False Belief and Emotion Understanding in Post-institutionalized Children

Deficits in social cognition may impair the ability to negotiate social transactions and relationships and contribute to socio emotional difficulties experienced by some post‐institutionalized children. We examined false belief and emotion understanding in 40 institutional care‐adopted children, 40 foster care‐adopted children and 40 birth children. Both groups of adopted children were adopted internationally. Controlling for verbal ability, post‐institutionalized children scored lower than birth children on a false belief task. Almost half of the post‐institutionalized children performed below chance levels. The foster care group did not differ from either group on false belief understanding. The groups did not differ on emotion understanding after controlling for verbal ability. The results suggest that some post‐institutionalized children are delayed in false belief understanding.     

Maternal depression and children’s false belief understanding

Children of depressed mothers show substantial social impairment, which increases their risk for developing depression. Theory of mind understanding forms the basis of social functioning, and is impaired in children of currently depressed mothers. Models of risk emphasize that a history of any maternal depression confers risk to later psychopathology. Therefore, we tested a novel model of the impact of lifetime maternal depression on children’s false belief understanding that accounts for three primary factors that scaffold this understanding: maternal mental state talk, and children’s executive functioning and language abilities. Children aged 41–48 months with a maternal lifetime history of major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 19) performed significantly more poorly on the false belief battery compared to those without (n = 44). Further, lower levels of mental state talk, child executive functioning, and child language ability were significantly associated with poorer false belief scores. However, the relation between maternal MDD and children’s false belief performance was not mediated by any of these factors. These results indicate that maternal depression predicts poorer false belief understanding independently of other crucial scaffolding variables, and may be a social cognitive mechanism underlying the intergenerational transmission of depression.     

Rejection Reactivity,Executive Function Skills,and Social Adjustment Problems of Inattentive and Hyperactive Kindergarteners

This study examined emotional reactivity to rejection and executive function (EF) skills as potential mediators of the social behavior problems of inattentive and hyperactive kindergarteners. Participants included 171 children, including 107 with clinical levels of ADHD symptoms, 23 with sub‐clinical levels of ADHD symptoms, and 41 typically developing children (63 percent male; 73 percent Caucasian, 11 percent African‐American, 4 percent Latino/Hispanic, 1 percent Asian, and 11 percent multiracial; M_age = 5.2 years). Inattention (but not hyperactivity) was uniquely associated with poor EF, social withdrawal, and aggression. In structural equation models, EF skills mediated the associations between inattention and both aggression and social withdrawal. Hyperactivity (but not inattention) was uniquely associated with rejection reactivity and each contributed uniquely to aggression. Findings suggest that difficulties with emotion regulation may warrant more attention in early interventions planned for children with high levels of ADHD symptoms.     

The influence of an older sibling on preschoolers’ lie‐telling behavior

In the present study, children’s (2‐ to 5‐years old) lie‐telling was examined in relation to theory of mind (first‐order false belief understanding), executive functioning (measuring inhibitory control in conjunction with working memory), and presence of siblings in the home (no siblings vs. siblings; younger siblings vs. older siblings).  Lie‐telling was observed using a temptation resistance paradigm. Overall, of the 152 (74.9%) children who peeked at the toy, 73 (48%) lied during the temptation resistance paradigm. Children with higher scores on measures of first‐order false belief understanding, and measures that relied on inhibitory control, were more likely to lie compared to their truthful counterparts.  Additionally, children with older siblings were more likely to lie to the research assistant, and this relationship was independent of performance on cognitive tasks. Overall, results demonstrate that having an older sibling has an independent, direct effect on the development of young children’s lie‐telling abilities, irrespective of cognitive ability. These findings support the argument that lie‐telling is a behavior that is facilitated by both cognitive and social factors.     

Temperament,mothers' reactions to children's emotional experiences,and emotion understanding predicting adjustment in preschool children

It is expected that both children and their parents contribute to children's development of emotion knowledge and adjustment. Bidirectional relations between child temperament (fear, frustration, executive control) and mothers' reactions to children's emotional experiences were examined to explore how these variables predict children's emotion understanding, social competence, and problem behaviors. Preschool‐aged children (N = 306) and their mothers were assessed across four‐time points. Children's temperament and mothers' non‐supportive reactions to children's emotional experiences were assessed when children were 36 and 45 months of age. Emotion understanding was assessed when the children were 54 months of age and teachers reported on children's problem behaviors and social competence when the children were 63 months of age. Covariates included family income, child cognitive ability, gender, and child adjustment at 36 months. Results from path analyses demonstrated that bidirectional relations between children's temperament and mothers' non‐supportive reactions were not significant. However, mother's non‐supportive reactions directly predicted fewer problem behaviors, and children's emotion understanding mediated the relation between children's executive control and their later social competence. As such, emotion understanding appears to be one mechanism through which executive control might impact social competence.     

