How parenting style affects false belief understanding

This study investigated whether mothers facilitate false belief understandi ng, and if so, what strategies are particularly relevant. The mothers of 64 3- and 4-year-olds were given questionnaires eliciting information about m other's education mother's occupation, number of younger and older siblings , the time the child spends with mother, and about how mothers deal with Ji ve disciplinary situations with their child. Three variables were positivel y correlated with belief understanding age,;number:of older siblings, and n umber of times mothers said they would respond to the disciplinary situatio ns by asking the child to reflect on the victim's feelings (How Feel respon ses). These three variables had an independent effect on belief understandi ng because each was significant after accounting for the influence due to; the other two variables. In contrast, there was no significant positive rel ation between belief understanding and mothers who engaged their child in g eneral discussion and exploration of the disciplinary issues, or who simply reprimanded the child without discussing the situation. The effects for nu mber of older siblings and How Feel responses remained even after the influ ence due to the child's age, verbal mental age, time spent with the mother, and number of younger siblings was accounted for. The results are consiste nt with recent research:showing that parent-child relations may be importan t for theory of mind understanding. More importantly, they provide insight into aspecific strategy by which parents may help children learn about ment al states.