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Infant and Child DevelopmentInf. Child. Dev. (2014)Published online in Wiley Online Library(wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/icd.1878

Children’s Theory of Mind, Self-Perceptions, and Peer Relations: ALongitudinal Study

*Corresponden3A1, Canada.

Copyright © 201

Sandra Leanne Bosacki*Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

This longitudinal study explored Theory of Mind (ToM), self-perceptions, and teacher ratings of peer relations of 91 children(52 females, ages 6–8 years) drawn from two schools situated in amainly Euro-Canadian, middle socioeconomic status, semi-ruralcentral Canadian context. ToM, self-perceptions, and teacher rat-ings of peer relations were assessed at Time 1 (T1, M= 6 y 2 m)and 2 years later at Time 2 (T2, M= 8 y 5 m). Findings showed thatToM scores and perceptions of global self-worth and physicalappearance significantly increased with time across both genders.Positive longitudinal associations were found between teacherratings of sociable peer relations at T1 and children’s T2 moralself-perceptions. A positive longitudinal correlation was foundbetween T1 ToM and T2 teacher ratings of anxious/fearful peerrelations. Individual variation in ToM at age 6 predicted teacher rat-ings of anxious and fearful behaviours in 8 year olds. In contrast,teacher ratings at age 6 did not predict ToM ability in 8 year olds.Educational implications for social and emotional competenciesare discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Key words: Theory ofMind; self-perceptions; peer relations; childhood

Across educational and psychological research domains, there has been a rise inthe interest in the emotional and social aspects of learning (Bruner, 1996; Rubin,Burgess, & Coplan, 2002). Increasingly, recent research with young school childrenshows that peer relations and sociability may play a significant role in children’ssocioemotional and cognitive development (Rubin & Burgess, 2001). In contrastto sociable behaviours in the classroom that have been found to be related topositive social and cognitive development (Rubin & Burgess, 2001), research onsocial inhibition or the tendency to be fearful and anxious in challenging or novelsocial situations remains sparse, especially longitudinal research that exploreschanges over time during childhood (Mink, Henning, & Aschersleben, 2014).Despite the theoretical and practical implications of investigating the inner and

ce to: Sandra Leanne Bosacki, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2SE-mail: [email protected]

4 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

S.L. Bosacki

social world of the socially inhibited child, empirical support for the links amongchildren’s social inhibition and their ability to understand thoughts and emotionsin self and others or Theory of Mind (ToM), as well as their feelings of self-worth,remains sparse, and existing findings are inconsistent and variable (Hughes, 2011;Pons et al., 2004).

Thus, the main purpose of this research was to explore relations amongToM, self-perceptions, and peer relations in Canadian school-aged children.In particular, building on psychocultural and social ecological theories ofself-system and social behaviour (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Carpendale& Lewis, 2004; Maccoby, 1998), this research explores teachers’ perceptionsregarding the socio-communicative competence and peer relations of childrenin their classrooms. Moreover, given past research that suggests advancedToM and particular anxious and fearful behaviours may be less toleratedand more problematic for young males than for young females (Akseer, Bosacki,Rose-Krasnor, & Coplan, 2014; Rubin & Coplan, 2004; Walker, 2005), genderdifferences were also explored.

Theory of Mind, Self-Concept and Socioemotional Competence

Although social inhibition is often defined as the reluctance to engage in interper-sonal interactions (Kagan & Snidman, 2004), it may also imply a metacognitive orevaluative component. For example, the relation between shyness and socialanxiety or embarrassment suggests an evaluation of the self against some kind ofideal self (Lewis, 1995). This often negative evaluation component may be linkedto metacognitive factors such as the ability to reflect on one’s own thinking andself-image, in addition to various social–cultural factors such as gender and ethnicity.

