Maternal mental states input and children social behavior:the mediator role of theory of mind

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of theory of mind in the relationship between mother’s mental states input in daily conversations and children social behavior. The sample consisted of 208 preschool children, their mothers and their teachers from the city of Shiraz. The research instruments were the Theory of Mind Tasks Battery (Wellman & Liu, 2004), the Maternal Mental States Input Inventory (Peterson & Slaughter, 2003), and the Children Social Behavior Subscale (Teacher form; Corrigan, 2003). The results of path analysis indicated that by mediating of theory of mind, the elaborated mental states input is a positive predictor of children’s social behavior, while non-elaborated non mental states input predicted the children social behavior negatively. The findings suggested that the type of mother’s speech in daily conversations, by mediating of theory of mind, played effective role in children’s social behavior.