Profiles of parental reflective functioning and mind‐mindedness in first‐time parents of 4‐month‐old infants

Abstract Profiles of parental reflective functioning (PRF) may offer valuable insights into individual differences in PRF. Previous studies have identified PRF profiles; however, further validation is needed. This study aimed to investigate the convergent validity of the identified PRF profiles by examining their association with a related measure of parental mentalization: representational mind‐mindedness. Participants were 1168 first‐time mothers and 490 fathers living in Denmark. In an online survey, parents reported on the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire—Infant Version and described their 4‐month‐old infant in a free‐text field, which was subsequently coded for the frequency of mental attributes used to describe the infant, indicating representational mind‐mindedness. Results support previous findings indicating potential at‐risk and typical PRF profiles, supporting the convergent validity of these profiles. Results showed that mothers in the High Pre‐Mentalizing profile reported the lowest levels of representational mind‐mindedness compared to the other maternal profiles. For fathers, members of Moderate Interest reported lower levels of representational mind‐mindedness compared to Moderately Low Certainty and Moderately High Certainty . The current study extends previous work by showing evidence of convergent validity of the PRF profiles, yet further research is still needed to examine the profiles’ generalizability and associations with observed infant and parent outcomes.