Evaluating the possible relationship between the maternal emotional intelligence and children's theory of mind

the close and efficientmother-childinteraction is shown to result in the proper formation of the child’s psychological characteristics. Child’s theory of mind (TOM) is one of his/her abilities receiving influence within this relationship. This ability is suggested to be partly determined by the maternal emotional intelligence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the maternal emotional intelligence and children’s TOM. a total of 189 chilren aged 4-5 years (102 boys, 87 girls) were included in this study. The measurement instruments used in this study comprised Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) and 3 samples of the common False Belief Tasks (FBT). our results indicated a significant relationship between the total maternal emotional intelligence score and children’s FBT. Results also demonstrated that among the components of the emotional intelligence, utilization of emotions was the sole variale which significantly correlated withthe children’s TOM ability. Our current findings suggest that parents should have some emotional awareness and appropriatelyexpress their emotional reactions in order to act as suitable role models for their children. Moreover, parents need to be well versed in taking appropriate steps when discussing emotions with their children. This wouldimprove children’s emotional awareness and regulation and consequently secure their position with respect toperspectivetaking and theory of mind as they age.