Parental Reflective Functioning in Latina Mothers: Sociodemographic Predictors and Links to Child Mental Health

The current study draws from baseline data collected for an intervention designed to support parent–child relationship quality and reduce youth aggression/violence among Latine immigrant families. The sample includes 157 Latine mother–youth dyads (youth ages 8–17). Parental reflective functioning (PRF), both self-reported and coded from the Parent Development Interview, has seldom been examined in this population. All aims are therefore framed as exploratory - directional hypotheses are delineated when theory and prior research provide a framework for generating them, but given that limited or no prior work has utilized these measures within Latine mother samples, the work is novel and exploratory in nature. Aim 1: Examine sociodemographic correlates of PRF in this sample. Given the limited prior work, we do not advance specific hypotheses. Aim 2: Examine associations between PRF and youth internalizing symptoms (anxiety and depression; self- and mother-reported). Consistent with the broader literature, we hypothesize that higher PRF will be associated with lower youth anxiety and depression. Aim 3: Examine associations between PRF and parenting behaviors coded from a parent-child interaction task. We hypothesize that higher PRF will be associated with higher levels of sensitive parenting behaviors and lower levels of distressed parenting behaviors.