A Look at the Role of Theory of Mind and SES on Sharing Behavior in Early Childhood

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Moral Development

Abstract

Sharing is an important social skill for cultivating fairness and cooperation in society, and it involves understanding others’ needs while recognizing their own. In children, studies have extensively investigated the relationship between sharing and Theory of Mind (ToM) development, but findings are inconsistent due to methodological variability. Moreover, the role of appearance-reality understanding, (i.e. the ability to understand multiple orientations of an object), as a measure of ToM has yet to be explored in relation to children’s sharing behavior. In addition, family environmental factors, such as siblings and socioeconomic status (SES), have important implications on children’s developmental outcomes, which might extend to ToM and sharing skills. Other individual factors, such as executive functioning and language, which are well-known correlates of ToM have also yet to be considered in relation to sharing. Therefore, we explored the joint influences of SES, number of siblings and ToM understanding on young children’s sharing behavior, while controlling for language and executive functioning (Figure 1).

Sixty-six 4- to 6-year-olds (43.9% males, M = 62.9 months, SD = 8.75 months, range = 49.4 to 82.3 months) from diverse SES and multi-ethnic backgrounds in Singapore completed tasks assessing ToM measures of false belief and appearance-reality understanding, executive functioning, language and sharing behavior. Family demographic information on parents’ education, used as a proxy for SES, and number of siblings in the household were collected via parent interviews. All except one parent had at least primary school education. The proportion of mothers (54.6%) and fathers (57.5%) attaining tertiary education were similar, while a higher proportion of mothers received secondary school education (30.3%) compared to fathers (18.2%).

Correlational analyses showed that after controlling for children’s age, sharing was positively associated with appearance-reality understanding (r(63) = .319, p =.010) and father’s education (r(63) = .310, p = .012). The number of siblings was weakly associated with sharing (r(63) = -.217, p = .083). Hierarchical regression analyses (Table 1) demonstrated that father’s education (b = 0.56, p = .047), and children’s understanding of appearance-reality (b = 0.49, p = .004), uniquely contributed to their sharing behavior after accounting for children’s age, executive functioning, language, maternal education, and the number of siblings (R2 = .265, F(10, 55) = 1.98, p = .053).

The findings suggest that more educated fathers may engage their children about understanding the need to share with others more frequently, and have more resources to reward them for their sharing behavior, compared to less educated fathers. Additionally, children with greater appearance-reality understanding may be better at recognizing others’ mental states and emotions, compared to those with lower ToM understanding. They may thus be more motivated to consider others’ needs above their own, and are more likely to share their resources with others. Altogether, these findings highlight that children’s ability to hold different views of reality, as well as parental socialization practices underlying the family environmental influence of SES, have a significant impact on the development of sharing skills during early childhood. Future studies are needed to identify the mechanisms underlying the relationship between appearance-reality understanding, SES, and children’s sharing.

Authors

• Nawal Hashim, National University of Singapore
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth Kim, National University of Singapore
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nastassja Fischer, National University of Singapore
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jean Yeung, National University of Singapore
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rongjun Yu, National University of Singapore
  Non-Presenting Author