The DOI matches its Crossref record; 68 of the 68 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Sensitive attunement to infants’ internal states: operationalizing the construct of mind-mindedness
Abstract
This paper focuses on caregiver sensitivity, its relation to mind-mindedness (caregivers' attunement to their infants' internal states), and how well both constructs predict infant attachment security. The seminal Baltimore research on sensitivity and its relation to attachment security is summarized, highlighting the conclusion that mothers in the insecure-resistant and insecure-avoidant categories could not be distinguished on the basis of sensitivity. The contrast between the complex, sophisticated construct detailed in the original studies and the broad-based nature of the sensitivity coding scale is discussed. This paper argues that we should return to Ainsworth, Bell, and Stayton's (1971, 1974) original emphasis on the caregiver's ability to perceive things from the child's point of view in defining a measure of the quality of early infant-caregiver interaction. This approach led to the development of the construct of mind-mindedness. There are two mind-mindedness indices: caregivers' tendency during infant-caregiver interaction to (a) comment appropriately on their infants' putative thoughts and feelings (appropriate mind-related comments), and (b) misread their infants' internal states (non-attuned mind-related comments). Both indices predict independent variance in infant-caregiver attachment security, and together can distinguish between the secure, avoidant, and resistant categories. The specific, multidimensional nature of mind-mindedness complements the global construct of sensitivity.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Meins' findings that mothers' appropriate mindrelated comments when interacting with their infants predicted attachment security”
From INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF ATTACHMENT IN ABUSED AND NEGLECTED MOTHERS: THE ROLE OF TRAUMA-SPECIFIC REFLECTIVE FUNCTIONING: Attachment, Reflective Function, and Trauma (2015) · cites this paper as Meins, 2013
Citations
Cites
(1969) · Cited by 18,340
(1978) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 12,570
Attachment and Loss. Vol. 1. Attachment
Rever, G. W. (1972) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00006842-197211000-00011 · Cited by 8,446
Frankmann, J. P., & Adams, J. (1904) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1412635 · Cited by 4,247
Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications
(2009) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.46-4135 · Cited by 3,819
Sensitivity and Attachment: A Meta-Analysis on Parental Antecedents of Infant Attachment
de Wolff, M. S., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (1997) · Child Development · doi:10.2307/1132107 · Cited by 2,585
Sensitivity and attachment: A meta-analysis on parental antecedents of infant attachment
De Wolff, M. S., & van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (1997) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1997.tb04218.x · Cited by 2,526
The nature of the child’s tie to his mother 1
Bowlby, J. (2018) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780429475931-15 · Cited by 2,386
van IJzendoorn, M. H. (1995) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.387 · Cited by 2,243
Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention.
Greenberg, M. T., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E. M. (1990) · University of Chicago Press eBooks · Cited by 2,161
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Ainsworth M. D. S., 1974, The introduction of the child into a social world, 99
- Ainsworth M. D. S., 1969, Determinants of infant behaviour, 4
- Bowlby J., 1958, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 39, 350
- George C., 1998, The caregiving interview: Caregiving representation rating manual
- Meins E., 2012, Mind-mindedness coding manual, Version 2.1
- Pederson D. R., 1998, Developmental Psychology, 34, 923, 10.1037/0012-1649.34.5.925 · DOI
- Slade A., 2003, The parent development interview – R
- van IJzendoorn M. H., 1995, Psychological Bulletin, 117, 1
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The mentalizing approach to psychopathology: State of the art and future directions
Luyten, P., Campbell, C., Allison, E., & Fonagy, P. (2020) · Annual Review of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-071919-015355 · Cited by 748
Zeegers, M. A. J., Colonnesi, C., Stams, G. J. J. M., & Meins, E. (2017) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/bul0000114 · Cited by 478
Berthelot, N., Ensink, K., Bernazzani, O., Normandin, L., Luyten, P., & Fonagy, P. (2015) · Infant Mental Health Journal · doi:10.1002/imhj.21499 · Cited by 334
Parental Reflective Functioning: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications
Luyten, P., Nijssens, L., Fonagy, P., & Mayes, L. C. (2017) · The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child · doi:10.1080/00797308.2016.1277901 · Cited by 283
McMahon, C. A., & Bernier, A. (2017) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1016/j.dr.2017.07.001 · Cited by 183
Metadata
- Authors
- Meins, E.
- Affiliations
- University of York (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Meins, Elizabeth
- ORCID
- Meins, Elizabeth
- Venue
- Attachment & Human Development
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2013-11
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 5-6
- Pages
- 524-544
- ISSN
- 1461-6734 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-2988
- OpenAlex
- W2132933484
- Cited by
- 186
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 8.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Attachment & Human Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Staffordshire University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- mind-mindedness, caregiver sensitivity, infant attachment security, caregiver-infant interaction, internal state, insecure-avoidant attachment, insecure-resistant attachment, attachment classification
- MeSH terms
- Child, Preschool, Empathy, Female, Humans, Mother-Child Relations, Psychological Theory, Mindfulness
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