Regarding the concept of self within middle childhood, although the literatureon children’s self-concept development is vast and beyond the scope of this article(see Bruner, 1996; Marshall, Parker, Ciarrochi, & Heaven, 2014), for the purpose ofthis study, we have chosen to work within a developmental, psychocultural, andsocial ecological framework that defines the self as a multidimensional constructthat involves different aspects of oneself such as one’s physical appearance andbody image, behavioural conduct, social acceptance, academic competence, andan overall feeling of global self-worth or a perceived personal happiness(Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Harter, 1996). This self-system is also describedby some as a dynamic, fluid process that is co-created within conversation andsocial context (Carpendale & Lewis, 2004; Markus & Kitayama, 1994). Children’sviews of themselves as human beings, and also of a particular gender, are trans-mitted and reinforced by various social agents including family, peers, and themass media. For example, research shows that comments from role models suchas parents and teachers may influence children’s self-perceptions and attitudesconcerning moral behaviour, physical appearance, and peer relations (Maccoby,1998; Spilt, van Lier, Leflot, Onghena, & Coplin, 2014).

Few studies examine the longitudinal associations among children’s ToM,self-perceptions, and peer relations within the school context during the agesof 6–10 years or middle childhood (Banerjee & Henderson, 2001; Bosacki,2000; Hughes, 2011). Developmentally, middle childhood often involves theincreasing complexity of the school environment that represents children’sinteractions with teachers, peers, and others (Harter, 1996; Stipek, Recchia, &McClintic, 1992). The social experiences during this time provide children withan opportunity to co-create different selves through their interactions with

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Inf. Child. Dev. (2014)DOI: 10.1002/icd

Theory of Mind, Self, and Peer Relations

their peers, parents, and teachers (Bruner, 1996; Spilt et al., 2014; Wright &Mahfoud, 2014). Given this complex social context of the school environment,and the possible influence of peers and teachers on children’s self-perceptions,children’s ToM ability may also influence how they relate to their peers. Forexample, past research suggests that how children view and feel aboutthemselves as well as think about others’ minds may have an influence onhow they understand and relate to their peers (Bosacki, 2000; Spilt et al.,2014; Verschueren, Buyck, & Marooen, 2001). More specifically, past researchhas shown that children with a more advanced ToM may be more sensitiveto helpful and harmful comments from their peers and teachers (Hughes,2011; Lecce, Caputi, & Hughes, 2011).

Despite the claims that suggest some young females may possess a less coherentand positive self-theory than some young males (Maccoby, 1998), and the empiri-cal evidence that preschool-aged girls show more frequent mental state talk thanboys (Fivush, 1989; Hughes, Deater-Deckard, & Cutting, 1999; Hughes & Dunn,1999), differential gender links between self-cognitions and peer relations,especially regarding socially inhibited children during middle childhood, havenot yet been studied in depth. For example, although little is known about thegendered connections among socially inhibited children’s ToM, perceptions of self,and peer relations during the middle childhood years (Banerjee & Henderson,2001), few of the studies that exist suggest that advanced ToM may be associatedwith socially anxious behaviours in children (Wellman, Lane, LaBounty, & Olson,2011), especially males (Walker, 2005). Thus, this study aimed to examine therole of gender and age in the links among children’s ToM, self-perceptions,and peer relations.

Gendered Relations among Children’s Theory of Mind, Self-Perceptions,and Peer Relations

Teachers play a crucial role in both the gender role socialization and co-constructionof children’s social–cognitive and linguistic abilities (Arbeau&Coplan, 2007; Purkey,2000; Spilt et al., 2014). Although there has been a growing interest in research on theassociations among ToM, self-perceptions, and peer relations (Hughes, 2011; Lalonde& Chandler, 1995; Villanueva Badenes, Clemente Estevan, & Garcia Bacete, 2000),surprisingly, few researchers have studied the links among teachers’ perceptions ofchildren’s peer relations, children’s self-perceptions, and their ToM. In general, theempirical evidence on the role of gender in ToM remains inconsistent, as pastresearch has found that girls outperform boys in ToM and emotion understandingtasks and receive higher emotional competence teacher ratings (Cutting & Dunn,1999), as domiddle-school children (Bybee, 1998) and adults (Brody, 1999). Althoughresearchers have claimed that some young females seem to internalize earlier andmore completely the message that it matters how people feel, some studies havedemonstrated either that no gender differences exist in emotion competence(Banerjee & Yuill, 1999) or that school-aged males outperform females (Laible &Thompson, 1998).

