Kindness Is the Language That the Deaf Can Hear and the Blind Can See: Kindness, Theory of Mind and Well-Being in Adolescents.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This mixed-methods, cross-sectional study explored adolescent understandings of kindness, and interconnections amongst Theory of Mind (ToM; ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others), kindness, compassion, and social-psychological well-being components in 318 participants aged 10-18 (Mage = 14.58, = 2.31).

METHODS

Participants completed a battery of self-report measures and wrote responses to open-ended questions about kindness in different relational and situational contexts.

RESULTS

Most adolescents gave other-oriented, psychological definitions of kindness, increasing in detail with age. Content analysis revealed main themes of helping, followed by proactive support and respect, and differed according to the identity of the recipient (stranger, self, others), and situational context (home, school). Results showed significant positive correlations between perceptions of kindness and social (but not psychological) well-being, with gender and age differences. High levels of ToM related to high levels of perceived compassion and kindness for others, and the relations strengthened with age.

CONCLUSIONS

The results highlight implications for future research on adolescents' perceptions of prosociality, and kindness-based mental health interventions that promote social cognition and prosocial acts.