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Mind-Mindedness of Male and Female Caregivers in Childcare and the Relation to Sensitivity and Attachment: An Exploratory Study

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Highlights

  • We investigated the relations between male and female professional caregivers’ mind-mindedness (besides their sensitive responsiveness and respect for autonomy) and 3-year-olds’ secure attachment.

  • Caregivers’ mind-mindedness was positively associated to children’s secure attachment.

  • The association between mind-mindedness and children’s secure attachment was not affected by caregivers’ gender.

  • Caregivers’ respect for autonomy mediated the relation between caregivers’ mind-mindedness and children’s’ secure attachment for girls but not for boys.

Abstract

Mind-mindedness refers to the caregiver’s ability to be attuned to the child’s mental states. Within the parent-child relationship, mind-mindedness relates to parents’ sensitive caregiving, and to children’s secure attachment. However, the same relations are still unexplored in out-of-home care settings. We investigated the associations between childcare professionals’ mind-mindedness, sensitive responsiveness and respect for autonomy, and child-caregiver attachment security. Moreover, we examined whether these relations are influenced by caregivers’ and children’s gender. Participants were 17 caregiver couples (17 males, 17 females) and 34 three-year-old children (17 boys, 17 girls), recruited in childcare centers. Mind-mindedness toward the boy or the girl (dyadic) or both children (non-dyadic), sensitive responsiveness and respect for autonomy were assessed during a semi-structured play. Attachment security was assessed through observations. Male and female caregivers had equivalent scores of mind-mindedness, sensitive responsiveness, and respect for autonomy. Similarly, children were securely attached to male and female caregivers. Girls’ and boys’ secure attachment was predicted by caregivers’ use of non-dyadic mind-related comments. For girls, but not for boys, the relation was partially mediated by caregivers’ respect for autonomy. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance for the quality of child-caregiver relationships, and children’s socio-emotional development.

Introduction

In modern Western societies infants and young children are increasingly cared for by non-parental caregivers like professional caregivers in formal childcare (Howes & Spieker, 2007; Lamb, 1998). Professional caregivers have the main task to take care, to supervise, to engage in age-appropriate interactions, and to teach basic social skills to children in order to contribute to their socio-emotional development in infancy and early childhood (Belsky et al., 2007; Helmerhorst, Riksen-Walraven, Vermeer, Fukkink, & Tavecchio, 2014). Just as parents, professional caregivers’ way to interact with children can have a direct impact on the child-caregiver relationship and, therefore, on the child’s socio-emotional development (Goossens and Van IJzendoorn, 1990, Mortensen and Barnett, 2015, Phillips and Lowenstein, 2011). For instance, there is compelling evidence that children build attachment relationships with nonparental care providers (Cugmas, 2003, Goossens and Van IJzendoorn, 1990, Howes and Spieker, 2008), and that the security of this relationship is often comparable with the parent-child relationship (Goossens and Van IJzendoorn, 1990, Howes and Spieker, 2008).

Research is increasingly oriented toward detecting aspects involved in the quality of the relationship between professional caregivers and young children (e.g., Burchinal & Cryer, 2003; Lisonbee, Mize, Payne, & Granger, 2008). In the present study, we investigated a novel and specific aspect in the relationship between professional caregivers and children: caregivers’ mind-mindedness (Meins, 1997). Mind-mindedness refers to the proclivity of caregivers to treat children as individuals with a mind. We examined to what extent female and male caregivers’ mind-mindedness is related to their sensitive responsiveness, respect for autonomy, and boys’ and girls’ attachment security to the caregivers.

Mind-mindedness is the caregivers’ tendency to take the intentional stance toward their children (Meins, 1997, Meins, 1999, Meins, 2013). It concerns the inclination to comment on the putative internal state of their child (Meins, Fernyhough, Fradley, & Tuckey, 2001), manifesting the proclivity to represent the child’s thoughts, desires, and feelings (Meins, 2013). For this reason, mind-mindedness can be conceptualized as an important aspect of the quality of a relation between caregiver and child (Barreto, Fearon, Osório, Meins, & Martins, 2016). As such, mind-mindedness should be distinguished from other caregiver socio-cognitive capacities like mental state language, which refers to the caregivers’ propensity to use comments concerning mental states in general (e.g., Bretherton and Beeghly, 1982, Olson and Astington, 1993, Taumoepeau and Ruffman, 2006, Taumoepeau and Ruffman, 2008).

