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Department of Psychology

Staff

Publication details for Professor Elizabeth Meins

Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., de Rosnay, M., Arnott, B., Leekam, S. R. & Turner, M. (2012). Mind-mindedness as a multidimensional construct: Appropriate and nonattuned mind-related comments independently predict infant–mother attachment in a socially diverse sample. Infancy 17(4): 393-415.

Author(s) from Durham

Abstract

In a socially diverse sample of 206 infant–mother pairs, we investigated predictors of infants’ attachment security at 15 months, with a particular emphasis on mothers’ tendency to comment appropriately or in a non-attuned manner on their 8-month-olds’ internal states (so-called mind-mindedness). Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that higher scores for appropriate mind-related comments and lower scores for non-attuned mind-related comments distinguished secure-group mothers from their counterparts in the insecure-avoidant, insecure-resistant, and insecure-disorganized groups. Higher scores for appropriate mind-related comments and lower scores for non-attuned mind-related comments also independently predicted dichotomous organized/disorganized attachment. General maternal sensitivity predicted neither attachment security nor organization, although sensitivity was found to relate to dichotomous secure/insecure attachment specifically in the context of low socioeconomic status. The findings highlight how appropriate and non-attuned mind-related comments make independent contributions to attachment and suggest that mind-mindedness is best characterized as a multidimensional construct.