ERIC Number: EJ1153326
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1040-9289
EISSN: N/A
Mentalization in Chilean Educational Staff with 12-Month-Old Children: Does It Make a Difference in Relation to What Children Receive at Home?
Farkas, Chamarrita; Strasser, Katherine; Badilla, María Gabriela; Santelices, María Pía
Early Education and Development, v28 n7 p839-857 2017
Parental mentalizing, which is the capacity to understand behavior in terms of mental states and to reflect this back to a child through speech, is a key construct in child development. Adults with high mentalization promote children's secure attachment, mentalization and self-regulation. This study describes this competency in a sample of teachers from Chilean nurseries in interaction with 12-month-old children during a storytelling scenario and compares it with the children's mothers. The sample comprised 208 adults (104 teachers and 104 mothers). The adults were asked to tell 2 stories to the children, and these situations were recorded, transcribed, and codified using guidelines that identified 4 references to mental states (desires, cognitions, emotions, and attributes) and 4 references to nonmental states (causal and factual talk, physical states, and connections with the child's life). Research Findings: The results showed significant differences between the educational staff and the mothers, and the teachers performed better than the mothers in terms of both greater mentalization and a greater number of references to desires, causal talk, emotions, and physical states. Practice or Policy: The results provide evidence regarding the supportive role played by educational staff in children's development, especially in underprivileged sectors.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Child Development, Parent Child Relationship, Security (Psychology), Attachment Behavior, Schemata (Cognition), Emotional Response, Metacognition, Guidelines, Personality Traits, Mothers, Teacher Role, Disadvantaged, Infants, Language Acquisition, Caregiver Child Relationship, Child Care Centers, Parent Caregiver Relationship, Preschool Teachers, Teacher Student Relationship, Parent Teacher Cooperation, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Chile
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A