Parents’ level of mind-mindedness can be assessed by observing their attitude to comment, either appropriately or in a non-attuned manner, on infants’ putative thoughts and feelings during interactions with them (Meins et al., 2001). A mind-related comment is appropriate when it is a correct interpretation of the child’s state of mind, while it is non- attuned when the parent misinterprets the child’s current internal state (Meins & Fernyhough, 2010). Parents’ use of appropriate and absence of non-attuned mind-related comments during infancy and early childhood has shown to be associated with positive developmental outcomes in children, such as secure attachment (Arnott and Meins, 2007, Lundy, 2003, Meins et al., 2001, Meins et al., 2012), higher levels of social understanding (Laranjo, Bernier, Meins, & Carlson, 2010; Meins, Fernyhough, Arnott, Leekam, & Rosnay, 2013a), adequate self-regulation strategies (Bernier, Carlson, & Whipple, 2010), and fewer behavioral problems (Meins, Centifanti, Fernyhough, & Fishburn, 2013b).

While the relevance of mind-mindedness within the parent-child bond has become more evident, we know little about the importance of caregiver mind-mindedness in early childhood education and care. To our knowledge, only the study of Degotardi and Sweller (2012) explored mind-mindedness descriptions, mind-mindedness talk, sensitivity, and developmental stimulation in a childcare context. In their study of 24 female caregivers during dyadic interactions with 9- to 20-month-olds in childcare, concordance was found between mind-mindedness description and talk, and caregivers’ production of mind-mindedness was similar to that of parents in family studies. In addition, Degotardi and Sweller’s findings support previous childcare studies showing that caregivers who are able to interpret children’s inner states and to use mentalistic language, provide more sensitive care (Manlove, Vazquez, & Vernon-Feagans, 2008), and have a more positive interaction style with children (Frampton, Perlman, & Jenkins, 2009).

Unlike parents, professional caregivers are generally used to interact with children in the context of non-dyadic situations. Caregivers’ mind-related comments in the context of childcare should, therefore, be directed not only toward individual children, but also toward more than one child at the same time, or to the group as a whole. Hence, caregivers should correctly perceive and interpret the behavior and emotional signals of both individual children and the group (Degotardi and Davis, 2008, King and La Paro, 2015). Related to this, Ahnert, Pinquart and Lamb (2006) found that children’s relationship with caregivers in childcare is associated with caregivers’ behaviors toward the group as a whole. Mind-mindedness can, therefore, be a crucial aspect of the relationship between professional caregivers and children, in particular when it reflects the caregiver’s ability to “tune in” to more than one child.

At present, the proportion of male caregivers is approximately 3% in early childhood care and education in countries all over the world (OECD, 2012). The field of early education and care is predominantly female (Peeters, Rohrmann, & Emilsen, 2015; Warin & Adriany, 2015). The lack of male role models and the less positive relationships with boys, as compared to girls, of female caregivers in childcare raise questions about the importance of male caregivers in childcare, and about their relevance as attachment figures for children, particularly for boys (Ahnert, 2006, Ahnert et al., 2006, Brody, 2014, Drudy, 2008; De Schipper, Tavecchio, & Van IJzendoorn, 2008; NICHD ECCRN, 1997; Wachs, Gurkas, & Kontos, 2004; Winer & Phillips, 2012). Exploring mind-mindedness in both male and female caregivers may provide a clearer understanding of the role of mind-mindedness as a factor involved in the quality of the relationship between caregivers and young children of both sexes.

To our knowledge, no studies explored differences in mind-mindedness between male and female professional caregivers. Family studies, however, already examined the differences between the paternal and maternal use of mind-related comments (Arnott and Meins, 2007, Lundy, 2003), and possible differences due to child gender (e.g., Laranjo et al., 2010, Meins et al., 2011). Arnott and Meins (2007) found that mothers and fathers did not differ in their use of appropriate mind-related comments to their 6-month-old infants. However, fathers produced more non-appropriate mind-related comments than mothers. Furthermore, fathers’, but not mothers’, appropriate and non-appropriate mind-related comments were positively related to each other, suggesting that fathers may be less skilled than mothers in reading and understanding infants’ internal states (Arnott & Meins, 2007). Lundy (2003) found that mothers produced more mind-related comments about their 6-month-olds’ thoughts, knowledge and desires, whereas fathers produced more mind-related comments about problem solving. However, both mothers’ and fathers’ comments related to thoughts, knowledge and desires of the child predicted secure attachment. In more recent studies, where mind-mindedness was assessed by asking the caregiver to provide a description of children who were older than two years, no difference was found between maternal and paternal mind-mindedness (Barreto et al., 2015; Lundy, 2013). Family studies also did not report a relation between parents’ use of mind-related comments and the child’s gender (e.g., Laranjo et al., 2010, Meins et al., 2011; Meins, Harris-Waller, & Lloyd, 2008). These empirical findings from family research suggest modest parental gender differences in infancy and early childhood, and no differences due to child gender.