Assessment and implications of social withdrawal in early childhood: A first look at social avoidance

The goals of the present research were to: (a) develop and provide preliminary validation of a parent‐rated measure of social avoidance in early childhood; and (b) to evaluate a conceptual model of the direct and indirect links among young children's social withdrawal (shyness, unsociability, social avoidance), peer problems, and indices of internalizing problems (social anxiety, depression). Participants were N = 564 children (272 boys, 292 girls; M _age = 67.29 mos, SD = 11.70) attending kindergarten and Grade 1 classes in public schools in southeastern Ontario, Canada. A new subscale assessing social avoidance was added to an existing parent‐rated measure of children's social withdrawal. Indices of children's socioemotional functioning were provided by parents and teachers. Among the results, the revised measure of multiple forms of social withdrawal demonstrated good psychometric properties, moderate stability 16 months later, and evidence of validity. Shyness, unsociability, and social avoidance also displayed differential patterns of associations with indices of children's socioemotional functioning. Results are discussed in terms of the assessment and implications of different forms of social withdrawal in early childhood.     

Differential parenting and children's social understanding

In the current study, a curvilinear association was examined between differential parenting and children's social understanding as measured using standardized assessments and behavioral observations. Social understanding was comprised of theory‐of‐mind and behavior indicating understanding of others’ minds (i.e., cognitive sensitivity and internal state talk and reasoning during sibling interactions). Data came from a community sample of 372 children (51.6% males; M age = 5.57, SD = 0.77), their younger siblings (M age = 3.14, SD = 0.27), and their mothers who were observed in their homes. We hypothesized that in families with higher levels of differential parenting, both favored and disfavored older siblings would display poorer social understanding, but that disfavored children would be more negatively impacted. Results from a hierarchical regression analysis indicated an inverse linear effect, rather than a curvilinear relationship, between being favored by mother and siblings’ social understanding. Specifically, disfavored older children showed higher levels of social understanding when interacting with their favored younger sibling. This relationship remained significant after controlling for variables such as age, SES, and language. Findings suggest that differential parenting plays a role in children's ability to understand others.     

Teachers' Theory‐of‐mind Coaching and Children's Executive Function Predict the Training Effect of Sociodramatic Play on Children's Theory of Mind

Theory of mind (ToM), the ability to interpret one's own and others' mental states, is essential for social interaction; thus, it is important to promote the early development of ToM. The current study investigated (1) whether sociodramatic play (SDP) promotes the development of ToM in kindergarten children; (2) whether teachers' ToM coaching, as well as children's individual differences in language and executive function (EF), may influence how children benefit from SDP; and (3) whether SDP improves children's development in language and EF. Seventy‐one kindergarteners (M age = 60.2 months, SD = 5.7) divided into 12 groups were randomly assigned to three conditions: free play, SDP, or SDP + ToM coaching. Each condition included four weekly sessions, 45 min per session. Before and after the training, children's ToM, language and EF were measured. The results showed that after children's individual differences in ToM were considered, (1) SDP positively predicted children's post‐test ToM; (2) teachers' ToM‐related guidance during SDP and children's pretest EF positively predicted the training effect of SDP on children's ToM; (3) teachers' ToM‐related guidance during SDP, but not SDP alone, predicted children's post‐test language; and (4) neither SDP nor teachers' ToM‐related guidance during SDP predicted children's post‐test EF.     

Concurrent associations between mothers’ references to internal states and children’s social understanding in middle childhood

Although it is well established that features of maternal speech are associated with children’s social understanding in the preschool years, few studies explore this relationship in middle childhood. Within the context of a prospective longitudinal study of a representative community sample of families (subsample n = 207, mean age = 82.88 months), we investigated concurrent associations between mothers’ internal state language and aspects of 7‐year‐olds’ social understanding, including children’s understanding of belief and spontaneous references to internal states during free play. When sociodemographic, maternal, and child characteristics were controlled, mothers’ references to their own cognitions were associated with dimensions of children’s social understanding. Our findings suggest that exposure to others’ perspectives contributes to children’s advanced understanding of minds, which has implications for interventions that foster social understanding.     

