ERIC Number: EJ1480058
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Sep
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1750-8592
EISSN: EISSN-1750-8606
Available Date: 2024-11-12
Caregivers' Cognitions about Infants' Mental and Emotional States
Julia Garon-Bissonnette1; Lauren G. Bailes1,2; Kate Kwasneski1,3; Sarah Lempres1,4; Sydney Takemoto1,5; Lu Li1,6; Julia DeLuca1,7; Virginia C. Salo1,8; Kathryn L. Humphreys1
Child Development Perspectives, v19 n3 p146-155 2025
Given the relevance of caregivers' perceptions, cognitions, and emotions about their child's mental states for caregiving behavior and children's development, researchers from multiple theoretical perspectives have developed constructs to assess caregivers' cognitions, resulting in a large but scattered body of literature. In this article, we highlight the conceptual overlap among and uniqueness of six constructs assessing caregivers' cognitions about their child at 36 months and younger: infant intentionality, mental representations, mind-mindedness, parental embodied mentalizing, parental empathy, and parental reflective functioning. We define constructs, present approaches to measurement, and propose elements of importance that fall under the umbrella of caregivers' cognitions and that may be associated differentially with children's early cognitive and social-emotional development. We conclude with recommendations for researchers aiming to capture caregivers' cognitions about their child's mental states, whether focusing on one of the six reviewed constructs or on specific elements (e.g., awareness of the child's mind or accuracy of caregivers' perceptions of their child) under the umbrella of caregivers' cognitions.
Descriptors: Schemata (Cognition), Empathy, Parent Child Relationship, Infant Behavior, Infants, Social Development, Emotional Development, Measurement, Toddlers, Correlation
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www-wiley-com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation (NSF); National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (DHHS/NIH); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 2042285; R01MH129634; T32MH18921; F32HD1000079
Author Affiliations: 1Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA; 2Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA; 3Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA; 4Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; 5Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY, USA; 6Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA; 7Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME, USA; 8Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD, USA

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