Exploring the Impact of Parental Bonding on a Father’s Mentalization With His Children Through the Moderating Effects of Attachment to God

Abstract

Mentalization, also referred to as reflective functioning, is a term used to describe how an individual holds in mind thoughts and feelings of themselves and another and is closely related to attachment. The current study examined the relationship between participants’ bonding experience with their fathers and their ability to mentalize with their children. Participants were 160 fathers of children ages five and below identified through Survey Monkey’s crowd-sourcing platform. Measures consisted of the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ), Duke University Religious Inventory (DUREL), and Secure Attachment to God items designed for this study. It was hypothesized that care and overprotection experienced by the participant as a child would be related to aspects of a father’s mentalization (i.e., interest and curiosity, pre-mentalizing) of his children. It was also hypothesized attachment to God would be associated with the level of mentalization. Additionally, it was predicted that attachment to God would moderate the association between the paternal bond and reflective functioning. There was not a significant relationship between positive mentalizing and care; however, there was a significant relationship between overprotection and pre-mentalizing. Also, there was not a moderating effect of attachment to God on parental bonding and parental reflective functioning. The current study explored the intergenerational impact of a father-son bond. It demonstrated that further research is needed to understand the role of fathers in cultivating the capacity for mentalization in their children and how this relationship might relate to attachment to God.