Adolescent Adjustment:
The Role of Parental Reflective
Function and Behavior.
Naomi Benbassat, M.A.
Beatriz Priel, Ph.D.
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Israel
"Reflective Function" Definition:
A meta-cognitive ability to think about thoughts and
feelings of both self and others in an attempt to
understand the behavior of both self and other
people (Fonagy & Target, 1997)
The capacity to take the perspective of the
other and thus to see things from the vantage
point of a child, friend, spouse, or even the
whole of humanity is a defining attribute of
human beings (George Herbert Mead).
Reflective Function –
Related terms
Self-consciousness
Self-awareness
Emotional intelligence
Introspection
Theory of mind
Social intelligence
Empathy
Psychological Mindedness
Research on Parental Reflective
Function

The mothers' Reflective Function has been
shown to be related to children's early
attachment relationships (Fonagy et al,
1991) and to children's understanding of
emotions (Steele et al, 1999).
Objectives

Compare the mother's and father’s Reflective
Function, parenting behavior and involvement
in parenting.

Look for a possible association between
parental Reflective Function, parenting
behavior and level of involvement.

Look for a possible relationship between
parental Reflective Function, parenting
behavior and level of involvement, and the
adjustment of their adolescent children.
Participants and procedure

A convenience sample of 106 adolescents (41 boys and 65
girls) aged 14-18 years and their mothers and fathers.

Inclusion criteria: (a) intact families; (b) reasonable
proficiency in Hebrew; (c) parental education of 7
grades or more, (d) agreement of both parents and
adolescent to participate in the study.

During home visits, fathers, mothers and adolescents
were interviewed separately by three interviewers and
asked to complete questionnaires. The interviews were
audiotaped, and later transcribed and coded.
Parental Measures

Demographic data (age, education).

Parenting behavior: the Parental Bonding Instrument
(PBI; Parker et al, 1979).

Level of parental involvement: the Child Care-giving
Involvement Scale (CCIS; Wood & Repetti, 2004).

Parental Reflective Function: The Parent Development
Interview (PDI; Aber et al, 1985) and Fonagy’s Reflective
Function scoring system (Fonagy et al, 1998).






Q: Has Sara changed during the last years?
A: No. What bothers me is that she gets mad all of a
sudden. We have to be gentle with her, so we are
trying…
Q: Does this happen more frequently during the last
years?
A: No, I think may be this is because she is a middle
child, so… it is typical [behavior for a middle child],
this is what I think.
Q: Did she change in her social relations or at school?
A: No, she is very stable, she knows what is going on
and she has good friends.
Q: Has Sharon changed during the last years?
A: I think the changes are more … she feels she should be
treated and respected as an older [child] … I guess that in a
way she is right. We have to undergo changes as well, not only
her. She is more assertive, she is more… let's say
argumentative… I'm not sure if it is only for the sake of
winning an argument. I mean it is possible that she is fighting
for space … All of a sudden, her friends seem to be more
important for her. Not that in the past they weren't, but
friends were friends, and family was family. But today, she
can go out at noon, and forget to come back home, that is,…
her social life appears to be more important for her. Friends
were always important to her, friends and games. … but now
it seems to be in a total way, she appears to be fully committed
and dedicated to her friends…. this wasn't before. At school, I
think that there is no…. I don’t know if it is related to
adolescence, however now she appears to be very busy, and
she has to learn to organize her time….
Adolescents’ Measures

Adolescents' social competence and
internalizing and externalizing symptoms: the
Youth Self - Report (YSR; Achenbach &
Rescorla, 2001 ).

