Theory of Mind and Mental Health in Childhood and Adolescence: Towards a transdiagnostic approach.

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Mental health problems are the leading cause of disability in childhood and are associated with friendlessness, peer rejection, and poor social adjustment (e.g., Huber et al., 2019). Remarkably the mechanisms underpinning these adverse social outcomes remain unclear. Rather than being confined to neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism, accumulating evidence suggests that difficulties in understanding the thoughts and feelings of others (called ‘theory of mind’) are linked with a wide range of mental health conditions (Cotter et al., 2018). Despite a growing interest in the association between theory of mind and youth mental health (Pearcey et al., 2021), the majority of studies have focused on specific mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions such that it is unclear whether theory of mind difficulties are linked with a general vulnerability for emotional and behavioral problems or with specific conditions. Moreover, the relations between mental health and theory of mind in children and adolescents are poorly understood because studies have typically focused on adults. This symposium aims to investigate the relations between theory of mind and mental health in children and adolescents. The symposium draws together data from diverse participants spanning childhood and adolescence from four countries. The studies advance understanding by adopting a dimensional approach to mental health to examine the specificity, nature, and strength of associations between theory of mind and mental health in children and adolescents. The studies provide new insights by investigating whether theory of mind difficulties account for the adverse social experiences linked with youth mental health problems.

Sub Unit

• Social Cognition

Chair

• Rory T. Devine, University of Birmingham

Individual Presentations

• Mindreading skills and reactive and self-regulative temperamental behavior patterns in 5- to 8-year-olds - Presenting Author: Christopher Osterhaus, University of Vechta; Daan Blankenstijn; Alexander Savi, University of Amsterdam; Maartje Raijmakers, University of Amsterdam; Susanne Koerber, Freiburg University of Education

• Links Between Theory of Mind and Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors in School-Age Latinx Children - Presenting Author: Amy A Weimer, Texas State University; Katherine Rice Warnell, Texas State University

• Advanced Theory of Mind and adolescents’ emotional well-being in social context: does interpersonal competence matter? - Presenting Author: Sandra Bosacki, Brock University; Małgorzata Stępień-Nycz, Jagiellonian University; Marta Białecka-Pikul, Nicolaus Copernicus University

• Theory of Mind and Mental Health in Middle Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence for general and specific associations. - Presenting Author: Rory T. Devine, University of Birmingham; Imogen Grumley-Traynor, University of Birmingham; Venelin Kovatchev, University of Birmingham