Does Parental Mind-Mindedness Account for Cross-Cultural Differences in Preschoolers' Theory of Mind?

"If I could read your mind…": parental mentalizing in mothers with borderline personality disorder

BACKGROUND

Individuals with a borderline personality disorder (BPD) show impairments in their ability to mentalize. Particularly in the parent-child relationship, mentalizing is an important foundation for sensitive parenting and the quality of interactive behavior. Previous studies of parental mentalizing in mothers with BPD are scarce and have focused primarily on one aspect of the multidimensional construct. In addition, there is currently no research comparing different mental disorders on different aspects of parental mentalizing, leaving disorder-specific differences unclear. Aim of this study is to examine disorder-specific differences in reflective functioning and mind-mindedness, two facets of parental mentalizing.

METHODS

We compared mothers with BPD (n = 156) with a clinical control group of mothers with depressive or anxiety disorders (n = 65) and with healthy mothers (n = 91) using non-parametric inference for multivariate data. Mothers completed the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ) and participated in a five-minute speech sample (FMSS) in which they reflected on their child and their relationship with their child. Verbal transcripts of the FMSS were rated using an adapted manual for coding mind-mindedness with the FMSS that incorporates the assessment of additional characteristics of mind-related speech.

RESULTS

Mothers with BPD showed the highest impairments in parental mentalizing compared to both other groups, as evident in both operationalizations: They made more maladaptive attributions (PRFQ pre-mentalizing) than the other two groups and reported lower interest and curiosity and certainty in mental states than healthy mothers. In addition, mothers with BPD used more mental attributes with negative valence when asked to describe their child and the relationship compared to both other groups and more self-related mental attributes compared to healthy mothers. Additionally, Pearson correlational analyses revealed that only the use of mental attributes with negative valence was associated with all three subscales of the PRFQ in the anticipated directions. This supports the idea that the two operationalizations target different facets of parental mentalization.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings revealed impaired parental mentalization in several domains for mothers with BPD. Disorder-specific differences were observed in the amount of maladaptive attributions and in the negativity of mental state references. These aspects should be considered in diagnostic and therapeutic processes when working with mothers with BPD. As a limitation, it should be noted that the group comparisons did not control for sociodemographic variables, which may have contributed to some of the observed group differences.

Evidence of Cross-Cultural Differences in Maternal Mind-Mindedness

Cross-cultural research on maternal mind-mindedness- the proclivity to view the child as a mental agent-can enhance our understanding of caregiving determinants and children's social-cognitive variations across cultures. However, cross-cultural studies on mind-mindedness remain limited. To address this gap, we examined mothers' use of appropriate (AMRCs) and non-attuned (NAMRCs) mind-related comments in Italy (N = 88), Germany (N = 64), and the Netherlands (N = 97) with their 12-month-old infants (N = 249; 133 girls and 116 boys). Cluster analysis revealed three maternal profiles: low use of both AMRCs and NAMRCs, high use of both AMRCs and NAMRCs, and high AMRCs with low NAMRCs. Almost half of the German mothers belonged to the first profile, most Italian mothers to the second, and Dutch mothers were equally distributed across the three. These findings highlight, for the first time, cultural influences on maternal mind-mindedness within Western countries and emphasize the need to move beyond a simplistic West-East comparison, recognizing that cultural differences can be observed even within similar contexts, and call for culturally sensitive psychoeducational interventions to enhance caregivers' mentalizing skills.

Picture book reading improves children's learning understanding

Mental state reasoning is an integral part of children's teaching and learning understanding. This study investigated whether a picture book reading approach focusing on mental state discourse and contrasting perspectives in a preschool classroom setting would improve children's teaching and learning understanding and school readiness. In total, 104 children from four classrooms aged between 46 and 64 months (53 girls, M = 54.03 months, SD = 3.68) participated in the study. Half of the classrooms were randomly assigned to an experimental group where teachers read picture books rich in mental state discourse and engaged in intensive discussions with children for eight weeks. Children's false belief understanding and teaching and learning understanding were measured before and after the eight-week period. The result revealed that picture book reading improved children's learning understanding with a medium effect size, controlling for demographic variables, children's verbal ability, inhibition, and initial false belief understanding. The experimental group children further demonstrated more advanced school readiness 18 months after the intervention ended in a follow-up study using a teacher questionnaire.

Parental mentalization across cultures: Mind-mindedness and parental reflective functioning in British and South Korean mothers

Differences in mind-mindedness and parental reflective functioning (PRF) were investigated in mothers and their 6-month-old infants from South Korea (N = 66, 32 girls) and the United Kingdom (N = 63, 26 girls). Mind-mindedness was assessed in terms of appropriate and non-attuned mind-related comments during infant-mother interaction; PRF was assessed using a questionnaire. British mothers commented more on infant desires and preferences, whereas Korean mothers commented more on cognitions and emotions, but there were no cultural differences in overall levels of mind-mindedness. For PRF, Korean mothers reported more certainty about their infants' mental states compared with their British counterparts, but there were no cultural differences in mothers' reported interest in their infants' mental states. Greater reported certainty about infants' mental states was positively related to self-reported parenting quality in both cultural groups, but this association was not seen for parenting quality as assessed observationally. Mind-mindedness and PRF were unrelated in both Korean and British mothers. Results are discussed in terms of the Korean concept of mother-infant oneness and the multi-dimensional nature of parental mentalization.

