Children in ethnically diverse classrooms and those with cross-ethnic friendships excel at understanding others' minds.


Journal

Child development
ISSN: 1467-8624
Titre abrégé: Child Dev
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 0372725

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
01 Mar 2024
Historique:
medline: 2 3 2024
pubmed: 2 3 2024
entrez: 2 3 2024
Statut: aheadofprint

Résumé

This study examined the link between classroom ethnic diversity, cross-ethnic friendships, and children's theory of mind. In total, 730 children in the United Kingdom (54.7% girls, 51.5% White) aged 8 to 13 years completed measures of theory of mind in 2019/2020. Controlling for verbal ability, executive function, peer social preference, and teacher-reported demographic characteristics, greater classroom ethnic diversity provided opportunities for cross-ethnic friendships, and children with cross-ethnic friendships performed better than peers without cross-ethnic friendships on theory of mind. These results extend accounts of intergroup contact by using direct assessments of children's theory of mind and advance social accounts of theory of mind by demonstrating how experiences outside the family are linked with theory of mind.

Identifiants

pubmed: 38429980
doi: 10.1111/cdev.14085
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Subventions

Organisme : Wellcome Trust
ID : 215006/Z/18/Z
Pays : United Kingdom

Informations de copyright

© 2024 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.

Références

Aboud, F. E., Mendelson, M. J., & Purdy, K. T. (2003). Cross-race peer relations and friendship quality. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 27, 165-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/01650250244000164
Allport, G. W. (1958). The nature of prejudice. Doubleday Anchor Books.
Arend, M. G., & Schäfer, T. (2019). Statistical power in two-level models: A tutorial based on Monte Carlo simulation. Psychological Methods, 24, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000195
Bagci, S. C., Rutland, A., Kumashiro, M., Smith, P. K., & Blumberg, H. (2014). Are minority status children's cross-ethnic friendships beneficial in a multiethnic context? British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 32, 107-115. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12028
Benner, A. D., & Wang, Y. (2017). Racial/ethnic discrimination and adolescents' well-being: The role of cross-ethnic friendships and friends' experiences of discrimination. Child Development, 88, 493-504. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12606
Carr, A., Slade, L., Yuill, N., Sullivan, S., & Ruffman, T. (2018). Minding the children: A longitudinal study of mental state talk, theory of mind, and behavioural adjustment from the age of 3 to 10. Social Development, 27, 826-840. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12315
Cassidy, K. W., Fineberg, D. S., Brown, K., & Perkins, A. (2005). Theory of mind may be contagious, but you don't catch it from your twin. Child Development, 76, 97-106. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00832.x
Castelli, F., Happé, F., Frith, U., & Frith, C. (2000). Movement and mind: A functional imaging study of perception and interpretation of complex intentional movement patterns. NeuroImage, 12, 314-325. https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2000.0612
Cillessen, A. H. N., & Marks, P. E. L. (2017). Methodological choices in peer nomination research. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 157, 21-44. https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20206
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Coppotelli, H. (1982). Dimensions and types of social status: A cross-age perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18, 557-570.
Coleman, D. (2013). Immigration, population and ethnicity: The UK in international perspective. University of Oxford (The Migration Observatory).
Crisp, R. J., & Turner, R. N. (2011). Cognitive adaptation to the experience of social and cultural diversity. Psychological Bulletin, 137, 242-266. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021840
Davidson, A. D., Anderson, L. C., & Diamond, A. (2006). Development of cognitive control and executive functions from 4 to 13 years: Evidence from manipulations of memory, inhibition, and task switching. Neuropsychologia, 44, 2037-2078. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2006.02.006
Davies, K., Tropp, L. R., Aron, A., Pettigrew, T. F., & Wright, S. C. (2011). Cross-group friendships and intergroup attitudes: A meta-analytic review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 332-351. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868311411103
Devine, R. T., & Apperly, I. A. (2022). Willing and able? Theory of mind, social motivation, and social competence in middle childhood and early adolescence. Developmental Science, 25, e13137. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13137
Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C. (2013). Silent films and strange stories: Theory of mind, gender, and social experiences in middle childhood. Child Development, 84, 989-1003. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12017
Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C. (2014). Relations between false belief understanding and executive function in early childhood: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 85, 1777-1794. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12237
Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C. (2016). Measuring theory of mind across middle childhood: Reliability and validity of the silent films and strange stories tasks. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 149, 23-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.07.011
Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C. (2018). Family correlates of false belief understanding in early childhood: A meta-analysis. Child Development, 89, 971-987. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12682
Devine, R. T., & Lecce, S. (2021). Why study theory of mind in middle childhood and adolescence? In R. T. Devine & S. Lecce (Eds.), Theory of mind in middle childhood and adolescence: Integrating multiple perspectives (pp. 2-11). Routledge.
Devine, R. T., White, N., Ensor, R., & Hughes, C. (2016). Theory of mind in middle childhood: Longitudinal associations with executive function and social competence. Developmental Psychology, 52, 758-771. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000105
DFE. (2019). Schools, pupils and their characteristics: Methodology document. Crown Publications.
Echols, L., & Ivanich, J. (2021). From “fast friends” to true friends: Can a contact intervention promote friendships in middle school? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 31, 1152-1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12622
Finch, W. H., & Bolin, J. E. (2017). Multilevel modeling using Mplus. Taylor and Francis.
Fink, E. (2021). Friendships and theory of mind in middle childhood and adolescence. In R. T. Devine & S. Lecce (Eds.), Theory of mind in middle childhood and adolesence: Integrating multiple perspectives (pp. 122-141). Routledge.
Fink, E., Begeer, S., Peterson, C. C., Slaughter, V., & de Rosnay, M. (2015). Friendlessness and theory of mind: A prospective longitudinal study. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 33, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12060
Galinsky, A. D., Todd, A. R., Homan, A. C., Phillips, K. W., Apfelbaum, E. P., Sasaki, S. J., Richeson, J. A., Olayon, J. B., & Maddux, W. W. (2015). Maximizing the gains and minimizing the pains of diversity: A policy perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10, 742-748. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615598513
Gazelle, H., Lundin, J. K. S., & Bosacki, S. L. (2023). Theory of mind, gender, gains in friendships versus peer acceptance and anxious solitude from middle childhood through early adolescence. Social Development, 32, 651-671. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12654
Gommans, R., & Cillessen, A. H. N. (2015). Nominating under constraints: A systematic comparison of unlimited and limited peer nomination methodologies in elementary school. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 39, 77-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025414551761
Gönültaş, S., & Mulvey, K. L. (2021). The role of immigration background, intergroup processes, and social-cognitive skills in bystanders' responses to bias-based bullying toward immigrants during adolescence. Child Development, 92, e296-e316. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13476
Gönültaş, S., Selçuk, B., Slaughter, V., Hunter, J. A., & Ruffman, T. (2020). The capricious nature of theory of mind: Does mental state understanding depend on the characteristics of the target? Child Development, 91, e280-e298. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13223
Graham, S., Munniksma, A., & Juvonen, J. (2014). Psychosocial benefits of cross-ethnic friendships in urban middle schools. Child Development, 85, 469-483. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12159
GSS. (2011). Ethnicity harmonised standard. Government Statistical Service. https://analysisfunction.civilservice.gov.uk/policy-store/ethnicity-harmonised-standard/
Guimond, F.-A., Altman, R., Vitaro, F., Brendgen, M., & Laursen, B. (2022). The interchangeability of liking and friend nominations to measure peer acceptance and friendship. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 46, 358-367. https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254221084097
Happé, F. G. E. (1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters' thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 129-154. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02172093
Heck, R., & Thomas, S. L. (2020). An introduction to multilevel modeling techniques: MLM and SEM approaches (4th ed.). Routledge.
Heyes, C. M., & Frith, C. D. (2014). The cultural evolution of mind reading. Science, 344(6190), 1243091. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1243091
Hodson, G., Crisp, R. J., Meleady, R., & Earle, M. (2018). Intergroup contact as an agent of cognitive liberalization. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13, 523-548. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617752324
Hofmann, S. G., Doan, S. N., Sprung, M., Wilson, A., Ebesutani, C., Andrews, L. A., Curtiss, J., & Harris, P. L. (2016). Training children's theory-of-mind: A meta-analysis of controlled studies. Cognition, 150, 200-212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.01.006
Hughes, C., Lecce, S., & Wilson, C. (2007). “Do you know what I want?” Preschoolers' talk about desires, thoughts and feelings in their conversations with sibs and friends. Cognition & Emotion, 21, 330-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930600551691
Kawabata, Y., & Crick, N. R. (2008). The role of cross-racial/ethnic friendships in social adjustment. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1177-1183. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.4.1177
Kawabata, Y., & Crick, N. R. (2011). The significance of cross-racial/ethnic friendships: Associations with peer victimization, peer support, sociometric status, and classroom diversity. Developmental Psychology, 47, 1763-1775. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025399
Kawabata, Y., & Crick, N. R. (2015). Direct and interactive links between cross-ethnic friendships and peer rejection, internalizing symptoms, and academic engagement among ethnically diverse children. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21, 191-200. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038451