The Present Study

This study aimed to investigate the association between children’s developingsocial cognitions, particularly ToM, self-perceptions, and peer relations. For example,global biases and deficits in sociocognitive processing may contribute generally


S.L. Bosacki

towards peer relations and social adjustment (Hughes, 2011). More specifically, pastresearch on executive functioning suggests that differences in children’s emotionalregulatory and inhibitory control abilities may influence their ability to engage insocial interactions with their peers (Zelazo, 1998; Zelazo & Cunningham, 2007).For example, socially anxious and fearful, asocial, and excluded children mayprocess social situations in similar ways to prosocial peers, but in the face of arousingsocial situations, they may regulate their emotions in different ways (Denham, 1998;Rubin et al., 2002). As suggested (Rubin, Chen, & Hymel, 1993; Wichmann, Coplan,& Daniels, 2004), socially anxious Canadian childrenmay evidence a social cognitiveperformance rather than a competence deficit.

To date, there remains little longitudinal research on the individual differencesamong children’s ToM, self-perceptions, and peer relations (Hughes, 2011), partic-ularly within a Canadian context. Although some cross-sectional research suggeststhat reciprocal relations may exist between teacher ratings of children’s socialbehaviour, children’s self-perceptions, and ToM ability (Spilt et al., 2014; Walker,2005), few studies move beyond cross-sectional studies and explore the directionalinfluences among ToM, self-perceptions, and social relations. Given this gap in theliterature, the present study focused on the role that gender and age play inCanadian children’s ToM, self-perceptions, and peer relations. Building onprevious literature that shows socially inhibited children may be more likely tobe more depressed, anxious, and hold more negative self-perceptions than theirprosocial age-mates (Rubin et al., 2002), the present study explored the longitudi-nal associations among ToM ability, self-perceptions (global self-worth, physicalappearance, and behavioural conduct), and peer relations in Canadian school-aged children. Given the limited prior evidence, we did not predict a priori thatan antecedent, consequence, or reciprocal model would exist, although given thepast research on children’s ToM and temperament (Mink et al., 2014) andperceived self-worth and social support (Marshall et al., 2014), we predicted thatadvanced ToM ability and low levels of perceived self-worth in 6 year olds maypredict teacher ratings of socially inhibited relations in 8 year olds.

This study also explored the role gender plays in the longitudinal associationsamong ToM, self-perceptions, and peer relations among 6- to 8-year-old Canadianchildren over a period of 3 years. Based on past gendered peer relations and socialcognitive research (Crick & Nelson, 2002; Saarni, 1999), gender-related differencesin the findings were expected to reflect stereotypic gender role expectations. Forexample, as past research suggests that socially inhibited young males are atgreater risk for socioemotional problems than young females (Coplan & Armer,2005; Crick, 1996; Walker, 2005), this study explored the question of whethergender would influence teachers’ ratings of students’ peer relations. Accordingly,it was hypothesized that females compared with males would be rated by teachersas more sociable, reported a more positive sense of moral self, or saw themselvesas more well-behaved. Similarly, it was hypothesized that longitudinal correla-tional patterns would reflect age-related and gender-related differences amongchildren’s ToM, self-perceptions, and peer relations.

METHOD

Participants

As part of a larger study of children’s social understanding and social behav-iour during the middle childhood years (XXXX), the present study included



91 children (T1: 52 females, M=6 y, 4 m; 39 males, M=6 y, 3 m; T2: 44 females, 8y 3 m; 29 males, 8 y 2m) and their teachers (N=8, females). Participants wererecruited from two schools during the years of 2003–2006 within a mainlyEnglish-speaking, Euro-Canadian, middle socioeconomic status population, incentral Canada. Given the present sample decreased by 18 participants from T1(91) to T2 (73), possible reasons for attrition may have been due to various factorssuch as family moves and school changes, as these remain the limitations oflongitudinal studies.