Relationship between Parenting Style and Peer Relationships during Early Adolescence: The Mediating Role of Parental Mentalizing

Although previous research has suggested that parenting style affects children's peer relationships, the influential mechanism remains a subject of debate. We propose that parental mentalizing plays a crucial role in parenting style and peer relationships. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the relationships between family parenting styles, parental mentalizing, and peer relationships during early adolescence. In this study, 379 primary school students (Mean age = 12.17 years, SD = 0.92) and their parents were assessed using the Family Parenting Style Scale, Peer Relationship Satisfaction Scale, and a distorted mentalizing task. The results showed a mediating effect of parental mentalizing between parenting style and peer relationships. For fathers, a favorable parenting style affects children's peer relationships through mentalizing. Among mothers, interference, protection, and punishment affect their children's peer relationships through mentalizing. In conclusion, parenting style affects peer relationships through parental mentalizing. Fathers'/mothers' parenting style and parental mentalizing affect their children's peer relationships differently.

Early relational origins of Theory of Mind: A two-study replication

BACKGROUND

Research implies early relational factors - parental appropriate mind-mindedness (MM) and mutually responsive orientation (MRO) - as antecedents of children's Theory of Mind (ToM), yet the longitudinal path is unclear. Furthermore, little is known about the process in father-child relationships. In two studies of community families in a Midwestern state in United States, we tested a path from parental appropriate MM in infancy to parent-child MRO in toddlerhood to children's ToM at preschool age in mother- and father-child relationships, using comparable observational measures at parallel ages.

METHODS

In Children and Parents Study (CAPS) of children born in 2017 and 2018, we collected data at 8 months (N = 200, 96 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 175, 86 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 177, 86 girls). In Family Study (FS) of children born mostly in 2001, we collected data at 7 months (N = 102, 51 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 100, 50 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 99, 49 girls). Parental MM (verbal comments aligned with the infant's psychological state) was observed in infancy, MRO (parent and child responsiveness to each other and shared positive affect) at age 3, and ToM (false belief tasks) at age 4.5.

RESULTS

The findings supported the proposed indirect effects of parents' MM on children's ToM, mediated by MRO, for fathers and children in both studies, and for mothers and children, in CAPS. In FS, mothers' MM predicted MRO and ToM, but there was no mediation.

CONCLUSIONS

This investigation, testing a path from MM to MRO to ToM in both mother- and father-child relationships in two longitudinal studies, adds to the literature that has described relations among those constructs but rarely integrated those in one model.

Caregiving relationships are a cornerstone of developmental psychopathology

The interdisciplinary field of developmental psychopathology has made great strides by including context into theoretical and empirical approaches to studying risk and resilience. Perhaps no context is more important to the developing child than their relationships with their caregivers (typically a child's parents), as caregivers are a key source of stimulation and nurturance to young children. Coupled with the high degree of brain plasticity in the earliest years of life, these caregiving relationships have an immense influence on shaping behavioral outcomes relevant to developmental psychopathology. In this article, we discuss three areas within caregiving relationships: (1) caregiver-child interactions in everyday, naturalistic settings; (2) caregivers' social cognitions about their child; and (3) caregivers' broader social and cultural context. For each area, we provide an overview of its significance to the field, identify existing knowledge gaps, and offer potential approaches for bridging these gaps to foster growth in the field. Lastly, given that one value of a scientific discipline is its ability to produce research useful in guiding real-world decisions related to policy and practice, we encourage developmental psychopathology to consider that a focus on caregiving, a modifiable target, supports this mission.

Contrasting one's share of the shared life space: Comparing the roles of metacognition and inhibitory control in the development of theory of mind among Scottish and Japanese children

