Developmental origins of reflective functioning in adoptive children.

Over the past decades, the interest in reflective functioning (RF) or mentalizing has enormously increased. RF refers to capacity to understand and reflect upon ones own and others expressions and behaviors in terms of thoughts, intentions, feelings and desires. Studies have shown that impairments in this capacity play a key role in a number of disorders that involve pathology of the self, such as borderline personality disorder. To date, however, there are only a handful of studies that have focused on the developmental origins of RF. Existing studies have typically focused on parental features (such as attachment) only, while it is clear that child features may also influence the intergenerational transmission of RF, either alone or in interaction with parental features. One important child factor that may influence the development of RF is effortful control (EC), referring to basic temperamental self-regulating capacities such as attentional focusing and inhibitory control. This study focuses on the intergenerational transmission of RF using semi-structured interviews and experimental measures to prospectively investigate potential reciprocal relationships among parental RF and child EC and RF as part of a broader study of the socio-emotional development of adoptive children, the Leuven Adoption Study (LAS).

Keywords:Reflective functioning, Mentalizing, Attachment, Effortful control, Developmental psychology

Disciplines:Psychiatry and psychotherapy, Nursing, Other paramedical sciences, Clinical and counselling psychology, Other psychology and cognitive sciences