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Children's peer relations represent a key aspect of school adjustment. However, little is known about their social-cognitive precursors. To address this gap, the authors followed 70 children across the transition to primary school. At Time 1 (age 5), Time 2 (age 6), and Time 3 (age 7), children were assessed on their theory of mind, prosocial behavior, and verbal ability. In addition, at Time 2 and at Time 3, the authors gathered peer nominations. Results supported the authors' mediational hypothesis of indirect paths from early theory of mind to subsequently lower peer rejection and higher peer acceptance, via improvements in prosocial behavior. The authors discuss implications of these longitudinal effects for the understanding of the impact of social-cognitive achievements for children's developing social relations. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

This study adds to the growing research on school outcomes associated with individual differences in preschoolers' theory of mind skills by considering whether "costs" of theory of mind (e.g., sensitivity to criticism) actually help to foster children's academic achievement. A group of 60 Italian children was tested during the last year of preschool (Time 1, mean age = 5 years 6 months) and in their first year (Time 2, mean age=6 years 5 months) and second year (Time 3, mean age = 7 years 5 months) of primary school. Children's theory of mind, verbal ability, and social skills were evaluated at each time point. In addition, children's sensitivity to teacher criticism was assessed at Time 2 and teachers' ratings of children's academic achievement were gathered at Time 3. Mediation analyses showed that, independent of verbal ability and social skills, sensitivity to criticism at Time 2 mediated the association between theory of mind at Time 1 and academic achievement at Time 3. These findings highlight the importance of investigating the educational consequences of individual differences in preschoolers' theory of mind. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

Cross-cultural research on theory of mind is relatively recent and largely restricted to comparisons of children from Western versus non-Western samples; much less is known about variation within Western cultures. This study compared 5- to 6-year-olds from Britain and Italy (matched for age, verbal age, gender, and maternal education; N=140), on tests tapping children's understanding of 1st and 2nd order false belief and mixed emotions. Overall, British children outperformed Italian children; group differences were clearest for tests of false-belief understanding. These results are discussed in relation to contrasts in family talk about mental states, schooling, language comprehension, and cultural factors in Britain and Italy.

The relation between children's mental state knowledge and metaknowledge about reading was examined in 2 studies. In Study 1, 196 children (mean age = 9 years) were tested for verbal ability (VA), metaknowledge about reading, and mental state words in a story task. In Study 2, the results of Study 1 were extended by using a cross-lagged design and by investigating older children (N = 71, mean ages = 10 years at Time 1 and 11 years at Time 2) for mental state knowledge, metaknowledge about reading, and VA. Results showed a significant relation between early cognitive (but not emotion) mental state knowledge and later metaknowledge about reading, controlling for VA. Results suggest close links between different aspects of children's knowledge about the mind.