Cultural comparisons suggest that an understanding of other minds may develop sooner in independent versus interdependent settings, and vice versa for inhibitory control. From a western lens, this pattern might be considered paradoxical, since there is a robust positive relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and inhibitory control in western samples. In independent cultures, an emphasis on one's own mind offers a clear route to 'simulate' other minds, and inhibitory control may be required to set aside one's own perspective to represent the perspective of others. However, in interdependent cultures, social norms are considered the key catalyst for behaviour, and metacognitive reflection and/or suppression of one's own perspective may not be necessary. The cross-cultural generalizability of the western developmental route to ToM is therefore questionable. The current study used an age-matched cross-sectional sample to contrast 56 Japanese and 56 Scottish 3-6-year-old's metacognition, ToM and inhibitory control skills. We replicated the expected cultural patterns for ToM (Scotland > Japan) and inhibitory control (Japan > Scotland). Supporting western developmental enrichment theories, we find that inhibitory control and metacognition predict theory of mind competence in Scotland. However, these variables cannot be used to predict Japanese ToM. This confirms that individualistic mechanisms do not capture the developmental mechanism underlying ToM in Japan, highlighting a bias in our understanding of ToM development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We replicate an independent cultural advantage for theory of mind (Scotland > Japan) and interdependent advantage for inhibitory control (Japan > Scotland). From a western lens, this pattern might be considered paradoxical, since there is a robust positive relationship between theory of mind and inhibitory control. Supporting western developmental enrichment theories, we find that the development of inhibitory control mediates the link between metacognition and theory of mind in Scotland. However, this model does not predict Japanese theory of mind, highlighting an individualistic bias in our mechanistic understanding of theory of mind development.

Mothers' Mental State Talk and 3- to 5-Year-Old Children's Theory of Mind: Their Reciprocal Dynamic Impact

The development of children's social function is influenced by the social environment, and children also play an active role in shaping and nurturing this environment. The present study investigated the potential reciprocal dynamic impact of mothers' mental state talk (MST) and the development of theory of mind (ToM) in children. Using a cross-sectional design, we explored the development of ToM in 3- to 5-year-old children using an unexpected location task, an unexpected content task, an appearance-reality task, and mothers' MST during mother-child reading. The results showed the following: (1) the mothers' MST exhibited a shift from a predilection for subjective terms (such as desires) to a preference for objective terms (such as cognitions) as their children matured; (2) the development of the children's ToM was closely related to their mothers' MST. The overall MST scores, as well as the different categories and referents used in MST, were closely associated with the children's ToM development. Notably, at the age of four, a critical period emerged where the correlation between maternal MST and ToM became significantly pronounced. These findings highlight the reciprocal nature of mother-child interactions as a two-way adaptive process.

Mind-mindedness in mothers of infants with excessive crying/sleeping/eating disorders

Introduction

Excessive crying, sleeping, and eating disorders are among the most prevalent mental health diagnoses in the first 3 years of life and involve significant health service use. Parents of infants with excessive crying/sleeping/eating disorders report high levels of stress, since they feel incapable of soothing and/or nurturing their baby. Infants' distress can lead to a breakdown in parents' mentalizing abilities and, more specifically, parental mind-mindedness in the parent-child interaction. Moreover, the signals of infants with excessive crying/sleeping/eating disorders tend to be equivocal and difficult to read. This also might contribute to lower parent-child interaction quality. Until now, parental mind-mindedness, which is regarded as a prerequisite for sensitivity, has not been investigated in mothers of infants with excessive crying/sleeping/eating disorders. We investigated whether mind-mindedness in mothers of infants with excessive crying, sleeping and/or eating disorders differed from a healthy control group. We supposed that mothers of infants with excessive crying/sleeping/eating disorders would use (1) less appropriate mind-related comments (AMRCs), and (2) more non-attuned mind-related comments (NAMRCs) than mothers in the control group.

Methods

Our sample consisted of 44 mothers and their infants who were patients in a socio-paediatric clinic in Germany. The children were diagnosed with excessive crying, sleeping and/or eating disorders according to DC:0-5 (= clinical group). The control group was composed of 64 healthy children and their mothers. Maternal mind-mindedness was coded during a free-play interaction.

Results

Results showed that mothers of infants with excessive crying, sleeping and/or eating disorders used both more AMRCs (p = .029) as well as more NAMRCs (p = .006) than mothers in the control group.

Discussion

The findings are discussed in terms of implications for interventions (e.g., enhancing mind-mindedness trough video-feedback).

Elucidating mechanisms linking mothers' and fathers' mind-mindedness in infancy with children's self-regulation at early preschool age

Extensive research has examined factors that contribute to individual differences in children's self-regulation (SR), a key social-emotional competence crucial to adjustment and mental health. Those differences become salient and measurable at late toddler age. In the CAPS (N = 200 community families), we examined mothers' and fathers' appropriate mind-mindedness (MM)-the ability to view the child as a psychological agent and correctly interpret his or her mental states-as a predictor of children's SR. MM was observed in parent-child interactions at 8 months, and SR was observed as the capacity for deliberate delay in standard tasks at 3 years. Reflecting a family system perspective, processes both within and across mother-child and father-child relationships were examined in one model. Parent-child mutual responsiveness, observed during interactions at 16 months, was modeled as a mediator of the paths from MM to SR. Fathers' MM had a significant, direct positive effect on SR; in addition, it enhanced mutual responsiveness in both father-child and mother-child dyads and promoted child SR through enhanced mother-child mutual responsiveness. The findings elucidate relatively poorly understood mechanisms linking parental MM in infancy with SR at early preschool age, highlight similarities and differences in the processes unfolding in mother-child and father-child relationships, and emphasize interparental dynamics in socialization.