Measures

Second-order false belief taskGleaned from past research, to assess advanced or second-order ToM un-

derstanding or understanding other ’s mental states and emotions, adaptedversions of two brief vignettes consisting of two story characters were readand enacted out with dolls with the participant. Based on past research(Baron-Cohen, O’Riordan, Stone, Jones, & Plaisted, 1999; Hughes, 2011),stories consisted of misplaced object location scenarios in which participants wereasked, ‘Where does Y look for the Z, and where does X think that Y will look forthe Z and why?’ Responses were coded for incorrect/correct responses to mem-ory check (two questions—0/1 pass/fail)—if participants correctly responded tomemory questions, they were asked the first-order and second-order questions.Responses were coded according to correct location (0/1), and justifications werecoded for mental state language content (0= I don’t know, 1=physical, e.g.,‘Because she moved it’, 2 =psychological, e.g., ‘Because that is where she thoughtit was.’). Scores ranged from 0 to 7 (Table 1). Randomly selected 25% of thetranscripts were coded by a second independent coder, resulting in an averagekappa of (.93) across the two stories.

Table 1. Means and standard deviations of main variables for Time 1 and Time 2

Variable

Time 1 (n=91)a Time 2 (n= 73)b

t pM (SD) M (SD)

ToM Totalc 4.69 (1.80) 5.40 (0.68) �2.87 .006Teacher ratingsd

Anxious/fearful 1.18 (0.34) 1.21 (0.35) �0.573 .570Asociability 1.11 (0.23) 1.13 (0.29) �0.364 .718Exclusion 1.08 (0.17) 1.20 (0.38) �2.28 .028Sociability 2.63 (0.45) 2.53 (0.46) 1.37 .176Self-perceptionse

Behavioural conduct 19.39 (3.46) 17.56 (2.66) 3.97 .000Physical appearance 18.11 (4.16) 19.99 (4.01) �2.92 .005Global self-worth 18.38 (3.58) 20.32 (3.74) �3.05 .003

Note.aMean age = 6 y, 2 m.bMean age: 8 y, 5 m.cTotal Theory of Mind (ToM) score; range 0–7; higher scores reflect higher ToM understanding.dTeacher ratings of children’s peer relations (Cassidy & Asher, 1992).eSelf-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985); range 0–24; higher scores reflect higher self-perceptions.


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Self-conceptTo assess children’s perceptions of their competencies, subscales from Harter’s

(1985) Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) were used. Based on past litera-ture (Bosacki, 2000; Harter, 1996), the present study focused on three aspects thatsome researchers consider particularly relevant to children’s sense of self:perceived behavioural conduct (six items, e.g., ‘how well-behaved do you thinkyou are’, Cronbach’s alpha = .81), physical appearance (six items, e.g., ‘howgood-looking do you think you are’, Cronbach’s alpha = .79), and global self-worth(six items, e.g., ‘how happy are you being who you are?’ Cronbach’s alpha = .89).

Teacher ratings of children’s social relational competenciesStandardized, psychometrically robust rating scales were used to assess

teachers’ ratings of children’s social behaviour with their peers observed withinthe classroom. Borrowing from Cassidy and Asher’s (1992) teacher rating scale(Child Behavior Scale), teachers were asked to rate children’s behaviour on sub-scales taken from a larger 59-item, 3-point scale questionnaire. Teachers wereasked to rate students on adapted items from the subscales that reflecteddimensions of peer exclusion (seven items, e.g., ‘Ignores other peers in class’,Cronbach’s alpha = .84), anxiety and fearfulness (four items, e.g., ‘Fearful ofpeers’, Cronbach’s alpha = .87), asocial with peers (six items, e.g., ‘Prefers to playalone’, Cronbach’s alpha = .89, Cronbach’s alpha for composite score = .86), andsociability (seven items, e.g., ‘Cooperative with peers’, Cronbach’s alpha = .86).