A few studies provided evidence on the effect of caregivers’ gender on child-caregiver interaction and caregivers’ sensitivity (Aigner, Huber, Traxl, Poscheschnik, & Burkhardt, 2013; Brandes, Andrä, Röseler, & Schneider-Andrich, 2015). Aigner et al. (2013) reported that male caregivers’ interactions with children were more positive and less punitive than those of female caregivers. Conversely, Brandes et al. (2015) found no difference between male and female caregivers on measures of observed empathy, challenge, cooperation and quality of dyadic interaction. Investigating the effect of professional caregiver and child gender on the level of mind-mindedness, sensitivity, and child-caregiver secure attachment can advance our knowledge about individual factors that affect the quality of child-caregiver interactions.

Family studies report a positive relation between parents’ mind-mindedness, sensitivity, and children’s secure attachment (Laranjo, Bernier, & Meins, 2008; McMahon and Meins, 2012, Meins et al., 2001, Meins et al., 2012). Meins et al. (2001) found that mothers’ use of appropriate mind-related comments, as well as mothers’ sensitivity when children were 6 months old, independently predicted children’s attachment security at 12 months. Mind-mindedness accounted for 12.7% of the variance in infant security, whereas sensitivity accounted for 6.5% of the variance. More recently, Meins et al. (2012) found that maternal appropriate and non-attuned mind-related comments predicted children’s secure attachment above the contribution of mothers’ level of sensitivity. Lundy (2003) reported that parental interactional synchrony (as a measure of parent’s sensitivity) with their 6-month-old infants mediated the relation between their use of mind-related comments and infants’ secure attachment. Parental mind-mindedness seems, therefore, to be a prerequisite for the interactional synchrony with the child. Similarly, Laranjo et al. (2008) found that parental sensitive behavior mediated the positive relation between parental mind-mindedness and secure attachment in 12 and 15 months old infants. These findings suggest that parents’ ability to be mind-minded can be both a direct predictor of children’s secure attachment and a prerequisite for parents’ sensitive behavior that is related to children’s secure attachment.

The association between mind-mindedness and children’s secure attachment has not yet been explored in childcare, and the relation between mind-mindedness and sensitivity seems anywise inconsistent. Degotardi and Sweller (2012) explored the association between caregivers’ sensitivity and two dimensions of mind-mindedness talk: belief talk (i.e., comments referring to cognitive states of knowing and thinking and symbolic activities such as tricking and pretending), and non-belief talk (i.e., comments referring to likes, interests, emotions, desires, intentions and perceptions). Caregivers’ sensitivity was found to be positively associated with belief talk but was negatively associated with non-belief talk. Given these non-expected results, it is of relevance to further investigate to what extent caregivers’ mind-mindedness and sensitivity are related to each other in childcare, as well as their association with child-caregiver secure attachment.

While parents are often involved in individual interactions with their child, professional caregivers are also involved in group interactions, with two or more children. The meta-analysis of Ahnert et al. (2006), summarizing findings from 40 studies into the security of child-caregiver relationships in childcare, reported that children were more securely attached to caregivers who showed sensitive behavior toward the group as a whole instead of toward individual children. Viewed from this group perspective, a similar relation can be expected with regard to mind-mindedness in childcare contexts, as caregivers need to perceive and interpret the mental states of multiple children in order to respond in a sensitive manner toward the group. Professional caregivers’ sensitive behavior toward the group is often measured in terms of sensitive responsiveness, which is the caregivers’ capacity to interpret children’s signals correctly and respond appropriately.

