Katrine Isabella Wendelboe defends her PhD thesis

Title

‘The Multidimensional and Contextual Nature of Parental Mentalizing: A Cross-sectional Study of Mothers of Infants at Risk of Postpartum Depression and their Partners'.

Time and place

12th November 2021 at 1 pm.

The defence will take place at CSS, room 35.0.12, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 København K.

The defence will also be available on Zoom. Click here to participate. Passcode: 232275.

Assessment committee

  • Associate Professor Sonja Breinholst, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (chair)

  • Visiting Senior Research Fellow Susan Pawlby, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King's College London, United Kingdom

  • Senior Research Fellow Michelle Sleed, Anna Freud Centre, The Kantor Centre of Excellence, United Kingdom

Supervisors

  • Professor Mette Skovgaard Væver, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (principal supervisor)

  • Associate Professor Johanne Smith-Nielsen, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Professor Patrick Luyten, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, United Kingdom

Abstract

The parent’s ability to treat the child as a psychological agent, also termed parental mentalizing or parental reflective functioning (PRF), is an important caregiving capacity. According to mentalizing theory and research, it is essential to consider parental mentalizing as a multidimensional capacity influenced by contextual factors to account for within-parent variability of mentalizing skills. Drawing on a range of research methods, including meta-analysis, questionnaires and parent-infant free-play observations, the aim of this PhD is to examine the multidimensional and contextual nature of parental mentalizing in the postpartum period. More specifically, the PhD seeks to investigate the following: (1) Can the factor structure of a multidimensional self-report of PRF, the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire, be confirmed in Danish mothers and fathers of infants? (2) How is self-reported PRF associated with mental health problems in the postpartum period in mothers and fathers? (3) Is self-reported PRF associated with observation-based maternal mentalizing (mind-mindedness) during mother-infant interaction? The sample used for this PhD consists of 423 mothers at risk of postpartum depression and 259 non-clinical fathers of infants age 1–11 months.