THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND THEORY OF MIND ON YOUNG CHILDREN'S PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

Abstract

In children, studies have extensively investigated the relationship between prosocial behaviour and Theory of Mind (ToM) development, but findings are inconsistent. Furthermore, literature on socio-environmental factors affecting this relationship remains scant. Thus, we investigated the joint influences of family socioeconomic status (SES), number of siblings, and ToM on children’s prosocial behaviour, while controlling for children’s language and executive functioning. Sixty six 4- to 6-year-old children completed tasks assessing ToM measures of false belief and appearance-reality understanding, language, executive functioning and prosocial behaviours of sharing and generosity. Parents’ education, used as a proxy for SES, and sibling number in the household were collected via parent interviews. After controlling for children’s age, correlational analyses showed that appearance-reality understanding and father’s education were positively associated with sharing. Hierarchical regressions demonstrated that father’s education and children’s appearance-reality understanding uniquely contributed to their sharing, after accounting for children’s age, language, executive functioning, maternal education, and siblings. Appearance-reality understanding solely predicted children’s generosity. The findings suggest that family SES, especially father’s education, and children’s ToM have a significant and nuanced impact on children’s prosocial development.