The recent perspectives on the intergenerational transmission of attachment: Parental reflective functioning

The recent meta-analytic work continued providing evidence on the intergenerational transmission of attachment. In the literature, the intergenerational transmission of attachment has been generally explained by parental sensitivity. On the other side, gap in the intergenerational transmission of attachment has been highlighted since the explained variance by parental sensitivity is low. In this regard, the purpose of the present article was to review the recent perspectives on the intergenerational transmission of attachment. Therefore, available research in the literature was reviewed in a non-systematical way, and both pioneer and recent attachment studies were included in the review process. Reviewed literature pointed out that research on the intergenerational transmission of attachment explaining transmission with parental sensitivity should be expanded. In this regard, parental reflective functioning is among the prominent constructs to explain the intergenerational transmission of attachment. However, research on the intergenerational transmission of attachment including both parental sensitivity and reflective functioning constructs together is scarce. Furthermore, transmission research on parental sensitivity and reflective functioning lack of examining the interactional behavioral indicators, or antecedents in transmission, showing what the infant experience in the interactions. As a result, the current review showed required expansions in the intergenerational transmission of attachment models. Clinical implications also indicated that intervention/prevention studies on the quality of parent-infant interactions and parental refection functioning would be halting the intergenerational transmission of insecure attachment.