Design and Procedure

Upon receiving ethical clearance from university and school officials, this studyconsisted of two stages, as data were collected at Time 1 (T1) and then 2 years laterat Time 2 (T2). At T1, data collection consisted of a group, in-class session wherechildren were group administered tasks regarding self-perceptions and an individ-ually administered ToM task. Teachers completed the questionnaires individually,during their own time, regarding children’s social behaviours and peer relations,and demographic information pertaining to family socioeconomic status wasobtained through parent questionnaire. T2 occurred 2 years later, and the datacollection procedure was repeated in the same manner as in T1.

RESULTS

Descriptive Statistics of Main Variables and Mean Differences betweenTime 1 and Time 2

Means and standard deviations are displayed in Table 1. Table 1 shows separate,paired t-tests among children’s perceived physical appearance, behaviouralconduct, global self-worth, and teacher ratings for T1 (age 6) and T2 (age 8).Examination of the means revealed some significant differences between the twogroups (T1 and T2). The main results are summarized in the following section.

Table 1 shows that children’s ToM scores significantly increased from T1 to T2,reflecting that children at 6 years of age were more likely to score higher on ToMtasks 2 years later. Results showed only one significant difference in teacher ratingsof children’s peer relations across time; specifically, teachers’ ratings of exclusion-ary behaviour among children increased across Times 1 and 2. That is, teachersreported more exclusionary behaviours among 8 year olds (e.g., intentionally



excluding a child from a game, party, etc.) as compared with 6 year olds. Regardingchildren’s self-perceptions, 6-year-old children’s perceptions of their behaviouralconduct decreased 2year later. That is, children perceived themselves as less well-behaved or less likely to follow school rules at 8 years of age compared with whenthey were 6 years of age. In contrast, children’s perceptions of their physical appear-ance and their global self-worth increased significantly over the 2 years. That is,compared with when they were 6 years of age, children reported higher ratings oftheir physical appearance and overall happiness at 8 years of age. Results from thepaired t-tests revealed no significant gender differences across all variables.

Cross-Sectional Correlations for Time 1 and Time 2 Main Variables

Regarding cross-sectional associations between teachers’ ratings of peer relationsand children’s perceived self-worth, for T1, no significant correlations were found.In contrast, for T2, significant negative relations were found between teachers’ rat-ings of anxious/fearful behaviour and children’s perceptions of global self-worthor personal happiness, r(73) =�.33, p= .04, and positive relations were foundbetween teachers’ ratings of sociability and children’s perceived moral selfor how well-behaved they perceived themselves to be, r(73) = .27, p= .02. Asignificant negative relation was found between T2 ToM and T2 global self-worth,r(73)=�.28, p= .02. This result suggested that the higher children scored on ToM,the lower they rated their overall personal happiness.

Longitudinal Relations among Theory of Mind, Perceptions of Self-Worth, andTeachers’ Ratings of Peer Relations

Table 2 shows the longitudinal bivariate Pearson intercorrelations for the mainvariables for the whole sample for T1 and T2. To address the ongoing debate in

Table 2. Longitudinal correlations between Time 1a and Time 2b for main variables

Variable

Time 1

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Time 2Teacher ratingsc

1. Anxious–fearful .37* �.11 �.16 �.05 .08 �.02 �.21 .042. Asociability .01 .15 .43* �.39* .14 �.22* .09 .143. Exclusion �.02 .19 .38* .24 .24 �.14 �.14 .094. Sociability .25M �.02 �.43* .35* .08 .19M �.14 �.015. ToM Totald .47** .11 .09 .02 .15 .07 �.24 �.04Self-perceptionse

6. Behavioural conduct �.30* �.04 .01 .27* .11 .44* .08 .037. Physical appearance �.18 .16 .27 .11 .17 .13 .11 .118. Global self-worth �.34* .16 �.11 .18 .48* .47* .14 �.11

Note. n= 91 at Time 1 and n=73 at Time 2.aMean age = 6 y, 2 m.bMean age: 8 y, 5 m.cTeacher ratings of children’s peer relations (Cassidy & Asher, 1992).dTotal Theory of Mind (ToM) score; range 0–7; higher scores reflect higher ToM understanding.eSelf-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985); range 0–24; higher scores reflect higher self-perceptions.**p< .001, *p< .05, Mp< .10.