Another relevant aspect of caregiver’s sensitive behavior is respect for autonomy, defined as the caregivers’ ability to understand children’s perspective and stimulate their autonomy (Helmerhorst et al., 2014). Autonomy is a salient aspect of children’s development in late infancy and toddlerhood. At this age, thanks to new linguistic and motoric abilities, children become increasingly independent (Côté-Lecaldare, Joussement, & Dufour, 2016), and develop an intrinsic predisposition to explore the world and to seek new challenges and knowledge (Degotardi, 2013). Their autonomy is enhanced by caregivers’ recognition and support of their agency (Degotardi, 2013, Nucci et al., 1996), and by promoting infants’ active participation, exploration, and intrinsic motivation (Degotardy & Torr, 2007; Whipple, Bernier, & Mageau, 2011). Degotardi and Torr (2007) found, for instance, that mothers’ use of encouragement-of-autonomy talk is a dominant way to talk to infants from 12 to 24 months. Côté-Lecaldare et al. (2016) explored childcare caregivers’ autonomy-supportive practices with 18- to 36-months olds, finding three main aspects of supportive autonomy: taking the perspective of the child, engaging in a reciprocal and collaborative relationship, and attaching as much importance to the child’s reality and experiences as to one’s own. These three aspects seem to require the capacity to be attuned to the child’s mental world. Similarly, Degotardi (2013) found that more mind-minded childcare educators used higher levels of agency promoting talk towards 9–20 months old infants than less mind-minded educators. Mind-mindedness might, therefore, be a possible prerequisite in order to respect and support children’s autonomy. In addition, parental autonomy-supportive behavior has been found to be a predictor of infants’ attachment (Whipple et al., 2011). Caregivers’ respect for autonomy could, therefore, mediate the relationship between mind-mindedness and children’s secure attachment, translating caregivers’ propensity to take the intentional stance towards the child in supportive behavior, and enhancing secure attachment in children.

The purpose of the present study was threefold. First, we sought to investigate the relation between male and female caregivers’ mind-mindedness, sensitive responsiveness, respect for autonomy, and children’s attachment. Second, we examined the role of caregiver and child gender in the aforementioned relations. Third, we explored the mediating role of caregivers’ sensitive responsiveness and respect for autonomy in the relation between mind-mindedness and children’s secure attachment. Caregivers’ mind-mindedness was assessed observing the interaction between the caregivers and two 3-year-old children (a boy and a girl) during a semi-structured play situation. In order to explore the multi-respondent dimension of mind-mindedness in childcare, appropriate and non-attuned mind-related comments of the caregivers were scored as directed toward the boy or the girl (dyadic) or toward both children simultaneously (non-dyadic).

Based on the aforementioned studies we expected: (a) male and female professional caregivers to be able to use appropriate mind-related comments in a similar way; (b) male and female caregivers’ use of mind-mindedness to be positively associated with their sensitive responsiveness, with respect for autonomy, and with children’s attachment security; (c) the use of appropriate mind-related comments toward both children simultaneously to be more strongly related to children's secure attachment than dyadic mind-mindedness directed to one of the children; (d) and, finally, caregivers’ sensitive responsiveness and respect for autonomy to mediate the relation between caregivers’ mind-mindedness and children’s attachment.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 34 professional caregivers organized in 17 couples with a male and a female caregiver working in the same daycare group, and 34 three-year-old children organized in 17 couples of a boy and a girl attending together the same daycare group of the professional couples. Participants were recruited through 12 Dutch childcare organizations. Caregivers were on average 37.8 years old (SD = 8.1; range 21–50 years). They had been employed at least three months as permanent pedagogical

Preliminary analyses

Two-tailed Pearson’s correlation analysis showed no significant relation between caregivers’ work experience (in months) in childcare (M = 133.68, SD = 78.03) and mind-mindedness, sensitive responsiveness, respect for autonomy, and attachment variables (range r(32) = −0.07 to 0.30). No significant difference was found either between male and female caregivers’ experience in childcare (Mmale = 144.58, SD = 83.16; Mfemale = 122.94, SD = 73.46), t(32) = 0.80, p = 0.431. Therefore, caregivers’ experience in childcare

Discussion

In the present study, we investigated to what extent male and female professional caregivers’ mind-mindedness is related to their sensitive responsiveness, respect for autonomy, and to boy-caregiver and girl-caregiver attachment security. Results revealed that professional caregivers' tendency to take the intentional stance toward the children was associated with their ability to respect the autonomy of the child, and with a more secure attachment relationship. Further, caregiver’s gender had

Conclusion

Children’s socio-emotional development occurs in social contexts, and depends on social interactions (Carpendale & Lewis, 2004). Both parents and other caregiving figures are involved in children’s lives and take part in major developmental socio-emotional transactions. Mind-mindedness does not seem to be an exclusive parental ability to enhance secure attachment in children but seems also an essential requisite for professional caregivers as their (level of) mind-mindedness appears to be

Acknowledgments

This study is part of a larger research project Men in Childcare, which was supported by the Dutch non-profit organization Kinderopvangfonds. The authors wish to thank Shannon Honcoop, Lisanne Jilink, and Serena Landman who assisted in the study, and Katrien Helmerhorst and Moniek Zeegers for their helpful comments.

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