Self–perception: the Adolescent Self-Perception
Profile (ASPP; Harter, 1988).
Means and standard deviations of
variables in fathers and mothers
Mothers
Mean (SD)
Fathers
Mean (SD)
F(1,105)
Reflective function
4.26 (1.39)
Level of involvement 42.49 (4.64)
Parenting behavior:
- warmth
31.40 (4.64)
- over controlling
8.62 (5.26)
3.79 (1.46)
35.77 (6.38)
11.55 **
80.81 **
28.95 (5.36)
7.62 (5.47)
26.69 **
5.26*
** p<0.01 * p<0.05
Correlation coefficients between parental
Reflective Function and their involvement
in parenting and parenting behavior
Involvement in
parenting
Mother
RF mothers
RF fathers
Father
-.08
Warmth
Mother Father Mother Father
.01
.02
Over controlling
-.01
.02
.05
Correlations between parental Reflective Function,
involvement in parenting, parenting behavior, and
specific outcomes in their adolescent girls
Social
Competence
Self-perception
social
Self-perception
personal
Internalizing
symptoms
Externalizing
symptoms
Mothers
.05
.04
-.12
.15
.06
Fathers
.32**
-.01
-.31*
.39**
.12
Reflective Function
Involvement in parenting
Mothers
.10
.26*
.03
-.24
-.09
Fathers
.07
-.14
-.20
.16
-.01
Parental behavior – Warmth
Mothers
.04
.12
.05
-.19
-.25*
Fathers
.14
.04
-.05
-.09
-.08
Parental behavior – Over controlling
Mothers
-.07
.01
-.16
.13
.34**
Fathers
-.15
.01
-.01
.02
.47**
* p< .05 ** p< .01 (two-tailed)
Correlations between parental Reflective Function,
involvement in parenting, parenting behavior, and specific
outcomes in their adolescent boys
Social
Competence
Self-perception
social
Self-perception
personal
Internalizing
symptoms
Externalizing
symptoms
Reflective Function
Mothers
.03
-.41**
-.22
.14
.06
Fathers
.02
-.34*
-.28
.22
.26
Involvement in parenting
Mothers
-.10
.19
.04
-.25
-.24
Fathers
.15
.09
-.05
-.50**
-.45**
Parental behavior – Warmth
Mothers
.22
.48**
.28
-.14
-.26
Fathers
.23
.52**
.29
-.38*
-.50**
Parental behavior – Over controlling
Mothers
-.22
-.40*
-.47**
.14
.32*
Fathers
-.16
-.34*
-.41**
.16
.30
* p< .05 ** p< .01 (two-tailed) .
Summary of main findings

The father's reflective function, warmth, and
involvement in parenting were lower than those of the
mother.

There was no association between parental reflective
function and other parenting measures.

Parental behavior and involvement in parenting were
associated with positive outcomes, especially among
boys.

Parental reflective function was associated with both
positive and negative outcomes.
Fathers' parental measures were
lower than those of the mothers




Father-adolescent relationships were more distant
and less intensive than mother-adolescent
relationships (Noller & Callan, 1990).
Fathers were more avoidant and less emotionally
involved with their families (Hosley &
Montemayor, 1997).
Fathers assume less responsibility for their
children's care, even when mothers are employed
full-time (Pleck & Pleck, 1997).
Women were more aware than men of emotions in
both themselves and others (Barrett et al, 2000).
Lack of association between
parental reflective function and
other parenting variables

The construct "reflective function" captures a
distinct feature, which is different from the other
parental characteristics.
A warm, involved and not over
controlling parent improves adolescent
adjustment, especially among boys.

Parent-adolescent relationships were more predictive of
psychosocial maturity in boys than in girls (Bomar &
Sabatelli, 1996).

Adolescent boys' self esteem was more strongly related
to family relations compared to that of girls (Bush,
2000).
Possible reasons for greater parental
influence on boys

When compared with boys, adolescent girls have
closer relationships outside of the family
(Bukowsky et al, 1994), and are more likely to seek
support and express their emotions with peers
(Rose & Rudolph, 2006) .

Adolescent girls have greater need for autonomy,
since parents grant more autonomy to boys
(Bulcroft et al, 1996).

Adolescent girls have been found to score higher
than boys on a psychosocial maturity scale (Bomar
& Sabatelli, 1996), and in ego development (Cohn,
1991).
Parental Reflective Function was
associated with both positive and
negative adolescent outcomes
On the positive side, there was a correlation between
fathers' reflective function and daughters' social
competence.
This finding is consistent with previous studies showing
that an understanding of the minds of others (Theory of
Mind - TOM) is related to social skills and moral
sensibility in pre-school children (Dunn et al, 2000).
On the negative side, fathers' reflective function was associated
with more internalizing symptoms and lower self perception in
girls, and the reflective function of both parents was associated
with lower self-perception in boys.
Children with higher TOM scores have been shown to be more
sensitive and more likely to rate themselves poorly following
failure (Cutting & Dunn, 2002).

There is an inverse relationship between self-consciousness and
self-esteem in adolescents ( Yee & Flanagan, 1985).

Self-awareness is a risk factor for internalizing and
externalizing symptoms in 10 - 17 years old children
(Steinhausen & Winkler-Metzke, 2001).

Psychological mindedness is associated with lower self-esteem,
increased self criticism and feelings of anxiety (Farber, 1989).


"Accurate self perception involves both
costs and benefits. Removing the rosecolored coating from one's looking glass is
unlikely to enhance self-confidence and
optimism. The interpersonal benefits of
accurate self-perception may, however, be
substantial" (Trapnell & Campbell, 1999, p.
299).
Conclusions
 Parental
reflective function has
costs and benefits.
 Adolescent
boys need a warm and
involved parent, especially father.