TY - JOUR

T1 - The Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire

T2 - Infant Version in Fathers of Infants and Association with Paternal Postpartum Mental Health

AU - Wendelboe, Katrine Isabella

AU - Smith-Nielsen, Johanne

AU - Stuart, Anne Christine

AU - Væver, Mette Skovgaard

PY - 2022/10/14

Y1 - 2022/10/14

N2 - The parents’ capacity to reflect upon the psychological processes in their child,termed parental reflective functioning (PRF) can be impaired by parental mentalhealth problems. The present study aimed to investigate the factor structure ofan infant version of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ-I)in a low-risk sample of 259 Danish fathers of 1–11-month-old infants to investi-gate measurement invariance of the PRFQ-I between fathers and mothers; andto examine the association between PRF and paternal depressive symptoms, psy-chological distress, and parenting stress. Confirmatory factor analysis supporteda three-factor model of the PRFQ-I. Multi-group factor analysis indicated par-tial measurement invariance. Multiple linear regressions showed that paternaldepressive symptoms were not associated with PRF. There was an interactioneffect of paternal depressive symptoms and general psychological distress onpaternal interest and curiosity in their infant’s mental state and certainty ofinfantmentalstate.IncreasedparentingstresswasassociatedwithimpairedPRFon all three subscales of the PRFQ-I. These results provide further evidence for amultidimensional, brief assessment of paternal reflective skills and insight intohow variability in paternal psychological functioning relates to impaired PRF inthe postpartum period.

AB - The parents’ capacity to reflect upon the psychological processes in their child,termed parental reflective functioning (PRF) can be impaired by parental mentalhealth problems. The present study aimed to investigate the factor structure ofan infant version of the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ-I)in a low-risk sample of 259 Danish fathers of 1–11-month-old infants to investi-gate measurement invariance of the PRFQ-I between fathers and mothers; andto examine the association between PRF and paternal depressive symptoms, psy-chological distress, and parenting stress. Confirmatory factor analysis supporteda three-factor model of the PRFQ-I. Multi-group factor analysis indicated par-tial measurement invariance. Multiple linear regressions showed that paternaldepressive symptoms were not associated with PRF. There was an interactioneffect of paternal depressive symptoms and general psychological distress onpaternal interest and curiosity in their infant’s mental state and certainty ofinfantmentalstate.IncreasedparentingstresswasassociatedwithimpairedPRFon all three subscales of the PRFQ-I. These results provide further evidence for amultidimensional, brief assessment of paternal reflective skills and insight intohow variability in paternal psychological functioning relates to impaired PRF inthe postpartum period.

U2 - 10.1002/imhj.22023

DO - 10.1002/imhj.22023

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36228620

VL - 43

SP - 921

EP - 937

JO - Infant Mental Health Journal

JF - Infant Mental Health Journal

SN - 0163-9641

IS - 6

ER -