title: Friends, friendlessness, and the social consequences of gaining a theory of mind.
abstract: Fink, Begeer, Peterson, Slaughter, and de Rosnay (2014) conducted a prospective longitudinal study showing that theory-of-mind (ToM) development at school entry (mean age 5.61 years) significantly predicted friendlessness both concurrently and 2 years later. Friendlessness (defined as lacking any friendship that is mutually reciprocated) is conceptually and empirically distinct from group popularity and independently predicts adverse mental health outcomes throughout life. Here, we respond to the thoughtful commentaries by Wellman (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 24-26), Mizokawa and Koyasu (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 21-23), and Lerner and Lillard (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 18-20) with a focus on three key issues, namely (a) the definition and measurement of friendship, (b) the measurement of advanced ToM development beyond the preschool years, and (c) the exciting future potential for ToM-based training and intervention studies to combat chronic friendlessness.
authors: University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; University College London, London, UK.
authors: Elian
authors: E
authors: Fink
authors: Sander
authors: S
authors: Begeer
authors: Candida C
authors: CC
authors: Peterson
authors: Virginia
authors: V
authors: Slaughter
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: de Rosnay
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D056345:Theory of Mind / Q000502:physiology*