The Effects of Early Institutionalization and Foster Care Intervention on Children's Social Behaviors at the Age of Eight

The present study compared the social behaviors of eight‐year‐old previously institutionalized Romanian children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) in two groups: (1) children randomized to foster care homes (FCG), and (2) children randomized to care as usual (remaining in institutions) (CAUG). Children were observed interacting with an age‐ and gender‐matched unfamiliar, non‐institutionalized peer from the community during six interactive tasks, and their behavior was coded for speech reticence, social engagement, task orientation, social withdrawal, and conversational competence. Group comparisons revealed that FCG children were rated as significantly less reticent during a speech task than CAUG children. For CAUG children, longer time spent in institutional care was related to greater speech reticence and lower social engagement. Using an actor–partner interdependence model, CAUG children's behaviors, but not FCG, were found to influence the behavior of unfamiliar peers. These findings are the first to characterize institutionalized children's observed social behaviors toward new peers during middle childhood and highlight the positive effects of foster care intervention in the social domain.     

Effects of consistency between self and in‐group on children's views of self,groups, and abilities

Children's developing views of self and in‐groups inevitably conflict at points during childhood (e.g., a girl who thinks of herself as strong encounters the gender stereotype that girls are weak). How are self and group views reconciled in such cases? To test hypotheses based on Greenwald et al.'s model of self, group, and attribute relations, children (N = 107; ages 7–12; M = 9 years, 6 months) were assigned to novel social groups, denoted by red and blue t‐shirts, in their classrooms. Across 3 weeks, children completed three novel tasks and received false feedback on personal and group task performance, producing a between‐subjects experimental design in which children received either consistent or inconsistent self and group feedback. Immediately after receiving feedback, children answered questions about the particular task. Finally, upon completion of all three manipulations, children completed measures of views of the self and novel groups. As predicted, children's views of the tasks, self, and groups were influenced by feedback. Unexpectedly, children viewed themselves as more similar to the in‐group than out‐group irrespective of feedback consistency. Furthermore, children developed in‐group biased attitudes, but these biases were largely unrelated to feedback.     

Relations over Time among Children's Shyness,Emotionality, and Internalizing Problems

Data regarding children's shyness and emotionality were collected at three time points, two years apart (T1: N = 214, M = 6.12 years; T2: N = 185, M = 7.67 years; T3: N = 185, M = 9.70 years), and internalizing data were collected at T1 and T3. Relations among parent‐rated shyness, emotionality [parent‐ and teacher‐rated anger, sadness, and positive emotional intensity (EI)], and mother‐rated internalizing were examined in panel models. In some cases, shyness predicted emotionality two years later (teacher‐rated anger, parent‐rated sadness, and teacher‐rated positive EI) and emotionality sometimes predicted shyness two years later (teacher‐rated sadness, parent‐rated positive EI, and teacher‐rated positive EI). Parent‐rated shyness and/or emotionality (parent‐rated anger and parent‐rated sadness) predicted internalizing at T3. Results shed light on developmental relations between emotionality and shyness, as well as processes of risk for, or protection against, the development of internalizing problems.     

Children's understanding of values as mental concepts: Longitudinal changes and association with theory of mind

We investigated the conceptualization of values as mental constructs at the beginning of middle childhood. Values describe aspirations guiding individuals in life. Although 6-year-olds report meaningful values, a past cross-sectional study suggested they may conceptualize them in non-mental terms. We interviewed children on their values at two time-points (N = 299, M age T1 = 7.25 years, Mage T2 = 7.94 years). Mental value conceptualization increased over time. Different value types were conceptualized in mental terms to a similar extent. At T2, self-important values were conceptualized in mental terms less than not-important ones. We also suggest that Theory of Mind (ToM) may be an underlying mechanism for the increased level of mental conceptualization over time. A cross-lagged panel model indicated that T1 ToM predicted advances in T2 mental conceptualization, and T1 mental conceptualization predicted advances in T2 ToM. As children develop in their understanding of the social world, their values may transform from observable to mental, possibly making them better motivators of behavior.     

