A Longitudinal Study of Children’s Theory of Mind and Drawings of Play

Abstract

This study investigated the longitudinal relations between theory of mind (ToM) understanding and children’sdrawings of play in 26 school-aged children, (16 females, 10 males, aged 8-12 years). Theory of mind was assessedat Time 1 (T1, M = 8 y 5m) and two years later at Time 2 (T2, M =10 y 4 m), as well as children’s drawings of playactivities. Longitudinally, significant positive associations (p < .05) were found between T1 ToM ability and the T2verbal description of the child’s drawing (r = .38). A significant negative correlation was found between children’sverbal descriptions of their drawings and emotional facial expressions (r = -.44). The majority of the drawingsreflected physical play activities, with physical, competitive activities (e.g., soccer). Implications for socioemotionaland cognitive development in middle childhood are discussed.