Killen, M., Luken Raz, K., & Graham, S. (2022). Reducing prejudice through promoting cross-group friendships. Review of General Psychology, 26, 361-376. https://doi.org/10.1177/10892680211061262
Lecce, S. (2021). Theory of mind goes to school. In R. T. Devine & S. Lecce (Eds.), Theory of mind in middle childhood and adolescence: Integrating multiple perspectives (pp. 169-192). Routledge.
Lecce, S., & Devine, R. T. (2021). Social interaction in early and middle childhood: The role of theory of mind. In H. J. Ferguson & E. E. Bradford (Eds.), The cognitive basis of social interaction across the lifespan (pp. 46-68). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198843290.003.0003
Lecce, S., Ronchi, L., & Devine, R. T. (2021). Mind what teacher says: Teachers' propensity for mental-state language and children's theory of mind in middle childhood. Social Development, 31, 303-318. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12552
Liu, S., Wang, Y., & Nuttall, A. K. (2020). Cross-race and cross-ethnic friendships and psychological well-being trajectories among Asian American adolescents: Variations by school context. Developmental Psychology, 56, 2121-2136. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001109
McGill, R. K., Way, N., & Hughes, D. (2012). Intra- and interracial best friendships during middle school: Links to social and emotional well-being. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22, 722-738. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00826.x
Meleady, R., Crisp, R. J., Hodson, G., & Earle, M. (2019). On the generalization of intergroup contact: A taxonomy of transfer effects. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28, 430-435. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721419848682
Milligan, K., Astington, J. W., & Dack, L. A. (2007). Language and theory of mind: Meta-analysis of the relation between language ability and false-belief understanding. Child Development, 78, 622-646. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01018.x
Murphy, B. A., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2019). Are self-report cognitive empathy ratings valid proxies for cognitive empathy ability? Negligible meta-analytic relations with behavioral task performance. Psychological Assessment, 31, 1062-1072. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000732
Muthèn, L. K., & Muthèn, B. O. (2017). Mplus: Statistical analysis with latent variables. User's guide (8th ed.). Muthèn & Muthèn.
Nelson, K., Plesa Skwerer, D., Goldman, S., Henseler, S., Presler, N., & Fried Walkenfeld, F. (2003). Entering a community of minds: An experiential approach to ‘theory of mind’. Human Development, 46, 24-46. https://doi.org/10.1159/000067779
Newcomb, A. F., Bukowski, W. M., & Pattee, L. (1993). Children's peer relations: A meta-analytic review of popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average social status. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 99-128.
Nishina, A., Bellmore, A., Witkow, M. R., & Nylund-Gibson, K. (2010). Longitudinal consistency of adolescent ethnic identification across varying school ethnic contexts. Developmental Psychology, 46, 1389-1401. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020728
Obradović, J., Sulik, M. J., Finch, J. E., & Tirado-Strayer, N. (2018). Assessing students' executive functions in the classroom: Validating a scalable group-based procedure. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 55, 4-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2017.03.003
ONS. (2015). Harmonised concepts and questions for social data sources: Primary principles-Ethnic group (3.3). Office for National Statistics. https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/harmonisation/primary-set-of-harmonised-concepts-and-questions/ethnic-group.pdf
ONS. (2022). Population of England and Wales. England and Wales census 2021. Office for National Statistics. https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/uk-population-by-ethnicity/national-and-regional-populations/population-of-england-and-wales/latest#:~:text=The%202021%20Census%20data%20shows,other%27%20ethnic%20group%20(6.2%25)
Osterhaus, C., & Koerber, S. (2023). The complex associations between scientific reasoning and advanced theory of mind. Child Development, 94, e18-e42. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13860
Osterhaus, C., Koerber, S., & Sodian, B. (2016). Scaling of advanced theory-of-mind tasks. Child Development, 87, 1971-1991. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12566
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1993). Friendship and friendship quality in middle childhood: Links with peer group acceptance and feelings of loneliness and dissatisfaction. Developmental Psychology, 29, 611-621.
Peterson, C. C., & Siegal, M. (2002). Mindreading and moral awareness in popular and rejected preschoolers. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20, 205-224. https://doi.org/10.1348/026151002166415
Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 65-85.
Pettigrew, T. F. (2009). Secondary transfer effect of contact: Do intergroup contact effects spread to noncontacted outgroups? Social Psychology, 40, 55-65. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335.40.2.55
Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2008). How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Meta-analytic tests of three mediators. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 922-934. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.504
Preacher, K. J., Zyphur, M. J., & Zhang, Z. (2010). A general multilevel SEM framework for assessing multilevel mediation. Psychological Methods, 15, 209-233. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020141