Mind-mindedness and preschool children's behavioral difficulties: The moderating role of maternal parenting distress

Mind-mindedness (MM) is a caregiver's tendency to appreciate their infant's internal mental states. This longitudinal study investigated whether maternal MM (10 months) was linked with children's later behavioral problems (51 months) and the moderating role of maternal parenting distress (PD; 36 months) in a sample of 91 mother-infant dyads. Appropriate MM comments were coded from video-recorded, semi-structured play interactions between mothers and their infants; PD was obtained from maternal completion of the PD subscale of the Parenting Stress Index - Short Form (PSI-SF); and child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were gathered from maternal report on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Moderated regression analyses revealed higher early appropriate MM was associated with significantly fewer internalizing emotional problems at 51 months among mothers with lower PD at 36 months, and higher early appropriate MM was associated with lower conduct problems at 51 months in mothers with higher PD at 36 months. Findings demonstrated the importance of considering nuanced contexts such as at-risk mothers and differential presentations of child difficulties in the analysis of the relationship between MM and child behavioral difficulties and the development of MM interventions.

Cross-cultural differences in early caregiving: levels of mind-mindedness and instruction in UK and India

Introduction

Most studies on parenting and its role in child development are conducted in Western countries, but it cannot be assumed that characteristics of parental practices are similar in non-Western settings. Research characterizing cultural differences in parenting is required to inform the focus of studies designed to test differential outcomes from such practices in children over time and across cultures. The present cross-cultural study examined differences in maternal speech during mother-child interactions, and, specifically, in the use of mind-mindedness, instruction and control, and the expression of warmth (i.e., positive comments).

Methods

We observed 100 dyads (50 from the UK and 50 from India) during mother-infant play interactions at 7 months. Maternal speech was transcribed and translated prior to independent coding, and this was coded using established measures together with a newly developed measure of "Instructions".

Results

Substantially large differences between UK and Indian mothers were observed. Compared with UK mothers, Indian mothers made fewer mind-minded comments about their infants, and they issued more instructions and made more controlling and positive comments. Findings from this study might reflect cultural differences in how parental style might be expressed according to cultural priorities and values.

Conclusions

The implications of these very large differences in parenting across cultures for child development remain to be investigated and are discussed in the present paper.

Inhibition and cognitive flexibility are related to prediction of one's own future preferences in young British and Chinese children

The ability to shift from current to future perspective is pivotal to future-oriented cognition. With two distinct cultural groups, UK (N = 92) and China (N = 90), we investigated 3 to 5-year-olds' understanding of preference changes occurring within themselves and their peers (another child). We administered a battery of representative tasks of executive function and theory of mind to examine their underlying relationships with children's ability to predict future preferences. British 3-year-olds outperformed Chinese children in predicting future preferences, while no country differences were observed between the 4- and 5-year-olds. Across the UK and China, children were more accurate when predicting for their peers than for themselves. They were also more accurate when their current preferences were identified first, i.e. before answering questions about the future. Chinese children outperformed their British counterparts on inhibition and cognitive flexibility tasks whereas there were no Eastern and Western differences in their theory of mind abilities. After controlling for age and children's knowledge of generic adult preferences, children's performance in the inhibition and cognitive flexibility tasks were significantly correlated with the prediction of their own future preferences, but they were not significantly correlated when predicting for a peer. These results are discussed in relation to the conflicts between multiple perspectives and the cognitive correlates of future-oriented cognition.

An integrative framework and recommendations for the study of DNA methylation in the context of race and ethnicity

Human social epigenomics research is critical to elucidate the intersection of social and genetic influences underlying racial and ethnic differences in health and development. However, this field faces major challenges in both methodology and interpretation with regard to disentangling confounded social and biological aspects of race and ethnicity. To address these challenges, we discuss how these constructs have been approached in the past and how to move forward in studying DNA methylation (DNAm), one of the best-characterized epigenetic marks in humans, in a responsible and appropriately nuanced manner. We highlight self-reported racial and ethnic identity as the primary measure in this field, and discuss its implications in DNAm research. Racial and ethnic identity reflects the biological embedding of an individual's sociocultural experience and environmental exposures in combination with the underlying genetic architecture of the human population (i.e., genetic ancestry). Our integrative framework demonstrates how to examine DNAm in the context of race and ethnicity, while considering both intrinsic factors-including genetic ancestry-and extrinsic factors-including structural and sociocultural environment and developmental niches-when focusing on early-life experience. We reviewed DNAm research in relation to health disparities given its relevance to race and ethnicity as social constructs. Here, we provide recommendations for the study of DNAm addressing racial and ethnic differences, such as explicitly acknowledging the self-reported nature of racial and ethnic identity, empirically examining the effects of genetic variants and accounting for genetic ancestry, and investigating race-related and culturally regulated environmental exposures and experiences.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44155-023-00039-z.

