Relationship between Theory of Mind and Family Variables

Name

Institution

Theory of Mind (TOM) entails understanding the knowledge, emotions, beliefs, and intentions of other persons and utilizing that understanding to recognize and navigate social situations. It is an essential aspect of the development process of children because it is associated with social competence that influences executive function (Schaafsma et al., 2015). Family contexts such as family social-economics status, mental state talk, mind-mindedness, and siblings’ number directly impact on the development of the TOM. Several empirical studies have investigated the correlation between the development of the TOM and family variables. Overall, the family variables such as economic status, number of siblings, and mental talk state influence the development of the TOM since children learn and acknowledge some of these variables to help them navigate in the social situations.

Literature Review

Siblings impact on the TOM understanding among children because of the playtime they share. Shahaenian (2015), in a study that included 142 children between the age of 4 and 5 years, did not establish any correlation between the number of siblings and the TOM development among children. However, they found that the playtime children spend together with their siblings and parental interference level in conflict among siblings was directly associated with the TOM understanding. Calero et al. (2013), in a study to examine the differences in the TOM among boys, found that other factors such as birth order, siblings’ number, and coarse personality traits did not have a essential relationship with the results of the TOM tasks. In this view, siblings’ number or birth order does not impact theory development, but associative factors such as playtime influence it.

Parents who express mind-mindedness influence the performance of TOM development among children. Hughes, Devine, and Wang (2017), in a study, investigated children’s TOM and parental mind-mindedness using an estimated 241 parent-child dyads from Hong Kong and the UK. The study showed that within the two cultures, parental mind-mindedness was directly associated with the TOM, and mind-mindedness contributed to the cultural differences in the TOM of preschoolers. In the study, the UK parents illustrated a greater mind-mindedness and their children also had a superior performance in the TOM compared to the Hong Kong sample. In this view, parents with a higher level of mind-mindedness influence the development of the TOM of their children. Mind-mindedness is the tendency of caregivers to view a child as a person with a mind as opposed to an individual with needs that should be satisfied. That is, a parent offers a child care with acknowledgment of the fact that they can learn from what they do.

The collaborative acts and social constructions of parents influence development of children’s TOM. With age, children always acknowledge that mankind’s actions are guided and governed by mental states, and their intentions, desires, beliefs, and emotions may differ from that of others. Sung and Hsu (2014), in a longitudinal study, examined the effect of mother-toddler collaborative in the process of communication concerning the development of the TOM at the age of 4. They found that the higher level of collaborative acts of a mother positively impacted on the development of the TOM when a child is engaged in higher collaborative acts level. However, children contribute to their development when they actively participate in supportive co-constructed collaborative conversations. In this case, parents are viewed as facilitators of the development process of the TOM. Children are seen as beings with the ability to observe, learn, internalize and process information, action, and behaviors for themselves as long as they are facilitated and helped along the way. Overall, child and maternal collaborative acts indicate that family-centered initiatives with mother-child dyads impact TOM development.

The relationship between siblings and parental influence in their interaction influences the development of the TOM. Song and Volling (2018), in a study that involved 208 firstborn and their parents, investigated children’s TOM of a sibling before and after birth and their interaction as well as parental discipline strategies. The study showed that the TOM among children before a sibling’s birth indicated a positive interaction with the young sibling. In contrast, antagonistic behavior directed towards a young sibling negatively influenced the TOM at 12 months mainly when a parent utilizes the low level of child-centered discipline. The results show the role of patents in the process of social cognitive development and understanding among young children in the sibling interaction context. Song et al. (2016), in a study involving firstborns and siblings aggressive behavior, concluded that firstborn’s aggression directly predicted greater sibling antagonism. These results indicate influence among siblings across social-cognitive, behavioral, and relational factors from early life years.

Social-economic status background of children influences the development of the TOM. Molzhon (2016) studied the effect of the socioeconomic background of children on the relationship between the executive function and TOM. The study indicated a positive correlation between socioeconomic status and executive function. Besides, it offered evidence that the TOM is relatively protected from the negative impacts of low socioeconomic status (Molzhon, 2016). However, based on the findings, one can illustrate that the social-economic background affects the TOM since it influences the executive functions of the children. In this case, children from a low social-economic experience tend to have little executive function development compared to those from a stable socioeconomic background.

Conclusion

The relationship between family variables and the TOM is not conclusively examined based on the review of some empirical studies. Some studies indicate a positive relationship between the TOM and the siblings’ number, while the reviewed literature does not indicate any association. However, there is a correlation between the TOM and socioeconomic status background of children. Besides, siblings’ behavior towards one another and parental discipline strategies impact the development of the TOM. For instance, when children play together for longer, they tend to influence each other’s TOM. Moreover, the studies also show that there is a relationship between collaborative acts of a parent and the TOM among children. Therefore, family variables such as parental support and discipline strategies, mind-mindedness, and siblings’ behavior influence TOM development among children. It recommended that more in-depth studies should be conducted in the future to establish the correlation between each of the family variables and the TOM.

References

Calero, C. I., Salles, A., Semelman, M., & Sigman, M. (2013). Age and gender-dependent development of TOM in 6-to 8-years old children. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 7, 281.

Hughes, C., Devine, R. T., & Wang, Z. (2018). Does parental mind‐mindedness account for cross‐cultural differences in preschoolers’ TOM?. Child Development, 89(4), 1296-1310.

Molzhon, A. (2016). Exploring the Influence of Socioeconomic Status on the Executive Function and TOM Skills of Preschoolers.

Schaafsma, S. M., Pfaff, D. W., Spunt, R. P., & Adolphs, R. (2015). Deconstructing and reconstructing TOM. Trends in cognitive sciences, 19(2), 65-72.

Shahaeian, A. (2015). Sibling, family, and social influences on children’s TOM understanding: New evidence from diverse intracultural samples. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46(6), 805-820.

Shahaeian, A., Nielsen, M., Peterson, C. C., & Slaughter, V. (2014). Cultural and family influences on children’s TOM development: A comparison of Australian and Iranian school-age children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(4), 555-568.

Song, J. H., & Volling, B. L. (2018). Theory‐of‐Mind development and early sibling relationships after the birth of a sibling: Parental discipline matters. Infant and child development, 27(1), e2053.

Sung, J., & Hsu, H. C. (2014). Collaborative mother–toddler communication and TOM development at age 4. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 35(5), 381-391.