Rasheed, D. S., Brown, J. L., Doyle, S. L., & Jennings, P. A. (2020). The effect of teacher-child race/ethnicity matching and classroom diversity on Children's socioemotional and academic skills. Child Development, 91, e597-e618. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13275
Ronald, A., Viding, E., Happé, F., & Plomin, R. (2006). Individual differences in theory of mind ability in middle childhood and links with verbal ability and autistic traits: A twin study. Social Neuroscience, 1, 412-425. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910601068088
Rucinski, C. L., Sutton, E., Carlton, R., Downer, J., & Brown, J. L. (2021). Classroom racial/ethnic diversity and upper elementary children's social-emotional development. Applied Developmental Science, 25, 183-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2019.1576524
Rueda, M. R., Fan, J., McCandliss, B., Halparin, J. D., Gruber, D. B., Lercari, L. P., & Posner, M. I. (2004). Development of attentional networks in childhood. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1029-1040. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2003.12.012
Rust, J. (2008). Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices and Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale. Pearson Education.
Salmivalli, C., & Isaacs, J. (2005). Prospective relations among victimization, rejection, friendlessness, and children's self- and peer-perceptions. Child Development, 76, 1161-1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00841.x-i1
Serdiouk, M., Wilson, T. M., & Gest, S. D. (2022). Cross-ethnic and same-ethnic friendships in elementary classrooms: Unique associations with school adjustment. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 81, 101433. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2022.101433
Sharp, C., & Hernandez, J. (2021). Mindreading and psychopathology in middle childhood and adolescence. In R. T. Devine & S. Lecce (Eds.), Theory of mind in middle childhood and adolescence: Integrating multiple perspectives (pp. 231-252). Routledge.
Simpson, E. H. (1949). Measurement of diversity. Nature, 163, 688.
Slaughter, V., Imuta, K., Peterson, C. C., & Henry, J. D. (2015). Meta-analysis of theory of mind and peer popularity in the preschool and early school years. Child Development, 86, 1159-1174. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12372
Smogorzewska, J., Szumski, G., & Grygiel, P. (2020). Theory of mind goes to school: Does educational environment influence the development of theory of mind in middle childhood? PLoS One, 15, e0237524. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237524
Stoet, G. (2017). PsyToolkit: A novel web-based method for running online questionnaires and reaction-time experiments. Teaching of Psychology, 44, 24-31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628316677643
Todd, A. R., Bodenhausen, G. V., Richeson, J. A., & Galinsky, A. D. (2011). Perspective taking combats automatic expressions of racial bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 1027-1042. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022308
Todd, A. R., & Galinsky, A. D. (2012). The reciprocal link between multiculturalism and perspective-taking: How ideological and self-regulatory approaches to managing diversity reinforce each other. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 1394-1398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.07.007
Tropp, L. R., & Pettigrew, T. F. (2005). Relationships between intergroup contact and prejudice among minority and majority status groups. Psychological Science, 16, 951-957. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01643.x
Turner, R. N., Tam, T., Hewstone, M., Kenworthy, J., & Cairns, E. (2013). Contact between Catholic and Protestant schoolchildren in Northern Ireland. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43, E216-E228. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12018
van den Berg, Y. H. M., Lansu, T. A. M., & Cillessen, A. H. N. (2020). Preference and popularity as distinct forms of status: A meta-analytic review of 20 years of research. Journal of Adolescence, 84, 78-95.
Wang, Y., & Zhou, X. (2019). Longitudinal relations between executive function and internalizing problems in grade school: The role of peer difficulty and academic performance. Developmental Psychology, 55, 2147-2158. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000790
Weimer, A. A., Warnell, K. R., Ettekal, I., Cartwright, K. B., Guajardo, N. R., & Liew, J. (2021). Correlates and antecedents of theory of mind development during middle childhood and adolescence: An integrated model. Developmental Review, 59, 100945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2020.100945
Woods, A. D., Davis-Kean, P., Halvorson, M., King, K., Logan, J. R., Xu, M., Bainter, S., Brown, D., Clay, J. M., Cruz, R. A., Elsherif, M. M., Gerasimova, D., Joyal-Desmarais, K., Moreau, D., Nissen, J., Schmidt, K., Uzdavines, A., Van Dusen, B., & Vasilev, M. (2021). Missing data and multiple imputation decision tree. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mdw5r
Yip, T., Cheon, Y. M., & Wang, Y. (2019). The diversity paradox: Opportunities and challenges of “contact in context” across development. Research in Human Development, 16, 51-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2018.1549404

Auteurs

Rory T Devine (RT)

Centre for Developmental Science, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.

Imogen Grumley Traynor (I)

Centre for Developmental Science, School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.

Luca Ronchi (L)

Department of Brain and Behavioural Science, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.

Serena Lecce (S)

Department of Brain and Behavioural Science, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.

Classifications MeSH