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the literature as to whether social inhibition should be conceptualized as either acategory to which one does or does not belong (Kagan & Snidman, 2004) or as adimension to which an individual varies on a continuum (see Crozier, 1995, for areview), bivariate correlations were conducted on all teacher ratings of peerrelations as a continuous variable. Correlational analyses were conducted on thefemale and male samples separately and showed similar correlational patternsamong main variables for females and males.

Table 2 shows a significant positive correlation between children’s ToM at T1and their teacher ratings of anxious/fearful behaviour at T2, r(89) = .47, p< .001.That is, children who scored relatively higher on ToM at T1 subsequently receivedhigher teacher ratings of children’s anxious and fearful behaviours 2 years later atT2. Interestingly, no correlations were found between T1 ToM and T1 anxious/fearful behaviour, or between T2 ToM and T1 or T2 anxious/fearful behaviour.

Time 1 and Time 2 intercorrelations revealed no significant differences betweenself-perception measures or ToM scores. In contrast, significant positive correla-tions were found between three out of four of T1 and T2 teacher ratings ofchildren’s peer relations: T1–T2 sociability, r(73) = .35, p= .01; anxious/fearful,r(73) = .37, p= .02; exclusion, r(73) = .38, p= .01. Teacher ratings of asociabilityfrom T1 and T2 were not related, r(73) = .15, ns.

Regression Analyses

Given the significant longitudinal bivariate correlations between T1 and T2, weproceeded to conduct two regression analyses. Our first aim was to test whetherToM understanding at age 6 directly predicted teachers’ ratings of anxious andfearful behaviour 2 years later. Secondly, we aimed to test whether teachers’ rat-ings of anxious and fearful behaviour of 6-year-old children predicted 8-year-olds’ToM understanding. Thus, we regressed teacher ratings of anxious/fearfulbehaviour at age 8 on ToM scores of 6 year olds and covaried anxious/fearfulbehaviour at age 6. We then followed the same procedure to test for the oppositepathway: we regressed the ToM scores at age 8 on anxious and fearful behaviourat age 6, and covaried ToM scores at age 6.

Table 3 illustrates the regression analysis that shows that individual differences inchildren’s ToM understanding at age 6 significantly predicted teachers’ ratings ofanxious and fearful behaviour at child age 8. That is, in this model, children’s ToMability at 6 years predicted teacher ratings of anxious and fearful behaviour at age8 while controlling for teacher ratings of anxious and fearful behaviour at age 6.

In contrast, Table 4 shows that teacher ratings of anxious/fearful behaviour atchild age 6 did not significantly predict children’s ToM understanding at age 8.

Table 3. Summary of hierarchical regression analyses predicting teachers’ ratings of anxiousand fearful behaviour in 8 year olds from Theory of Mind (ToM) at age 6 (N=42)

Variable B SE B Beta R2

Step 1Teacher A–F ratings age 6 .435 .151 .418* .155Step 2Age 6 ToM .016 .011 .224* .196

Note. Test of R2 change at Time 2: F(2, 39) = 4.752, p= .014.*p< .05.


Table 4. Summary of hierarchical regression analyses predicting 8 year olds tom fromteacher ratings of anxious and fearful behaviour in 6 year olds (N= 33)

Variable B SE B Beta R2

Step 1Age 6 Theory of Mind .043 .024 .316* .092Step 2Age 6 teacher A–F ratings �.233 .296 �.141 .098

Note. Test of R2 change at Step 2: F(2, 30) = 1.629, p= .213.*p< .05.


In the first step at T1, we controlled for ToM at age 6 (covariate) and then addedteacher-rated anxious/fearful behaviour at age 6 in Step 2 of the equation. Table 4shows that in this particular model, teacher ratings of anxious–fearful behaviour atage 6 (controlling for ToM at age 6) did not account for a significant percentage ofthe variance in 8 year olds’ ToM.