The relation between aggression and theory of mind in children: A meta-analysis

Previous findings on the association between theory of mind (ToM) and aggression in children are mixed. The social skills deficit view regarded ToM as a single-edged sword and proposed that a lack of ToM can lead to aggression, while the double-edged sword view proposed that children with advanced ToM can still show much aggression because children can also leverage ToM to harm others. To resolve the dispute between the two views, we conducted a meta-analysis combining cross-sectional and longitudinal findings from 53 studies including a total of 11,579 children aged between 2 and 15 years. The overall negative correlation between ToM and aggression was small but significant (r = -0.08). The negative correlation was robust, with the magnitude of the correlation being similar across physical versus relational aggression, proactive versus reactive aggression, cognitive versus affective ToM, preschoolers versus school-aged children, different aggression measurements, and different levels of societal individualism. Moreover, the negative correlation was found regardless of whether ToM and aggression were measured concurrently or at different time points, but the correlation was the largest when ToM was measured before aggression. Whether the aggression was bullying or not also moderated the association, with ToM only being negatively related to non-bullying aggression but not bullying. Together, these findings suggest that ToM is a single-edged sword to decrease general aggression and that aggression might also give rise to lower ToM capacity during development. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This study systemically reviewed the existing mixed findings on the association between aggression and ToM during childhood using a meta-analysis. There was a negative correlation between ToM and aggression in children aged between 2 and 15 years. The negative correlation between aggression and ToM was stronger when ToM was measured first, followed by aggression, than vice versa. There was a negative correlation between non-bullying aggression and ToM, whereas there was no correlation between bullying and ToM.

Not just quantity but also quality of language: Cross-cultural comparisons of maternal mental state talk in New Zealand, Australia, and China

Western mothers use more mental state talk with children than do Chinese mothers (e.g., "think", "like", "happy"). The present study aimed to examine whether Western mothers not only produced a greater amount of mental state talk, but also used a wider range of mental state terms (i.e., greater lexical variety) compared to Chinese mothers. We compared maternal mental state talk in 271 mother-child dyads from New Zealand, Australia and China, and coded both quantity (i.e., frequency) and quality (i.e., type, variety, valence) of mothers' mental state talk to their 2.5- to 5-year-olds. Western mothers produced more talk about cognitions and emotions, as well as modulations of assertions, but a similar amount of desire talk, compared to Chinese mothers, with the same patterns found in the variety of talk. Western mothers produced an overall higher amount of mental state talk and a greater variety of mental state terms, but crucially, still produced more MS talk after controlling for the variety. Neither the amount nor the variety of maternal MS talk was correlated with children's theory of mind. These findings shed light on the diverse ways that mothers construe and describe mental states in different cultures, and highlight the importance of examining different aspects of maternal mental state talk and their impact on children's theory of mind in future longitudinal studies.

Relación entre modelos operantes internos y nivel educacional materno, con la teoría de la mente en niños chilenos de 3 y 4 años: rol mediador del lenguaje mentalizante materno

La teoría de la mente (ToM) es la capacidad de reconocer los propios estados mentales y predecir los de otros, habilidad fundamental en el desarrollo socioemocional/cognitivo en preescolares. El presente estudio buscó describir la ToM de niños chilenos de 3 y 4 años, analizar las diferencias en su desarrollo según la edad y el rol mediador del lenguaje mentalizante(LM) materno, considerando el sexo de los niños, los modelos operantes internos (MOI) y el nivel educacional materno. La muestra fueron 110 niños con sus madres. Se aplicó un cuestionario sociodemográfico, pruebas para evaluar la ToM, el LM y los MOI de las madres. Un 50.9 % de los niños se ubicó en el quintil 1 de la ToM y ninguno logró llegar al quinto. Las habilidades de la ToM con un mayor nivel de logro diferenciaron entre pretender y realidad (60.0 %) y la de diferenciar laperspectiva visual propia y de otro (50.9 %). Un 59.1 % de los niños no logró inferir deseos a través de la mirada, un 83.6 % no logró la habilidad de acceso al conocimiento, y un 100 % no logró la falsa creencia. Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas entre niños de distintos rangos etarios en el desarrollo de la ToM, sugiriendo una creciente dificultad de adquisición de sus habilidades. Además, un mayor lm de las madres se relacionó con mayor desarrollo de la ToM en los niños,con un rol mediador en la influencia de los moi y nivel educacional materno sobre la ToM.

