Dr. Tina Adkins’ scholarship centers on parental reflective functioning and mentalization — the capacity of a parent to hold their child’s inner life in mind. Her work includes the RF-FMSS, a brief validated measure of parental reflective functioning co-developed with Peter Fonagy, and Family Minds, an intervention for foster and adoptive caregivers whose randomized controlled trial was published in Development and Psychopathology in 2022. After twelve years as Research Faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Adkins now continues this research independently through the Center for Reflective Functioning, where she remains an active scholar-practitioner. To explore this work in depth, visit the Center’s research page.
[View Dr. Adkins’ Research →]

Current Research Initiatives

RF-FMSS: Development & Validation of a Brief Measure of Parental Reflective Functioning

This initiative focuses on the development and validation of the Reflective Functioning Five Minute Speech Sample (RF-FMSS), reflective functioning assessment measure designed to assess parental reflective functioning and mentalization within caregiving relationships. The RF-FMSS was developed to provide a clinically meaningful and accessible assessment of reflective functioning for use within research, training, and applied practice settings. Current research examines the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of the measure across caregiving populations, including ongoing collaborative work related to international validation efforts and attachment-informed, mentalization-based research applications.

The RF-FMSS measure and coding manual are currently available for research and training purposes. Development is also underway for an online coding training program designed to support broader dissemination, reliability training, and interdisciplinary implementation across clinical and research settings.