By the age of five, most children develop false belief understanding. In other words, they understand that people’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs can differ from reality, and that people sometimes act upon mistaken beliefs (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). Generally, children from lower-income families have lower false belief understanding (e.g. Cole & Mitchell, 1998). Other research has shown that harsher parental discipline and lower child language skills are also related to lower false belief understanding (e.g. Milligan et. al., 2007). Since parents from high- and low-income families tend to use different discipline strategies and their children tend to have different language abilities, this study asks if parent discipline and children’s vocabulary explain why children from low-income families have lower false belief understanding.
Authors: Virginia Tompkins, Assistant Professor, Jessica A.R. Logan, Senior Research Scientist, Daniel F. Blosser, Graduate Student, Kaylin Duffy, Graduate Student
Original Citation: Tompkins, V., Logan, J.A.R., Blosser, D.F., & Duffy, K. (2017). Child language and parent discipline mediate the relation between family income and false belief understanding. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 158, 1-18.
Background: By the age of five, most children develop false belief understanding. In other words, they understand that people’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs can differ from reality, and that people sometimes act upon mistaken beliefs (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). Generally, children from lower-income families have lower false belief understanding (e.g. Cole & Mitchell, 1998). Other research has shown that harsher parental discipline and lower child language skills are also related to lower false belief understanding (e.g. Milligan et. al., 2007). Since parents from high- and low-income families tend to use different discipline strategies and their children tend to have different language abilities, this study asks if parent discipline and children’s vocabulary explain why children from low-income families have lower false belief understanding.
Sample: In total, 174 three- to five-year-old children participated in the study. Most of the children (68%) were white, and slightly over half (54%) were from families at or below the poverty line. Children completed a vocabulary assessment and three false belief understanding tests. Parents completed a survey on their basic demographic information, monthly income, and how they would discipline their children in 12 different situations. Researchers grouped parents’ responses on discipline into four categories.
Results:
- Children from higher-income families scored significantly higher on vocabulary and false belief understanding than children from low-income families.
- Parents from higher-income families reported using instruction and discussion of feelings more frequently and physical discipline or harsh language less frequently to discipline their children than parents from lower-income families did.
- Parents from lower-income families’ tendency to use physical discipline or harsh language explained why their children demonstrated lower false belief understanding.
- In contrast, parents from higher-income families’ tendency to discipline through instruction and discussion of feelings explained why their children demonstrated higher false belief understanding.
- Finally, regardless of family income, children with better vocabulary tended to have higher false belief understanding.
Discussion: This study suggests that the children from lower-income families have lower ability to distinguish between thought and reality because their parents are less likely to discuss their feelings and behavior and more likely to use harsher discipline strategies. However, child vocabulary appears to be even more important than parent discipline for understanding how higher-income children acquire greater false belief understanding. Perhaps this is because children with higher vocabulary are better able to understand that thoughts, feelings and ideas can be expressed in many different ways or because parents from higher-income families are more likely to discuss and reflect on learning, thoughts, and feelings with their children (Meins et. al. 2013). Overall, this study points to the need for further research on how parents from high- and low-income families build their children’s language ability and the types of parent-child discussions that occur in the home.
References:
Cole, K., & Mitchell, P. (1998). Family background in relation to deceptive ability and understanding of the mind. Social Development, 7, 181-197.
Dunn, L.M., & Dunn, L.M. (2007). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – 4th edition (PPVT-4). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Arnott, B., Leekam, S.R., & de Rosnay, M. (2013). Mind-mindedness and theory of mind: Mediating the roles of language and perspectival symbolic play. Child Development, 84, 1777-1791.
Milligan, K., Astington, J.W., & Dack, L.A. (2007). Language and theory of mind: Meta-analysis of the relation between language ability and false-belief understanding. Child Development, 78(2), 622-646.