Abstract:

The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between parents' distancing strategies and the performance of 5-year-old children (N=70) in Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks. The children's performances in those tasks were assessed during individual sessions held at school. The distancing strategies practiced by the parents (cognitive scaffolding, contingency rule, linguistic scaffolding, and decontextualization strategies, among others) were assessed through systematic observation carried out in their family homes. Three tasks were observed to assess those variables. The children carried out the tasks with either their mother or father, depending on which parent tended to engage more in activities of this kind (games, story-telling, tongue twisters) on an everyday basis. The results support the relationship between some of these variables and ToM development. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the need of educational and family intervention programs which can enhance the development of this ability in preschoolers.

Keywords:

Family context, Theory of Mind, Scaffolding, Decontextualization, Contingency rule, Mental state language.