Effects of Bilingualism, Household Size and Siblings on Theory of Mind Development in Pakistani and British Children

Abstract

The development of a Theory of Mind (ToM) is a critical milestone observed in early childhood. There is evidence of diversity in how children from different social and cultural contexts develop ToM, but a dearth of research exploring how inter- and intra-country factors overlap. Factors associated with ToM development, which vary within countries, may also contribute to cross-country differences, such as bilingualism, siblings numbers and household size. Here, we explore the effect of country, bilingualism, household size and number of siblings on the development of children’s ToM after controlling for receptive vocabulary and age, in Pakistani and British children. Bilingualism and country were both independent predictors of children’s ToM development, whilst household size and number of siblings did not explain further variance in ToM. Together, these findings illuminate the role of the linguistic environment in different ToM developmental trajectories and highlight the importance of considering both inter- and intra-cultural factors.