title: Silent films and strange stories: theory of mind, gender, and social experiences in middle childhood.
abstract: In this study of two hundred and thirty 8- to 13-year-olds, a new "Silent Films" task is introduced, designed to address the dearth of research on theory of mind in older children by providing a film-based analogue of F. G. E. Happé's (1994) Strange Stories task. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that all items from both tasks loaded onto a single theory-of-mind latent factor. With effects of verbal ability and family affluence controlled, theory-of-mind latent factor scores increased significantly with age, indicating that mentalizing skills continue to develop through middle childhood. Girls outperformed boys on the theory-of-mind latent factor, and the correlates of individual differences in theory of mind were gender specific: Low scores were related to loneliness in girls and to peer rejection in boys.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology,University of Cambridge, Cambridge,UK. rtd24@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Rory T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Devine
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003210:Concept Formation; D004739:England; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D010379:Peer Group; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D056345:Theory of Mind