Paternal mind-mindedness and infant-toddler social-emotional problems

A growing body of evidence suggests that paternal behaviors are influential in child development. However, few studies have focused on paternal mind-mindedness, that is, the tendency of fathers to view their child as having mental agency, which is manifested as a propensity to name the child's mental states while they are interacting with the child. The purpose of this study was to better understand the role of paternal mind-mindedness in the development of social-emotional problems during infancy. 131 families (father-mother-child) were recruited from the community and assessed when children were 6, 12, and 18 months old. Paternal and maternal mind-mindedness was assessed through observation of father-child and mother-child dyads at 6 months. Children's social-emotional problems were measured with a questionnaire completed by both parents at 12 and 18 months. Results indicate that maternal mind-mindedness at 6 months predicts fewer social-emotional problems at 12 months, while fathers' mind-mindedness at 6 months predicts fewer social-emotional problems at 18 months. This study highlights the unique contribution of paternal mind-mindedness to children's early social-emotional development.

Patience Is a Virtue: Theory of Mind Longitudinally Predicts Children's Delay during School Transition

Four- to seven-year-old children participated in a battery of tasks assessing their theory of mind, conflict inhibition, and delay at time 1, and theory of mind and delay one year later at time 2. Cross-lagged analysis revealed that earlier theory of mind predicted later delay after controlling for earlier conflict inhibition and theory of mind, child age, and family socioeconomic status. The findings highlighted the dynamic nature of the association between theory of mind and delay during the school transition years in its strength and direction, and the increasing specificity in the structure of executive function with age.

Household clutter and crowding constrain associations between maternal sensitivity and child theory of mind

Social interactions between parents and children are important for developing theory of mind, but these may be disrupted by aspects of the proximal home environment. The current study observed maternal sensitivity and its associations with child theory of mind and the housing environment (index by clutter and crowding) in a sample of mothers and their 3.5-year-old twins (N = 250 children). Maternal sensitivity and housing environment were measured from experimenter report and child theory of mind was measured through behavioural tasks. Results show that the association between maternal sensitivity and child theory of mind was moderated by the housing environment, where the positive associations between maternal sensitivity and child theory of mind were only observed at lower levels of clutter and crowding in the housing environment. Additional contextual variables and processes are discussed.

The mediating role of parental embodied mentalizing in the longitudinal association between prenatal spousal support and toddler emotion recognition

Emotion recognition is an important developmental achievement in early childhood. Grounded in theoretical concepts of family systems theory and the spillover effect, the goal of the current study was to examine whether prenatal spousal support predicts toddler emotion recognition at 24 months, and whether this association is mediated by parental embodied mentalizing (PEM) at 6 months. PEM refers to the parent's capacity to understand the infant's mental states from his or her whole-body kinesthetic expressions and adjust their own kinesthetic patterns accordingly. One hundred and five families expecting their first child were included in the study. Results indicated that maternal PEM mediated the relationship between prenatal dyadic positive and overall support and toddler emotion recognition. Paternal PEM was not found to be related to either dyadic support or to toddler emotion recognition, and it did not mediate the relationship between the two. The findings of the current study support the importance of including both parents' embodied mentalizing and a systemic approach to illuminate child development. A significant clinical implication from this study is the usefulness of prenatal couple interventions to improve mutual support and communication as it can promote parents' parental mentalizing and ultimately the child's emotion recognition capacity.

Caregivers' mind-mindedness and rural left-behind young children's insecure attachment: The moderated mediation model of theory of mind and family status

BACKGROUND

China's rapid development and urbanization since the early 1980s have compelled many rural residents to move from rural to urban areas for work, leaving thousands of children at home.

OBJECTIVE

This study tested the mediating effect of children's theory of mind on the relationship between caregivers' mind-mindedness and their children's insecure attachment differently depending on the different family status (the moderator) of left-behind and non-left-behind.

PARTICIPANTS

The participants were 3 to 6 years old 74 left-behind children (LBHC) and 89 non-left-behind children (NLBHC).

SETTINGS

Participants were from rural counties of central China in Henan province that has experienced a large labor migration.

METHODS

A cross-sectional moderated mediation model linked mind-mindedness (independent variable) and insecure attachment (dependent variable) through the theory of mind (mediator) and family status (moderator: left-behind/non-left-behind), controlling for age, gender, and siblings.

RESULTS

First, LBHC scored higher on insecure-disorganized attachment than NLBHC. Second, the early childhood theory of mind mediated the relationship between the caregiver's mind-mindedness and young children's insecure attachment. Third, family status moderated the effects of the theory of mind on insecure attachment. The mediating role was established only for the left-behind family, and the lower theory of mind ability was associated with the greater insecure attachment of LBHC.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings highlight the critical role of mind-mindedness, theory of mind, and family status in the attachment theory and clarify the association between different levels of young children's theory of mind and insecure attachment based on family status.

