillas3· LeireIriarte2· InésArambúru1· AmaiaHalty3
Accepted: 20 December 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2025
Abstract
Parental Reflective Functioning is considered a critical variable, both for the exercise of parenthood and for child develop-
ment. For some years now, there has been a need for sufficiently sensitive and effective instruments to explore and evaluate
Parental Reflective Functioning. This preliminary study presents the construction and validation of a short version of the
Parent Development Interview-Revised, which we call Parent Development Interview-Brief. The main objective of this
abbreviation is to maintain the semi-structured nature of the interview while decreasing the time needed to administer it. A
multicenter and cross-sectional study with a normative sample of 60 mothers of children under five years of age with normo-
typical development is presented. To analyze the criterion validity of the Parent Development Interview-Brief, participants
completed the Cuestionario de Apego Adulto [Adult Attachment Questionnaire] and the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form.
The psychometric qualities of the new instrument are discussed, as well as the need for sufficiently sensitive, reliable, and
effective tools to tap Parental Reflective Functioning for use in clinical contexts and research.
Keywords Mentalization· Parental reflective functioning· Parental mentalization· Parent development interview·
Parenting
Introduction
The human capacity to represent and envision the men-
tal states underlying an interactive sequence between two
subjects is called mentalization (Fonagy, Steele & Steele,
1991; Fonagy & Target, 1997; Fonagy etal., 2002). Paren-
tal mentalization refers to the parent’s capacity to envision
the child’s mental states at a particular developmental stage
(Slade, 1996, 2005, 2009; Slade etal., 1999, 2005). The cru-
cial relevance of parental mentalization lies in its profound
impact on the development of the child’s psyche through
moment-to-moment interactions, as has been widely evi-
denced (Barlow etal., 2020; Berthelot etal., 2019; Borelli
etal., 2019; Camoirano, 2017). Parents’ ability to mentalize
the child’s behavior by facilitating a sensitive and contin-
gent response to the child’s needs. When children feel under-
stood and validated by their parents or primary caregivers,
the foundations are established for developing a coherent
and regulated sense of self (Barlow etal., 2020; Midgely &
Vrouva, 2013; Sleed & Fonagy, 2010; Sleed etal., 2020).
To date, one of the best operationalizations of parental
mentalization is Parental Reflective Functioning (PRF),
which is assessed through parents’ narrative or explicit ver-
bal discourse about themselves as parents and their current
interaction with their child (Bateman & Fonagy, 2012; Fon-
agy etal., 1991; Grienenberger etal., 2005; Slade, 2005).
Parental mentalization can also be assessed by observing
parent-child interactive behavior, and thus embodied men-
talization (Shai & Meins, 2018; Shai etal., 2017) or, through
parent’s spontaneous descriptions of the child’s mental states
in interaction, parental mind-mindedness (Arnott & Meins,
2008; Meins etal., 2001).
* Marta Golanó
mgolano@iusmvb.url.edu
1 Instituto Universitario de Salud Mental Vidal i Barraquer
Universidad Ramon Llull, C. Sant Gervasi de Cassoles,
88–90, 08022Barcelona, Spain
2 Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Deusto,
Avenida Universidades, 24, 48007Bilbao, Spain
3 University Institute ofFamily Studies Pontifical Comillas
University, MADRID, Spain
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