Children’s Social Representations in Dolls’ House Play and Theory of Mind Tasks, and their Relation to Family Adversity and Child Disturbance

Abstract

Five‐year‐old children of depressed and well mothers were assessed on theory of mind tasks, and enacted scenes from their family lives in dolls’ house play. Performance on theory of mind tasks was only weakly related to family circumstances and child distur‐bance, but was significantly associated with measures of the child’s general and verbal intelligence. In contrast, children’s social representations elicited during dolls’ house play showed systematic relationships with family adversity (maternal depression and parental conflict) in interaction with the child’s gender: girls exposed to difficulties depicted particularly harmonious mother‐child relationships, and their accounts showed a high degree of narrative structure; while boys so exposed depicted poor parenting, and their accounts were relatively incoherent. The children’s dolls’ house play was also associated with several aspects of their wider experience, including objective assessments of mother‐child interactions, and behavioural and emotional adjustment in school. This technique may usefully elucidate the basis of child behavioural problems and psychopathology in the context of disturbed family relationships, and provide a route for therapeutic intervention.