Relations between theory of mind and family environment among Brazilian preschool children

Given the importance of the environment for the development of the theory of mind (ToM) in childhood, as well as the scarcity of studies in low-income Latin American countries, we aimed to investigate the relation between family environment characteristics and performance in ToM tasks in a group of Brazilian children. A total of 49 children participated, whose ages ranged between 3 and 5 years (M = 4.43; SD = 0.71), all of whom attended a public kindergarten school located in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil, and took the Theory of mind test for children (TMTC). The observation of the characteristics of the family environment was conducted by using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) instrument in the very home setting of each participating child. By controlling the effects of children's age, intelligence, vocabulary, and mother's and father's educational level, a consistent positive, significant, and low-magnitude correlation was found between HOME's Responsiveness subscale with the total score in TMTC. A robust regression analysis also showed that individual and contextual variables (above cited, plus sex) and Responsiveness accounted for 28.4% of ToM variance. This study corroborates previous findings on the relation between family aspects and ToM, specifically highlighting parents' responsiveness.

Little pranksters: Inhibitory control mediates the association between false belief understanding and practical joking in young children

To successfully pull a practical joke on someone, children need to understand that their victims do not know what they themselves know, be able to intentionally manipulate others’ beliefs, and maintain a straight face to safeguard the integrity of the joke. This study examined the relationship between children’s developing theory of mind (ToM), inhibitory control, and their ability to pull a practical joke. Ninety-five children between ages 2 and 6 participated in, among other measures, a practical joke task that required them to knowingly give one of the experimenters a gift box containing a rubber insect. Results showed that children’s ability to pull a practical joke was significantly related to their age, false belief understanding (FBU), inhibitory control, and verbal ability. Children with more siblings were more likely to successfully pull a practical joke. Most importantly, inhibitory control was shown to mediate the relation between FBU and practical joking. The findings provide evidence that practical joking as an example of ToM use is effortful.

Cultural variation in young children's social motivation for peer collaboration and its relation to the ontogeny of Theory of Mind

Children seek and like to engage in collaborative activities with their peers. This social motivation is hypothesized to facilitate their emerging social-cognitive skills and vice versa. Current evidence on the ontogeny of social motivation and its’ links to social cognition, however, is subject to a sampling bias toward participants from urban Western populations. Here, we show both cross-cultural variation and homogeneity in three- to eight-year-old children’s expressed positive emotions during and explicit preferences for peer collaboration across three diverse populations (urban German, rural Hai||om/Namibia, rural Ovambo/Namibia; n = 240). Children expressed more positive emotions during collaboration as compared to individual activity, but the extent varied across populations. Children’s preferences for collaboration differed markedly between populations and across ages: While German children across all ages sought collaboration, Hai||om children preferred to act individually throughout childhood. Ovambo children preferred individual play increasingly with age. Across populations, positive emotions expressed selectively during collaboration, predicted children’s social-cognitive skills. These findings provide evidence that culture shapes young children’s social motivation for dyadic peer collaboration. At the same time, the positive relation of social motivation and social cognition in early ontogeny appears cross-culturally constant.

She Thinks in English, But She Wants in Mandarin: Differences in Singaporean Bilingual English-Mandarin Maternal Mental-State-Talk

Chinese-speaking parents are believed to use less cognitive mental-state-talk than their English-speaking counterparts on account of their cultural goals in socializing their children to follow an interdependence script. Here, we investigated bilingual English–Mandarin Singaporean mothers who associate different functions for each language as prescribed by their government: English for school and Mandarin for in-group contexts. English and Mandarin maternal mental-state-talk from bilingual English–Mandarin mothers with their toddlers was examined. Mothers produced more ‘’cognitive’’ terms in English than in Mandarin and more ‘’desire’’ terms in Mandarin than in English. We show that mental-state-talk differs between bilingual parents’ languages, suggesting that mothers adjust their mental-state-talk to reflect the functions of each language.

Validation of the ToMas-child Scale for the Assessment of the Theory of Mind in a Group of Spanish Speaking Children Aged 3 to 7 Years from Spain

This study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Theory of Mind assessment scale in children (ToMas-child). Two hundred and fifty-two Spanish children from 3 to 7 years were assessed in school settings. Rasch analysis showed the ToMas-child is a unidimensional scale valid for the assessment of the main components of the ToM in children. Data of hierarchical distribution of six items (seven tasks) are discussed as milestones in the latent construct of ToM development in childhood, and construct validity of the scale is examined. A reliability index of PSI = 0.7 indicated the usefulness of the scale as a screening tool.

Keeping cultural in cultural evolutionary psychology: Culture shapes indigenous psychologies in specific ecologies

In Cognitive Gadgets, Heyes seeks to unite evolutionary psychology with cultural evolutionary theory. Although we applaud this unifying effort, we find it falls short of considering how culture itself evolves to produce indigenous psychologies fitted to particular environments. We focus on mentalizing and autobiographical memory as examples of how socialization practices embedded within culture build cognitive adaptations.

