Family influences on theory of mind in middle childhood

Abstract

Links between individual differences in salient family characteristics and children’s developing understanding of mind have been proposed within several distinct theoretical perspectives. Previous meta-analysis of the preschool literature indicated that variation in children’s false belief understanding showed modest but consistent associations with four key family measures: socioeconomic status (SES), number of siblings, parental mental state talk, and parental mind-mindedness. The current chapter aims to review findings from studies of school-aged children to identify whether parallel associations are evident in middle childhood. Findings from nine studies show that associations between children’s theory of mind and both family SES and sibling relationships are sustained across middle childhood. However, more mixed findings emerge from five studies that focus on the parent–child relationships, with significant effects only evident in the context of adversity (i.e., children exposed to maltreatment or neglect). While just three studies of mental state talk and theory of mind in middle childhood were identified, the findings point to moderating effects of the complexity of parental mental state talk, with benefits from exposure to advanced rather than simple mental state talk. Our review highlights the need for future studies of theory of mind in school-aged children to adopt longitudinal designs to tease apart the mechanisms underpinning these associations.