Children's socioemotional development at 12 and 30 months and its relationship with mothers mentalization : comparison of chilean and u.s. mothers

Abstract

Socio-emotional development refers to the ability of infants to regulate their emotions and behavior in order to adapt to the world in which they live. It is a complex process that requires the conjugation of biological mechanisms of the infant him/herself, and the context where development unfolds. In order to achieve an adequate socio-emotional development, the quality of the primary bond relationships is fundamental. However, a competence that has not been studied is the capacity of mothers to perceive their children, at 12 months, as individuals with minds, through the mentalizing language that they use in the interaction, and the impact they have on their children's socio-emotional development at 12 and 30 months, in different contexts. The objective of this research was to describe the relationship between the socioemotional development of infants at 12 and 30 months of age and the mentalization capacity of mothers in Chilean and US dyads. In order to achieve the proposed objective, a quantitative methodology, with a non-experimental and longitudinal design, was used. The sample consisted of 142 mother-child dyads, 90 Chilean and 52 US. The instruments used were the assessment standard of Mentalization in the adult and The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. The results showed that there are significant differences in the increment of socio-emotional child development according to country; however, the maternal educational level mediates these differences. Significant differences were observed between the type of mentalizing language used by Chilean and US mothers, that is, the study suggests the existence of specificity related to the context. Finally, the relationship between mentalizing language and socio-emotional development is confirmed, finding that talking about emotions at 12 months is significantly associated with socioemotional development at 30 months.