DISCUSSION

This study explored the longitudinal associations among children’s ToM,children’s self-perceptions, and teachers’ perceptions of peer relations. Findingssuggest that children’s ToM may be associated with their self-perceptions andteachers’ perceptions of their peer relations over time. In particular, significantpatterns of longitudinal associations were found among children’s ToM, globalself-worth, and teacher ratings of peer relations, especially anxious/fearful andsociable behaviours. Regression analyses suggested that individual differences inToM ability at 6 years of age predicted teachers’ ratings of anxious and fearfulbehaviour in 8 year olds. In addition, the significant positive cross-sectional asso-ciations between teacher ratings of sociability and children’s perceptions of theirmoral self or behavioural conduct suggest that teachers’ and children’s percep-tions of their social and moral behaviour are reciprocal and interdependent. Incontrast to our predictions, no significant gender differences were found amongpatterns of associations between children’s ToM, self-perceptions, and teacherratings of peer relations. The theoretical and educational implications of thesefindings are discussed later.

Relations among Teachers’Perceptions of Children’s Peer Relations, Self-Perceptions,and Theory of Mind

Although no longitudinal relations between teachers’ perceptions of children’speer relations and children’s self-perceptions were found, cross-sectional correla-tions for T2 when participant were 8 years of age showed that significant negativerelations were found between teachers’ ratings of anxious and fearful behaviourand children’s perceptions of global self-worth or personal happiness. In addition,positive relations were found between teachers’ ratings of sociability andchildren’s perceived moral self or how well-behaved they viewed themselves.

Overall, these findings are also consistent with past research that suggeststeachers’ expectations and beliefs of students may influence students’ self-perceptions and behaviours within the classroom (Curtis & Altmann, 1977;Purkey, 2000; Spilt et al., 2014). However, as the present results illustrate, children’s


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perceptions and teacher ratings were not always in agreement, and this lack ofconcordance needs to be addressed in future research, as this difference in perceptionsmay have implications for students’ learning (Walker, 2005).

How do we explain the findings that teachers’ perceptions of children’s peerrelations, especially regarding sociability and anxious/fearful behaviour, mayinfluence or be influenced by children’s perceptions of self-worth? From apsychocultural and social ecological perspective, these findings could be explainedin terms of the Pygmalion effect or the influence of self-fulfilling prophesy (Purkey,2000). For example, if a teacher perceived a child to be sociable, it may be possiblethat the child could apply that label of ‘social’ to herself or himself, and may thusgradually integrate this label of social into their self-concept. Consequently, thechild may behave in more social ways, which in turn may reinforce the teacher’soriginal perception of a sociable child. Alternatively, given that teachers wererating ‘sociability’ and children were rating their self-perceived moral behaviours,both could have been assessing classroom conduct and sociable behaviour, as thisconceptual similarity may also have led to positive associations. Overall, thispositive association between teachers’ peer relation ratings and children’s self-perceptions of their classroom behaviour suggests that reciprocal relation betweenteacher labels and student behaviour requires future research to examine theinfluence of teachers’ perceptions on children’s self-concepts and peer relations.

The present findings suggest that complex connections exist among children’sToM ability, perceived self-worth, and teacher ratings of peer relations. Such find-ings support previous research that social interactions may play significant roles inchildren’s ToM understanding (Cutting & Dunn, 1999). Although the lack ofgender-related differences contrasts with past research that has shown school-agedgirls score higher than boys on ToM and emotion understanding, particularly thecomplex, moral emotions (Bybee, 1998; Cutting & Dunn, 1999), the present find-ings contribute to the growing body of contradictory empirical evidence regardinggender-related differences in social cognitive development and peer relations inmiddle childhood (Hughes, 2011)

Our findings also support the notion that perhaps sophisticated or advancedToM understanding may have intrapersonal and interpersonal costs and benefits(Cutting & Dunn, 1999; Sutton, Smith, & Swettenham, 1999). In particular, the posi-tive predictive relation between children’s ToMat 6 years of age and their teacher rat-ings of anxious/fearful behaviour at 8 years of age suggests that the ability tounderstand others’ thoughts and emotionsmay have implications for social and peerbehaviour in later childhood. For example, regarding interpersonal implications,children with a highly advanced emotional understanding ability may also use thisability to either help (e.g., befriend someone) or harm others (e.g., excluding a peerfrom a group by developing a friendship with someone else; Schneider, 1999; Suttonet al., 1999). In addition, children with advanced ToM ability may be more sensitiveto the non-verbal and ambiguous messages from others regarding social interactionsand may thus feel more anxious and worried in social situations (Hughes, 2011;Mink et al., 2014).