Cross-cultural comparison of maternal mind-mindedness among Australian and Chinese mothers

Evidence suggests that parental mind-mindedness is important for children’s social-emotional development; however, almost all research exploring mind-mindedness has been conducted with families from Western backgrounds. The current study explored cross-cultural differences in mind-mindedness based on observed real-time interactions between urban Australian ( N = 50, M age = 30.34 years, SD = 3.14) and urban mainland Chinese ( N = 50, M age = 29.18 years, SD = 4.14) mothers and their toddlers (Australian: M age = 18.98 months, SD = 0.87; Chinese: M age = 18.50 months, SD = 2.25). Controlling for education, the Australian mothers used a higher proportion of appropriate mind-related comments and were less likely to use non-attuned mind-related comments than their Chinese counterparts, adjusting for total number of comments. Transcript analysis showed that the Australian mothers used more mental state terms referring to desires and preferences than Chinese mothers. Findings are discussed in relation to cultural influences in child-rearing goals, beliefs, and values and the need for cross-cultural validation of the mind-mindedness construct.

Long-term sequelae of mothers' and fathers' mind-mindedness in infancy: A developmental path to children's attachment at age 10

Rapidly growing research on parental mind-mindedness, a tendency to treat one's young child as a psychological agent and an individual with a mind, internal mental states, and emotions, has demonstrated significant links among parents' mind-mindedness, their parenting, and multiple aspects of children's development. This prospective longitudinal study of 102 community mothers, fathers, and infants, followed from 7 months to 10 years, contributes to research on mind-mindedness by addressing several existing gaps and limitations. We examine mechanisms that account for associations between parents' early mind-mindedness and children's future attachment security, using robust behavioral measures. Teams of trained observers coded parents' mind-minded comments to their infants at 7 months during naturalistic interactions, parents' responsiveness in naturalistic interactions and in elicited imitation tasks at 15 months, and children's security, using Attachment Q-Set at 2 years and Iowa Attachment Behavioral Coding at 10 years. Sequential mediation analyses supported a model of a developmental path from parents' appropriate mind-minded comments in infancy to children's security at age 10. For mothers and children, the path was mediated first through responsiveness at 15 months and then security at 2 years. For fathers and children, the path was mediated through attachment security at 2 years. Parents' nonattuned mind-minded comments had no effects on responsiveness or security. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Quality of Maternal Parenting of 9-Month-Old Infants Predicts Executive Function Performance at 2 and 3 Years of Age

Whereas the effects of maternal parenting quality during infants' 2nd year on later executive function (EF) have been studied extensively, less is known about the impact of maternal parenting quality during the 1st year. The aim of this study was to examine whether maternal parenting during infants' 1st year predicted EF performance at 2 and 3 years of age in a Chinese sample. Data were collected from 96 mother-infant dyads (42 males) when the infants were 6, 9, 25, and 38 months old. Cognitive development as a control variable was measured with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II at 6 months. At 9 months, three aspects of maternal parenting quality (sensitivity, mind-mindedness, and encouragement of autonomy) were assessed with MBQS, mind-mindedness coding system, and encouragement of autonomy coding schema within a 15-min mother-infant interaction. Three aspects of EF (working memory, inhibitory control, and delay EF) were measured at 25 and 38 months with age-appropriate tasks. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that maternal mind-mindedness had a more important effect than did the encouragement of autonomy and maternal sensitivity during infants' preverbal period. More precisely, maternal mind-mindedness at 9 months predicted inhibitory control at 2 and 3 years, and maternal encouragement of autonomy predicted performance on delay EF tasks at 3 years, maternal sensitivity had no observed effect on children's EF. This study suggests that maternal parenting quality during the 1st year (maternal mind-mindedness and encouragement of autonomy, but not maternal sensitivity) impacts later EF development.

For Better or for Worse? Positive and Negative Parental Influences on Young Children's Executive Function

Despite rapidly growing research on parental influences on children's executive function (EF), the uniqueness and specificity of parental predictors and links between adult EF and parenting remain unexamined. This 13-month longitudinal study of 117 parent-child dyads (60 boys; M_age at Time 1 = 3.94 years, SD = 0.53) included detailed observational coding of parent-child interactions and assessed adult and child EF and child verbal ability (VA). Supporting a differentiated view of parental influence, negative parent-child interactions and parental scaffolding showed unique and specific associations with child EF, whereas the home learning environment and parental language measures showed global associations with children's EF and VA.

Young Children's Understanding of Teaching and Learning and Their Theory of Mind Development: A Causal Analysis from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Children's understanding of the concepts of teaching and learning is closely associated with their theory of mind (ToM) ability and vital for school readiness. This study aimed to develop and validate a Preschool Teaching and Learning Comprehension Index (PTLCI) across cultures and examine the causal relationship between children's comprehension of teaching and learning and their mental state understanding. Two hundred and twelve children from 3 to 6 years of age from Hong Kong and the United States participated in study. The results suggested strong construct validity of the PTLCI, and its measurement and structural equivalence within and across cultures. ToM and PTLCI were significantly correlated with a medium effect size, even after controlling for age, and language ability. Hong Kong children outperformed their American counterparts in both ToM and PTLCI. Competing structural equation models suggested that children's performance on the PTLCI causally predicted their ToM across countries.