To evaluate the subjective experience of the COVID-19 outbreak in healthy older adults and develop a model of the older population's psychological adaptation to the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative grounded theory approach was taken to the study design and analysis, using semi-structured interviews to collect data from 19 community-active Italian older people by telephone during the first wave of COVID-19 (May 2020). The theory emerging from the study conceptualized the COVID-19 subjective experience in older people as an adjustment process to the disruption of habits, social contacts, and routines that prompted a meaning-making process to face this adverse experience. Three emergent categories included 'loss, uncertainty, and distress' as the psychological impact of the pandemic emergency, 'making sense of COVID-19' as a subjective sense-making process of the pandemic, and 'living with the pandemic' as agency and self-management within the pandemic experience. The resulting narratives encompassed themes, i.e. risk perception, representation of the self, connection with past-time memories, and compliance with safety measures. The results have implications for designing effective messages to promote hope, social responsibility, and commitment in aging during the COVID-19 pandemic and for health workers who wish to support the psychological health of older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, unprecedented social distancing rules (including mass school closures) dramatically constrained children’s social lives, jeopardizing human connections that foster prosocial development. This study of 2,516 families of 3–8-year-olds from six countries (China, Sweden, Australia, Italy, the USA, and the United Kingdom) examined whether children’s understanding or feelings about COVID-19 regulations mediated the expected association between COVID-19-related family disruption and children’s prosocial behavior, as indexed by parental ratings. For all six sites, family disruption indirectly predicted reduced prosocial behavior. Negative feelings about COVID19 regulations mediated this association in all sites except China. Contrariwise, understanding of COVID-19 regulations was not implicated in the link between family disruption and reduced prosocial behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the link between theory of mind (ToM) in middle childhood and teachers' propensity for mental‐state language and self‐reported conversational‐instruction strategies. Multilevel analyses on 430 Italian children (221 girls, Mage = 9.34 years, SD =.63, Range: 7.95–11.43 years) from 27 primary‐school classrooms and their teachers showed that: (i) there were striking between‐classroom differences in children's ToM; (ii) teachers' propensity for mental‐state language (β =.14) and self‐reported conversational‐instruction strategies (β =.16) were uniquely associated with pupils' ToM even when child‐related (i.e., age, verbal ability, number of siblings and SES) and teacher‐related variables (i.e., ToM, verbal ability and years of experience) were controlled; and (iii) the association between self‐reported conversational‐instruction strategies and ToM was significant in older children and smaller classrooms. These findings extend socio‐cultural accounts of ToM by showing a developmental continuity of environmental effects on children's ToM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has shown that individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) during middle childhood are linked with individual differences in children's peer relationships. The present longitudinal study investigated this association more deeply, exploring the potential mediating role played by children's social anxiety. We tested a group of 66 children (11.5 years old at Time 1) three times over one year after their transition to secondary school. Over and above language, SES and stability in individual differences, ToM performance shortly after starting secondary school (Time 1) predicted higher peer acceptance, as well as lower peer rejection, one year later (Time 3) via lower levels of social anxiety over time (Time 2). This study extends our knowledge about the links between social understanding and interpersonal relations in middle childhood. The results suggest that ToM may play an important role in children's adjustment when confronting new social contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study herein investigated the mechanisms that may account for the relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and metamemory, adopting a dynamic approach that combined a focus on individual differences with the rigorousness of a training design. Sixty-six 4- to 5-year-old children were recruited and assigned to one of two training conditions: a ToM and a control condition. Intervention and control groups were equivalent at pretest for age, verbal ability, working memory, ToM and metamemory. Results showed that following the intervention children in the ToM group were better than those in the control group in their first-order, second-order false belief understanding, and metamemory. Crucially, improvements in first-order false belief understanding, but not in second-order false belief understanding, mediated the positive effect of the training program on metamemory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Previous research has shown a decline in Theory of mind (ToM) associated with normal aging. However, very few studies have investigated older people's ToM using an ecological approach. The present study was designed to fill this gap and examine older people's frequency of mental state talk (MST) in describing their best friend, together with their performance on a traditional ToM task. In addition, the study examined the association between these two ToM indices and relationships with friends and family members. Method: Seventy-two healthy older adults (age range 60–79) participated in the study. We measured ToM ability with a classic measure, the Faux Pas task, and selected the Describe-a-friend task to measure MST frequency; social relationships were investigated with the Lubben Social Network Scale. Correlation and regression analyses were performed. Results: No significant association between MST and scores on the Faux Pas task emerged. In addition, MST (but not Faux Pas scores) significantly predicted friendships (but not family relationships) over and above general cognitive functioning. Conclusion: These findings show the crucial distinction between possessing an ability and using it in daily life and suggest the need to move toward more ecological measures of older adults' abilities. In addition, the present results indicate that the spontaneous use of ToM ability, not the ability per se, impacts on older adults' social relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing evidence indicates that Theory of Mind (ToM) declines in normal aging. However, the majority of this research has used classic and static verbal tasks that present scenarios, which are very different from real life. The present study was designed to fill this gap by administering the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) to young and older participants. It allows one to analyze not only the accuracy, but also the typology of error in mental states attribution distinguishing between iper-ToM (over-mentalization), ipo-ToM (insufficient mentalization), and no-ToM (lack of mentalization). We recruited 30 young (20-29 years), 39 young-old (65-74 years), and 31 old-old (75-86 years) participants. Along with the MASC, we administered a classic ToM task, the Strange Stories, and several measures of cognitive functioning. Results showed that older adults were less accurate in mental state attribution than young adults in the MASC, but not in the Strange Stories. In addition, compared to young adults, older adults committed more errors of both ipo- and no-ToM, while young adults committed more often iper-ToM errors. Additionally, older adults, but not young adults, did not show a difference between iper-ToM and ipo-ToM errors, which were equally frequent in this age group. Globally, results indicated that older adults' failure in classic ToM tasks may be due to both ipo- and iper-ToM and provide needed evidence for the MASC as a suitable measure of ToM in aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to attribute mental states to the self and others in order to explain and predict social behaviour. Meta-analytic results have shown a decline in ToM abilities in healthy older adults. Recent research has also highlighted the possibility of enhancing older adults' ToM performance through group conversations focused on mental states. Our aim was to determine whether the extent to which older people benefited from a ToM training was predicted by performance on a battery of executive functioning tasks, on baselines in ToM tasks, on verbal knowledge. Forty-three older adults (60-84 years) participated in a three-session ToM training programme that has previously shown to be effective in improving ToM ability. Results showed that verbal knowledge predicted training gains in practiced ToM tasks. In addition, age, executive functions and baseline performance predicted training gains in non-practiced ToM tasks. Results are discussed in light of the amplification model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Recently, motivation has been found to attenuate the age-related decline in Theory of Mind (ToM) performance (i.e. faux pas recognition). However, whether or not this effect could be generalized to other ToM tasks is still unknown. In the present study, we investigated whether and how motivation could enhance older adults' performance and reduce age differences in ToM tasks (Faux Pas vs. Animation task) that differ in familiarity. Method: Following a previous paradigm, 171 Chinese adults (87 younger adults and 84 older adults) were recruited, and we experimentally manipulated the level of perceived closeness between participants and the experimenter before administering the ToM tasks in order to enhance participants' motivation. Results: Results showed that, for the Faux Pas task, we replicated previous findings such that older adults under the enhanced motivation conditions performed equally well as younger adults. Conversely, for the Animation task, younger adults outperformed older adults, regardless of motivation. Discussion: These results indicate that motivation can enhance older adults' performance in ToM tasks, however, this beneficial effect cannot be generalized across ToM tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]