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The Role of Parental Reflective Functioning for Theory of Mind Development in Internationally Adopted Children

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Abstract

In biological families, parental reflective functioning (PRF), or the parents’ capacity to envision their child as being motivated by internal mental states, is known to facilitate the development of the child’s theory of mind (ToM). Very few studies have investigated the relation between PRF and ToM in adoptive families, and none have simultaneously investigated the role of pre- and post-adoptive PRF. The present study is the first to examine relations between pre-adoptive reflective functioning (RF), post-adoptive PRF and children’s ToM acquisition in a sample of internationally adopted children and their adoptive parents (48 children; 14 girls and 34 boys). Specifically, we investigated whether the relation between pre-adoptive RF and ToM was mediated by PRF assessed when children were aged 3.5–4 years, and whether these relations were moderated by age at adoption, which served as a proxy for early adversity. Results indicated that none of the PRF dimensions mediated the relation between pre-adoptive RF and ToM. However, pre-adoptive RF and PRF both independently predicted ToM. Moreover, age at adoption moderated these associations, with both pre-adoptive RF and dimensions of PRF assessed at child age 3.5–4 years being related to ToM only in children who were adopted at an older age (≥18 months).

Highlights

  • Theory of Mind (ToM) development of adopted children is often challenged by difficult early life events.

  • Adoptive parents’ reflective functioning (PRF), the capacity to envision the child as being motivated by mental states, might foster the development of ToM.

  • This study is the first to investigate the impact of both pre-adoptive and post-adoptive PRF in internationally adopted children’s ToM acquisition.

  • Pre-adoptive RF and post-adoptive interest in child mental states was related to ToM, but only in children adopted at the age of 18 months or older.

  • Post-adoptive non-mentalizing of adoptive parents was related to weaker child ToM abilities, independent of age at adoption.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all adoptive families and research assistants involved in the Leuven Adoption Study; their continuing support and commitment allowed us to follow the development of adoptive families for more than 10 years.

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Processing and coding of the interviews was done by Liesbet Nijssens and Saskia Malcorps; data analyses were performed by Saskia Malcorps. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Saskia Malcorps, and edited and reviewed by Patrick Luyten and Nicole Vliegen. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

The Leuven Adoption Study is funded in part by the Flemish agency Kind en Gezin (https://www.kindengezin.be/) with an annual grant of €7,000 rewarded to NV from 2009 to 2021. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The study received no other external funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, pobox 3720, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Saskia Malcorps, Nicole Vliegen, Liesbet Nijssens & Patrick Luyten

  2. Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, 1–19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7HB, UK

    Patrick Luyten

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  1. Saskia Malcorps
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Correspondence to Saskia Malcorps.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. The Leuven Adoption Study was approved by the Social and Societal Ethics Committee of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in 2008, 2013 and 2021.

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Malcorps, S., Vliegen, N., Nijssens, L. et al. The Role of Parental Reflective Functioning for Theory of Mind Development in Internationally Adopted Children. J Child Fam Stud 32, 272–287 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-022-02482-z

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