Attachment Representations and Mentalizing in Middle Childhood Across One Year: A Preliminary Pilot Longitudinal Study

This 3-wave short-term longitudinal exploratory pilot study aimed to investigate the stability of both children's attachment (Attachment Narrative Coherence [ANC]) and mentalizing (Reflective Functioning [RF]) and to explore the possible role played by children's mentalizing in promoting attachment security over 1 year. Italian children (N = 22, M age = 11.30, SD = 2.24) recruited from low-income families in the community completed the Child Attachment Interview at three time points: baseline (Time 1), after 3 months (Time 2), and after 12 months (Time 3). The interviews were coded to assess both ANC and RF. The Verbal Comprehension Index was also assessed. The findings show significant temporal stability of both ANC and RF over 1 year. The cross-lagged regression model revealed that ANC was not a significant predictor of RF at both Time 1 and Time 2; while RF at baseline significantly predicted ANC at Time 2. These findings suggest that children's capacity to mentalize and think about themselves and their relationships with attachment figures in mental state terms facilitates their ANC, an indicator associated with attachment security. 本研究是三波短程纵向探索性初步研究,旨在探讨儿童依恋(依恋叙事一致性,ANC)和心智化(思考功能,RF)的稳定性, 并探索一年多时间里儿童的心智化在促进依恋安全性方面可能起到的作用。来自社区的低收入家庭的意大利儿童(N = 22, Mage = 11.30, SD = 2.24)在三个时间点完成了儿童依恋访谈:基线(时间1),三个月后(时间2)和十二个月后(时间3)。访谈分为对ANC和RF的评估。言语理解指数也被评估。结果表明,在超过一年的时间内ANC和RF均具有显著的时间稳定性。交叉滞后回归模型显示在时间1和时间2,ANC都不是RF的显著预测因子;而RF在基线时间显著预测了在时间2的ANC。这些发现表明,心理状态术语中儿童的心智化和思考自身的能力以及它们与依恋对象的关系有助于他们的ANC, 这是一个与依恋安全性相关的指标。