ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Human Developmental Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1582698
One and one makes three - mothers' and fathers' attachment, mentalizing and parenting sensitivity
Provisionally accepted
Selina Ismair1,2*
Antonia Dinzinger1,2Gabriela Markova1,2Jonas Schropp3Karl Heinz Brisch1,4Wolfgang Sperl2Beate Priewasser1,2- 1Institute for Early Life Care, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
- 2Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Salzburg, Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
- 3Inselspital University Hospital Bern, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- 4Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Bavaria, Germany
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Objective: This study aims to explore how maternal and paternal attachment representations and their reflective functioning (RF), as operationalization of their mentalizing abilities, influence each other's parental sensitivity within a family systems perspective.Background: Parental sensitivity is crucial for a child's development, and both parental secure attachment and RF are known to enhance sensitive caregiving. However, the impact of one parent's traits and skills on the other's parenting remains unclear.Method: In a longitudinal, multi-method study of N = 40 first-time families, including 40 fathers, mothers and their infants each, we assessed parental attachment and general RF during pregnancy using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). RF was measured twice, as general RF during pregnancy using the RF scale on the AAI,, and as parental RF when infants were 6 months using the RF scale on the Parent Development Interview. Parental RF was measured postnatally with the Parent Development Interview, andAdditionally, parental sensitivity was observed using the Emotional Availability Scales when children were 6 months old. To investigate associations between parental measures, we employed an actorpartner interdependence model.To investigate associations between parents, we employed an actor-partner interdependence model, which showed good fit. We found significant associations between attachment representations and general RF in both mothers and fathers, as well as a mediating effect of fathers' parental RF on the relationship between mothers' general RF and paternal sensitivity. Neither fathers' general RF nor parental RF did influence maternal sensitivity.
Keywords: Parenting sensitivity, Mentalizing, Attachment, family system, Actor-partner interdependence model, caregiving, Attachment representations, mother and father bidirectional influences Einzug: Links: 0
Received: 24 Feb 2025; Accepted: 20 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ismair, Dinzinger, Markova, Schropp, Brisch, Sperl and Priewasser. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Selina Ismair, Institute for Early Life Care, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria
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