engleski

Sociometric status of preschool children in relation to their language ability and theory of mind

The growing trend of placing children in day-care centres where they spend the majority of the day enhances their possibilities for establishing early interactions with peers. In those interactions children often find themselves communicating and relating to other children, and although their language abilities are not fully developed, they use them to form and maintain relations. Recent research suggests that children's linguistic competence may play a central role in establishing social acceptance among peers. Peer relations are in many ways related to theory of mind development as well. In broader sense, theory of mind is defined as the ability to attribute mental states to self and others, and to use those states in explaining and predicting behaviour. Mental state understanding develops in the context of social relations, and theory of mind development is extremely important for children’ s ability to adjust and interact in their social environment. Studies show that theory of mind development is related to popularity among peers, and language abilities are related to theory of mind development. The aim of this study is to explore the relation between sociometric status, language ability and theory of mind in Croatian preschool children, aged from 3 to 5 years, attending day-care centres in Osijek. Sociometric status is assessed with Sociometric Peer Rating Scale (Asher et al., 1979, as cited in Raboteg-Šarić and Maričić, 2005), language development is assessed with Peabody Picture Vocabulary Scale (PPVT, Dunn and Dunn, 1997) and theory of mind is assessed with Theory of Mind Scale (Wellman and Liu, 2004). The results show developmental changes and relations between these areas of child development.

theory of mind; sociometric status; language ability

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