Moses, LouisGluck, Stephanie2023-03-242023-03-242023-03-24https://hdl.handle.net/1794/28075Parental mind-mindedness refers to caregivers’ propensity to attribute mind-like and intentional qualities in their interactions with or representation of their young children. It is proposed to be associated with positive developmental outcomes in children’s social understanding, executive functioning (EF), and language abilities. The present dissertation focused on the temporal characterization of maternal mind-mindedness across the transition to motherhood, examined its longitudinal association with children’s theory of mind (ToM) and EF, and investigated potential mechanisms of influence in a sample of socioeconomically diverse first-time mothers. A secondary data analysis was conducted using a longitudinal dataset with 104 women from which maternal mind-mindedness was coded at three timepoints (prenatally during the third trimester of pregnancy, 5-, and 17- months post birth). Children’s cognitive and behavioral outcomes (language, ToM, and EF) were examined at 5 years of age. Results revealed that although prenatal mind-mindedness was not significantly associated with postnatal mind-mindedness, some individual, and possibly trait-like, stability in mothers’ mind-mindedness was present between 5- and 17-months post birth. In addition, mothers’ mind-mindedness at 17 months (but not prenatally or at 5 months) significantly predicted children’s EF at age 5, and the effect persisted beyond maternal education and children’s concurrent language ability. Further, children’s concurrent language ability had a significant indirect effect on the association between mind-mindedness and children’s EF; meanwhile, the direct effect of mind-mindedness on children’s EF remained. Finally, in contrast to some other findings in the literature, mind-mindedness did not predict children’s ToM in the current sample, although it was indirectly associated with ToM through children’s concurrent language ability. These findings suggest that mothers’ mind-mindedness towards their infants (a) is dynamic during the transition from pregnancy to early motherhood with individual stability seen between infancy and toddlerhood, and (b) may play an important role in children’s emerging executive and language abilities. Future research should further characterize prenatal mind-mindedness and whether it may be equivalent to postnatal mind-mindedness, evaluate the interchangeability between the interview and free play measure of the mind-mindedness construct, and further investigate potential pathways through which mind-mindedness may influence children’s language and executive abilities.en-USAll Rights Reserved.executive functionmind-mindednessparental mentalizingsocial cognitiontheory of mindElectronic Thesis or Dissertation