Attachment, reflective functioning, and trauma among mothers with intellectual disability or ADHD: Links with the children´s socioemotional functioning

Research problem and specific questions The project will examine attachment representations (AR), reflective functioning (RF), and PTSD symptoms among mothers with intellectual disability (ID) and mothers with ADHD, and links between these factors and the children´s socioemotional functioning (see "Purpose and aims" for research questions).

The importance of AR, RF, and PTSD symptoms for caregiving and child development has been demonstrated in a rich body of research on the general parent population.

Although mothers with ID and ADHD constitute particularly vulnerable parent groups, there is, however, no empirical knowledge about these factors – or links with children´s development – in these populations.

Research addressing these knowledge gaps is imperative, in order to counteract prejudice and discrimination towards the pertinent mothers, to inform support interventions, and to bridge the gap between research on parents with cognitive difficulties, and the general parent literature. Data and method AR and RF will be measured with gold-standard instruments.

Raw data for these measurements have already been collected within my PhD project, but extensive coding is required before the data can be analyzed.

Data on PTSD symptoms and the children´s socioemotional functioning will be collected within a longitudinal follow-up with the mothers from my PhD project, through well-validated questionnaires, delivered in interview form, and through questionnaires to the children´s preschool teachers/teachers. Societal relevance and utilisation Mothers with ID or ADHD have a heightened risk for caregiving-related difficulties.

Despite extensive knowledge about factors contributing to such difficulties among parents in general, corrsponding factors have been insufficiently examined among mothers with ID or ADHD. This increases the risk for diagnosis-based discrimination of the mothers, and hampers efficient support.

The planned project would contribute to a more scientifically anchored picture of important caregiving-related factors among the mothers, and could inform support interventions for mothers with cognitive difficulties.

Plan for project realisation The project will be realized through extensive coding of the collected raw data, and through supplementary data collection with all mothers from my PhD project.

The extended data collection will be conducted in collaboration with regional habilitation and support services for mothers with cognitive difficulties.