Does Parental Mind-Mindedness Account for Cross-Cultural Differences in Preschoolers' Theory of Mind?

This study of 241 parent-child dyads from the United Kingdom ($\textit{N}$ = 120, $\textit{M}$$_{age}$ = 3.92, $\textit{SD}$ = 0.53) and Hong Kong ($\textit{N}$ = 121, $\textit{M}$$_{age}$ = 3.99, $\textit{SD}$ = 0.50) breaks new ground by adopting a cross-cultural approach to investigate children's theory of mind and parental mind-mindedness. Relative to the Hong Kong sample, U.K. children showed superior theory-of-mind performance and U.K. parents showed greater levels of mind-mindedness. Within both cultures parental mind-mindedness was correlated with theory of mind. Mind-mindedness also accounted for cultural differences in preschoolers' theory of mind. We argue that children's family environments might shed light on how culture shapes children's theory of mind.This study was funded by the United Kingdom Economic and Social Research Council and Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (ES/JO21180/1)