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Cited by 265Child and Animal Learning DevelopmentEarly Childhood Education and DevelopmentLanguage Development and Disorders

Family correlates of false belief understanding in early childhood: A meta-analysis

Devine, Rory T, Hughes, Claire·2018·Child Development
DOI 10.1111/cdev.12682
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Abstract

This meta-analysis seeks to integrate findings from 25 years of research on family correlates of young children's false belief understanding (FBU). Using data from 93 studies of 3- to 7-year-old children, we examined the correlations between FBU and four of the most widely studied family factors: parental socioeconomic status, number of siblings, parental mental-state talk, and mind-mindedness. FBU exhibited modest associations with each family variable and these associations held even when individual differences in verbal ability were taken into account. Moderator analyses revealed key child-related factors (e.g., age, gender) as well as methodological factors that amplified or attenuated the relations between FBU and each family variable. Crucially, available longitudinal data highlight the importance of family factors in the development of FBU.

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  • Both theory of mind ability and reading experience have been linked to individual differences in verbal ability, gender, and socioeconomic status.

    “Both ToM ability and reading experience have for instance been linked to individual differences in verbal ability, gender, and socioeconomic status (e.g., Devine et al., 2023; Devine & Hughes, 2018; McGeown et al., 2016; Milligan et al., 2007; van der Kleij et al., 2022).”

    From Longitudinal development of theory of mind in adolescence and its associations with fiction reading experience. (2025) · cites this paper as Devine & Hughes, 2018

    The sections on socioeconomic status and false-belief understanding report a modest association between family SES and children’s false-belief understanding, and describe language ability as closely related to false-belief performance. The Theoretical Implications section notes that the sibling association varied with the proportion of girls in a study, but does not establish a general link between gender and theory-of-mind ability. This paper does not examine children’s reading experience or its links to verbal ability, gender, and SES, so it supports only part of the cited sentence. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Devine, R. T., & Hughes, C.
Affiliations
University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
Devine, Rory T
ORCID
Venue
Child Development
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2018-05-01
Volume
89
Issue
3
Pages
971-987
ISSN
  • 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-8624
DOI
10.1111/cdev.12682
OpenAlex
W2554604627
Cited by
265
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 24 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 1
FWCI
2.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Child Development (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • University of Birmingham Research Portal (University of Birmingham) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Isaac Newton Trust, Cambridge
  • UK Economic and Social Research Council (ES/JO21180/1)
  • Isaac Newton Trust
  • Economic and Social Research Council (ES/JO21180/1)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
  • Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
Keywords
false belief understanding, theory of mind, family correlates, parental socioeconomic status, number of siblings, mind-mindedness, early childhood, verbal ability, longitudinal development, gender differences, age differences
MeSH terms
Age Factors, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Family, Female, Humans, Male, Sex Factors, Social Class, Comprehension, Theory of Mind

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