Authoritarian Parenting Received from Mothers Reveals Individual Differences in Preschooler's False-belief, but not in Advanced Theory of Mind

Remarkable changes, like the progress in the ability to understand others' minds, can be identified in several socio-cognitive dimensions between age four and seven. Recently, the parenting attitudes have been considerate as one of the potential extrinsic modifiers of these important developmental aspects. The aim of present study is to explore the relationship among authoritarian parenting attitudes and individual differences in Theory of Mind performance. The study included ninety-two Costarrican preschoolers. Six False-belief tasks, an Advanced Theory of Mind test and the Parenting Attitudes Inventory were used. The results demonstrate that participants with high and low Authoritarian Parenting Received differ in their performance on First and Second Order False-belief tasks, but not in Advanced Theory of Mind tasks. Theoretical considerations about possible explanations regarding these results are discussed and methodological limitations are considered to shed light over future directions.





References:
[1] Flavell, J.H. (1999) Cognitive Development: Children's knowledge
about the mind. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 21-45.
[2] Huges, C. & Leekam, S. (2004) What are links between Theory of Mind
and Social Relations? Review, reflections and new directions for studies
of typical and atypical development.Social Development, 13 (4), 590-
619.
[3] Bangirana, P.; John, C.; Idro, R.; Opoka, R.; Byarugaba, J.; Jurek, A.;
Boivin, M. (2009) Socioeconomic Predictors of Cognition in Ugandan
Children: Implications for Community Interventions. PlosOne. 4, (11),
1-6.
[4] LeMonda, C.; Shannon, J.; Cabrera, N.; Lamb, M. (2004) Fathers and
mothers play with their 2 and 3 year olds: Contributions to Languaje and
cognitive development. Child Development, 75 (6), 1806-1820.
[5] Rosales, F.; Reznick & Zeisel, S. (2009) Understanding the role of
nutrition in the brain and behavioral development of toddlers and
preschool children: identifying and addressing methodological barriers.
Nutritional Neuroscience, 12 (5), 190-202.
[6] Adi-Japha, E. & Klein, P. (2009) Relations Between Parenting Quality
and Cognitive Performance of Children Experiencing Varying Amounts
of Childcare. Child Development, 80 (3), 893-906.
[7] Guajardo, N.; Snyder, G.; Petersen, R. (2009) Relationships among
parenting practices, parental stress, child behavior, and children-s social
cognitive development. Infant and Child Development, 18, 37-60.
[8] Harrison, M. (in press) Executive Function, Parenting style and Theory
of Mind.
[9] Vinden, P. (2001) Parenting attitudes and children-s understanding of
mind. A comparison of Korean American and Anglo American families.
Cognitive Development, 16, 793-809.
[10] Rapacholi, R.; Slaughter, V.; Pritchard, M.; Gibbs, V. (2003) Theory of
Mind, Machiavellianism and Social Functioning in Childhood. En
Rapacholi, B.; Salughter, V. (Eds) Individual differences in Theory of
Mind. New York: Psychology Press.
[11] Happé, F. (1994) An advanced test of Theory of Mind: Understanding of
story characters- thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally
handicapped, and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, 24 (2), 129-154.
[12] Padilla-Mora, M. (2008) Funcionamiento coarticulado entre procesos
cognitivos: algunas dinámicas de la relación entre el control inhibitorio,
la memoria de trabajo, algunas habilidades lingüísticas y las tareas de
falsa-creencia. Tesis de Maestría en Ciencias Cognoscitivas,
Universidad de Costa Rica, San José.
[13] Padilla-Mora, M; Cerdas, A.; Rodríguez, O. & Fornaguera, J. (2009 )
Teoría de la Mente en niños preescolares: Diferencias entre sexos y
capacidad de Memoria de Trabajo. Actualidades Investigativas en
Educaci├│n, 9 (2), 1-21.
[14] Astington, J.; Pelletier, J.& Homer, B. (2002) Theory of mind and
epistemological development: the relation between children's second
order false-belief understanding and their ability to reason about
evidence. New Ideas in Psychology, 20, 131-144.
[15] Schneider, W., Lockl, K. & Fernandez, O. (2005). Interrelationships
among theory of mind, executive control, language development, and
working memory in young children: A longitudinal analysis. En W.
Schneider, R. Schumann-Hengsteler & B. Sodian (Eds.), Young
children-s cognitive development: Interrelationships among executive
functions, working memory, verbal ability and theory of mind (pp. 259-
284). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
[16] Nguyen, L. & Frye, D. (1999). Children-s theory of mind:
Understanding of desire, belief and emotion with social referents. Social
Development, 8(1), 70-92.
[17] Sullivan, K., Zaitchik, D. & Tager-Flusberg, H.. (1994) Preschoolers can
attribute second-order belief. Developmental Psychology, 30, 395-402.
[18] Sodian, Beate & H├╝lsken, Christian. (2005). The development relation
of theory of mind and executive functions: a study of advanced theory of
mind abilities in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
En Young children-s cognitive development: Interrelationships among
executive functions, working memory, verbal ability and theory of mind
(pp. 175-188). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.
[19] Padilla-Mora, M.; Rodríguez, O. & Fornaguera, J. (2009) Interacciones
entre el entendimiento de la falsa-creencia y el desarrollo de la habilidad
verbal: diferencias entre los sexos en edad preescolar. Interdisciplinaria,
26 (2), 317-344.
[20] O-Hare, A.; Bremmer, L.; Nash, M.; Happé, F.; Pettigrew, L. (2009) A
clinical assessment tool for Advanced Theory of Mind performance in 5
to 12 years olds. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39
(9), 916-928.
[21] White, S.; Hill, E.; Happé, F; Frith, U. (2009) Revisiting the Strange
Stories: Revealing Mentalizing Impairments in Autism. Child
Development, 80 (4), 1097-1117.
[22] Stevens, J.P. (1992). Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social
Sciences (2nd edition). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
[23] Anderson, J.; Pellowsky, M.; Conture, E.; Kelly, E. (2003)
Temperamental characteristics of young children who stutter. Journal of
Speech Language and Hearing Research, 46 (5), 1221-1233.
[24] Cohen, J. (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences.
New York: Academic Press.
[25] Cyr, C. & Dubois-Comtois, K. (2008) Les conversations mère-enfant et
l-attachment des enfants ├á la periode préscolaire. Canadian Journal of
Behavioral Science, 40 (3), 140-152.
[26] Pears, K. & Moses, L. (2003) Demographics, parenting and Theory of
Mind in preschool children. Social Development, 12 (1), 1-20.
[27] Vega, I. & Cordero, A. (2001) Realidad familiar en Costa Rica: aportes
y desafíos desde las ciencias sociales. San José: FLACSO.
[28] Villanueva, L., Clemente, R. & García, F. (2000) Theory of mind and
peer rejection at school. Social Development, 9 (3), 271-283.
[29] Levitt, M. (2005) Social relations in childhood and adolescence: The
Convoy model perspective. Human Development, 48, 28-47.
[30] Rogers, K.; Dziobek, I.; Hassenstab, J.; Wolf, O.; Convit, A. (2007)
Who cares? Revisiting Empathy in Asperger Syndrome. Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 709-715.
[31] Kazdin, A. (1992) Cognitive problem-solving skills training and parent
management training in the treatment of antisocial behavior in children.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60 (5), 733-747.
[32] Fisher, P., Gunnar, M., Chamberlain, P. y Reid, J. (2000) Preventive
intervention for maltreated preschool children: Impact on children’s
behavior, neuroendocrine activity, and foster parent functioning. Journal
of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39 (11),
1356-1364.