title: Advanced theory of mind in adolescence: Do age, gender and friendship style play a role?
abstract: The ability to recursively infer the mental states of others to explain their complex behavior in ambiguous social situation may be called Advanced Theory of Mind (aToM). The relations between two components of aToM, cognitive and affective, measured on a behavioral level in 151 Polish 13-year-olds and 174 16-year-olds was examined. The role of age, gender and friendship style and its relations to the cognitive and affective aToM was explored. Cognitive aToM was only weakly to moderately related to affective aToM. Across both age groups females scored higher than males. Males' aToM abilities did not differ according to age, but they scored higher in the cognitive aToM than affective ToM. Also, different aspects of friendship style were significant predictors of both aToM abilities. The implications for two aToM components within a gendered social context were discussed.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060 Kraków, Poland. Electronic address: marta.bialecka-pikul@uj.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Białecka-Pikul
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, ul. Ingardena 6, 30-060 Kraków, Poland. Electronic address: anna.kolodziejczyk@uj.edu.pl.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kołodziejczyk
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada. Electronic address: sandra.bosacki@brocku.ca.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bosacki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011044:Poland; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D056345:Theory of Mind
keywords: Advanced theory of mind; Friendship style; Gender; Social knowledge