The Relations among Theory of Mind, Inhibitory Control, and Aggressive Behavior in 4-Year-Old Children – A Multi-Measure Multi-Informant Approach

ABSTRACT

Identifying correlates of aggressive behavior in children might help to find potential candidates for interventions in aggression reduction. While some previous studies found that children’s Theory of Mind (ToM) and inhibitory control (IC) correlate with aggressive behavior, others did not confirm this relation. One explanation for these mixed findings may lie in the application of single measures, which might not provide a comprehensive profile of children’s ToM or IC. For example, to measure children’s understanding of mental states, the majority of studies investigated their understanding of false beliefs. Another explanation is that previous studies differ in the degree to which they controlled for language abilities, which are often correlated with ToM and aggression. Here, we presented 4-year-old children (N = 80) with a broad battery of ToM and IC tasks, complemented by multi-informant assessment of their aggressive behavior. Regression analyses revealed that children’s delay of gratification correlated negatively with aggressive behavior as rated by their kindergarten teachers, even after controlling for language and ToM. After controlling for language and IC, there was no correlation between ToM and the children’s aggressive behavior as rated by the parents. These findings highlight the importance of considering multi-measure multi-informant procedures when identifying correlates of children’s aggressive behavior.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Daniel Knackstedt, Jan Kotzerke, Franziska Köppen, Laura Lindner, Maria Rintelmann, and Isabell Weiher for their help with data collection, all parents and children who participated in the study, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).