Bidirectional Associations Between Parental Responsiveness and Executive Function During Early Childhood

In this study, we examined bidirectional associations between parental responsiveness and executive function (EF) processes in socioeconomically disadvantaged preschoolers. Participants were 534 3‐ to 5‐year‐old children (71 percent Hispanic/Latino; 28 percent African American; 1 percent European American) attending Head Start programs. At Time 1 (T1) and 6.5 months later at Time 2 (T2), parents and children participated in a videotaped free play session and children completed delay inhibition (gift delay‐wrap, gift delay‐bow) and conflict EF (bear/dragon, dimensional change card sort) tasks. Parental warm acceptance, contingent responsiveness, and verbal scaffolding were coded from the free play videos and aggregated to create a parental responsiveness latent variable. A cross‐lagged panel structural equation model indicated that higher T1 parental responsiveness significantly predicted more positive gain in delay inhibition and conflict EF from T1 to T2. Higher T1 delay inhibition, but not T1 conflict EF, significantly predicted more positive change in parental responsiveness from T1 to T2. These associations were not explained by several possible confounding variables, including children's age, gender, race/ethnicity, and verbal ability. Findings suggest that parental responsiveness may support EF development in disadvantaged children, with reciprocal effects of delay inhibition on parental responsiveness.     

A new model of the development of deception: Disentangling the role of false‐belief understanding in deceptive ability

“Deception” is defined predominantly as the intentional attempt to create false‐beliefs in others. However, the intentionality behind early acts of deception and its relation to false‐belief understanding remain unresolved. In this article, we offer a three‐stage theoretical model of the development of deception in human ontogeny. We posit that at any age, human deception is an intentional action, but its form changes according to the level of the deceiver's intentionality. As the primary function of deception is to influence the behaviour of others, we argue that first‐stage deceptions‐in‐action involves only in the analysis of behaviours and perceptual access, not beliefs. In our view, the ability to deceive and false‐belief understanding are eventually inter‐connected, but false‐belief understanding is not essential for the earliest form of deception. Based on empirical findings, which suggest that by observing the results of early deceptions children build their knowledge of mental states as causes of human actions, we claim that the second stage of deception is representational deception. Further, as the understanding of beliefs becomes more advanced, the effectiveness of children's deception increases, and new forms of reflective deception (the third stage) emerge. Future directions for research are outlined, and limitations of the current model are discussed.     

The Role of Second-Order Belief-Understanding and Social Context in Children's Self-Attribution of Social Emotions

Children's self-attribution of social emotions was hypothesised (i) to be related to their second-order belief-understanding and (ii) to be more strongly related to social- conventional than moral rule violations. Thirty children aged between 4 and 7 years were presented with Sullivan, Zaitchik & Tager-Flusberg's (1994) second-order false belief task and with four hypothetical scenarios in which they were required to imagine that they had violated particular moral and social conventional rules. As predicted, the self-attribution of social emotions was significantly related to second-order belief understanding, primarily in social-conventional rather than moral contexts.     

Political Violence and Adolescent Out‐group Attitudes and Prosocial Behaviors: Implications for Positive Inter‐group Relations

The negative impact of political violence on adolescent adjustment is well established. Less is known about factors that affect adolescents' positive outcomes in ethnically divided societies, especially influences on prosocial behaviors toward the out‐group, which may promote constructive relations. For example, understanding how inter‐group experiences and attitudes motivate out‐group helping may foster inter‐group co‐operation and help to consolidate peace. The current study investigated adolescents' overall and out‐group prosocial behaviors across two time points in Belfast, Northern Ireland (N = 714 dyads; 49% male; Time 1: M = 14.7, SD = 2.0, years old). Controlling for Time 1 prosocial behaviors, age, and gender, multi‐variate structural equation modeling showed that experience with inter‐group sectarian threat predicted fewer out‐group prosocial behaviors at Time 2 at the trend level. On the other hand, greater experience of intra‐group non‐sectarian threat at Time 1 predicted more overall and out‐group prosocial behaviors at Time 2. Moreover, positive out‐group attitudes strengthened the link between intra‐group threat and out‐group prosocial behaviors one year later. Finally, experience with intra‐group non‐sectarian threat and out‐group prosocial behaviors at Time 1 was related to more positive out‐group attitudes at Time 2. The implications for youth development and inter‐group relations in post‐accord societies are discussed.