Such findings suggest that children’s self-perceptions may be influenced byteacher ratings of academic competence and support the claim that a sophisticatedability to understand mental states and emotions in others may have some psycho-logical costs as well as benefits. That is, some children may be more sensitive toteachers’ criticisms as compared with other children who do not have such awell-developed ability (Hughes, 2011; Lecce et al., 2011). Although our study didnot find that teacher ratings of fearful and anxious behaviour in 6 year olds influ-enced their ToM 2years later, further research needs to explore the connections and



dynamic interplay between ToM and teacher ratings of social behaviour, particu-larly anxious and fearful behaviours (Wright & Mahfoud, 2014).

Relatedly, the present findings that showed for 8 year olds only, negativerelations were found between children’s ToM and their perceptions of globalself-worth. This result supports past research that shows relations between chil-dren’s advanced ToM and negative self-perceptions (Bosacki, 2000), and suggeststhat the higher children scored on ToM, the lower they rated their overall personalhappiness. In contrast, the lower children scored on ToM, the higher they ratedtheir personal happiness. As Dunn (2002) suggested, a child’s ability to under-stand someone’s emotional state does not necessarily inform us of how that childmay choose to behave socially. In addition, children who develop a sophisticatedability to understand the thoughts and emotions in others may be more likely thanchildren who do not develop such an advanced understanding to be more sensi-tive and vulnerable to the subtle or nuanced judgements and evaluations of others.

Implications and Future Directions

Given the limitations of the present study (e.g., correlational design, lack of generallanguage measure, and ethnically homogeneous sample), interpretations of thepresent findings are to be made with caution. Given the co-construction of chil-dren’s ToM, self-concept, and peer relations, paper-and-pencil tasks such as theSPPC and teacher reports are unlikely to capture such a dynamic and complexprocess. In addition, the particular family structure such as number of siblings,cultural and socio-economic family history, and the content of the psychological lan-guage used between children and their parents may have influenced the children’sToM and social cognitive and relational functioning (Ensor, Devine, Marks, &Hughes, 2014). Future studies should include further detail on the psychological con-tent (cognition and emotion words) used in the language of siblings and parents, inaddition to the language teachers use in the classroom, as such vocabulary couldhave an influence on children’s developing ToM, self-perceptions, and social adjust-ment. Future studies could also provide more explicit training for teachers to reportsocially inhibited and asocial behaviour in their students (Arbeau & Coplan, 2007),and the addition of parental ratings of social inhibition and asociability would alsoprovide a more accurate description of a child’s behaviours in the school and home.

Given the important role teachers play in children’s social and emotional lives,this study may encourage future research on socially inhibited children’s ToM,self-concept, and peer relations to include observational measures in naturalisticsettings and in-depth discourse analysis of peer conversations within the schoolcontext. Consequently, researchers and educators need to draw from psycho-linguistic and cross-cultural literature (Lane et al., 2013; Vinden, 1999), and beginto integrate a variety of language tasks (receptive and expressive) into socialcognitive and peer relations research with children across various cultures. Suchresearch may provide the necessary empirical evidence for the development ofeducational programmes aimed to promote ToM and self-talk skills as a meansof coping with social anxiety and aggression in the classroom.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported in part by a grant from the Social Sciences andHumanities Research Council of Canada with grant no. 410-2003-0950 awarded


S.L. Bosacki

to the author. I thank the schools, children, and teachers who participated in thisstudy. I also thankMandy Frake, Brianne Litke, Shelley Smith, and Amanda Varnishfor their assistance. Portions of this research were presented at the 2005 annualmeeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, QE, Canada.

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