The roles of maternal mind-mindedness and infant security of attachment in predicting preschoolers’ understanding of visual perspective taking and false belief

Abstract

This study is a follow-up to a previous study that examined two aspects of mother–child relationships—mothers’ mind-mindedness and infant attachment security—in relation to toddlers’ early manifestations of theory of mind understanding at 2years of age. The current study aimed to assess the same two aspects of mother–child relationships in relation to children’s (N=59) theory of mind performance at 4years of age. Results of the current study confirmed and expanded on relations observed at 2years. Mothers’ use of appropriate mind-related comments specifically during toy-based free play at 12months of age predicted preschoolers’ understanding of false belief and Level 2 visual perspective taking over and above earlier perspective-taking abilities. Furthermore, more securely attached boys, but not girls, performed better on a task requiring Level 2 visual perspective taking. The similarity of results across the two time points suggests the reliability of associations among mothers’ use of mind-related comments during toy-based play, boys’ attachment security, and children’s subsequent social understanding. The current results also suggest that maternal mind-mindedness may be most relevant to children’s social cognition when assessed in toy-based play contexts.