Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2024 Nov;247:106028. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106028. Epub 2024 Aug 22.
Despite the prevalence of internalizing and externalizing difficulties in children, the impact of these problem behaviors on the development of important social cognitive skills, such as Theory of Mind (ToM), is not well-understood. Indeed, many studies that have explored relations between problem behaviors and ToM report inconsistent findings. A possible reason for these disparities may be a lack of accounting for social protective factors within the home, such as the presence and number of siblings. Here, we explored the moderating influence of sibling presence and number on the relation between problem behaviors (i.e., internalizing and externalizing) and ToM. A total of 184 children (88 boys; M = 64.6 months, SD = 10.39) completed six well-validated ToM tasks while mothers reported on their children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Children who had siblings living in the same home exhibited higher ToM than children without siblings. In addition, both sibling presence and number of siblings moderated the relation between children's externalizing behaviors and ToM, such that in children without siblings externalizing behaviors were negatively associated with ToM. In contrast, children with siblings had similar ToM regardless of externalizing behaviors. As well, children with relatively fewer siblings and higher externalizing behaviors displayed lower ToM than children with relatively more siblings and higher externalizing behaviors. We did not detect a moderating effect of sibling presence or number on the relation between internalizing behaviors and ToM. These findings provide support for siblings' protective utility within the context of children's social cognition.
尽管儿童中内化和外化问题普遍存在，但这些问题行为对重要社会认知技能（如心理理论（ToM））的发展的影响尚未得到很好的理解。事实上，许多研究探索了问题行为与 ToM 之间的关系，但报告的结果不一致。造成这种差异的一个可能原因是，没有考虑家庭中的社会保护因素，例如兄弟姐妹的存在和数量。在这里，我们探讨了兄弟姐妹的存在和数量对问题行为（即内化和外化）与 ToM 之间关系的调节作用。共有 184 名儿童（88 名男孩；M=64.6 个月，SD=10.39）完成了六项经过充分验证的 ToM 任务，同时母亲报告了他们孩子的外化和内化行为。与没有兄弟姐妹的孩子相比，有兄弟姐妹同住的孩子表现出更高的 ToM。此外，兄弟姐妹的存在和数量都调节了儿童外化行为与 ToM 之间的关系，即没有兄弟姐妹的儿童的外化行为与 ToM 呈负相关。相比之下，有兄弟姐妹的儿童无论外化行为如何，其 ToM 都相似。同样，与有较多兄弟姐妹和较高外化行为的儿童相比，兄弟姐妹较少且外化行为较高的儿童的 ToM 较低。我们没有发现兄弟姐妹的存在或数量对内化行为与 ToM 之间关系的调节作用。这些发现为兄弟姐妹在儿童社会认知中的保护作用提供了支持。
