BackgroundResearch implies early relational factors – parental appropriate mind‐mindedness (MM) and mutually responsive orientation (MRO) – as antecedents of children's Theory of Mind (ToM), yet the longitudinal path is unclear. Furthermore, little is known about the process in father–child relationships. In two studies of community families in a Midwestern state in United States, we tested a path from parental appropriate MM in infancy to parent–child MRO in toddlerhood to children's ToM at preschool age in mother– and father–child relationships, using comparable observational measures at parallel ages.MethodsIn Children and Parents Study (CAPS) of children born in 2017 and 2018, we collected data at 8 months (N = 200, 96 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 175, 86 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 177, 86 girls). In Family Study (FS) of children born mostly in 2001, we collected data at 7 months (N = 102, 51 girls), 38 months, age 3 (N = 100, 50 girls), and 52 months, age 4.5 (N = 99, 49 girls). Parental MM (verbal comments aligned with the infant's psychological state) was observed in infancy, MRO (parent and child responsiveness to each other and shared positive affect) at age 3, and ToM (false belief tasks) at age 4.5.ResultsThe findings supported the proposed indirect effects of parents' MM on children's ToM, mediated by MRO, for fathers and children in both studies, and for mothers and children, in CAPS. In FS, mothers' MM predicted MRO and ToM, but there was no mediation.ConclusionsThis investigation, testing a path from MM to MRO to ToM in both mother– and father–child relationships in two longitudinal studies, adds to the literature that has described relations among those constructs but rarely integrated those in one model.

中文翻译：

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心智理论的早期关系起源：两项研究的复制


背景研究暗示早期的关系因素——父母适当的心态（MM）和相互反应取向（MRO）——作为儿童心理理论（ToM）的前提，但纵向路径尚不清楚。此外，人们对父子关系的过程知之甚少。在美国中西部一个州社区家庭的两项研究中，我们使用可比较的观察措施，测试了从婴儿期父母适当 MM 到幼儿期亲子 MRO 再到学龄前儿童 ToM 的母子关系和父子关系的路径。方法在 2017 年和 2018 年出生的儿童的儿童和父母研究 (CAPS) 中，我们收集了 8 个月时的数据（氮= 200，96 名女孩），38 个月，3 岁（氮= 175，86 名女孩），52 个月，年龄 4.5（氮= 177, 86 名女孩）。在对大多数 2001 年出生的儿童进行的家庭研究 (FS) 中，我们收集了 7 个月时的数据（氮= 102，51 名女孩），38 个月，3 岁（氮= 100，50 名女孩），52 个月，年龄 4.5（氮= 99, 49 女孩）。在婴儿期观察到父母 MM（与婴儿心理状态一致的口头评论），在 3 岁时观察到 MRO（父母和孩子相互反应并分享积极情感），在 4.5 岁时观察到 ToM（错误信念任务）。提出了父母的 MM 对儿童 ToM 的间接影响（由 MRO 介导），在两项研究中对父亲和孩子以及在 CAPS 中对母亲和孩子都有间接影响。在 FS 中，母亲的 MM 预测了 MRO 和 ToM，但没有中介作用。结论这项调查在两项纵向研究中测试了母子关系中从 MM 到 MRO 到 ToM 的路径，为描述这些结构之间关系但很少将这些结构整合到一个模型中的文献增添了内容。