Parental Mind-Mindedness across Clinical and Non-clinical Population: A Theoretical, Scoping and Empirical Investigation

Parental mind-mindedness (MM) or a caregiver's tendency to perceive their child as an individual with a mind, has received increased attention for its significance in early socio-emotional development. The purpose of this thesis was to explore parental MM in both clinical and non-clinical groups using a theoretical, scoping, and empirical framework. The study began with reviewing the literature of MM, reflective functioning, parenting stress, and how they relate to neurodevelopmental outcomes of the child. The empirical section explored the differences in MM between mothers of neurotypically developing children and mothers of children diagnosed with developmental risks. The MM of participating mothers was assessed through video-recorded five-minute free play sessions that were transcribed and categorized using the Mind-Mindedness Coding Manual. Comments were classified into appropriate and non-attuned mind-related comments. MM subdimensions including Emotion, Cognition, Desire, Intention, Physical state, Talk, Fun, Cheeky, Clever and Epistemic state were also assessed across groups. Additionally, self-report measures were used to assess maternal anxiety, depression, and parenting stress. The results indicated that mothers in the clinical group had considerably larger proportions of non-attuned mind-related comments, as well as higher levels of a particular category of parental stress. Correlational analyses revealed few group-specific weak patterns emerged, particularly between parenting stress and MM quality, though most did not reach the threshold of statistical significance. Notably, a weak negative trend suggested that higher maternal depressive symptoms may be associated with fewer non-attuned comments. While no statistically significant group differences emerged across MM subdimensions, a trend toward elevated emotional language in the clinical group may reflect a compensatory strategy—where mothers in high-risk contexts emphasize emotional attunement to support their child's regulatory needs. Overall, the findings contribute to our understanding of how psychological factors and child developmental status may influence parental mind-mindedness in early caregiving contexts. Keywords: Mind-mindedness, parenting stress, maternal depression, neurodevelopmental risk, mother–child interaction, reflective functioning