Friends, friendlessness, and the social consequences of gaining a theory of mind

Authors

Elian Fink, University of Sydney
Sander Begeer, Vrije Universiteit AmsterdamFollow
Candida C. Peterson, University of Queensland
Virginia Slaughter, University of QueenslandFollow
Marc de Rosnay, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

98477

Publication Details

Fink, E., Begeer, S., Peterson, C. C., Slaughter, V. & de Rosnay, M. (2015). Friends, friendlessness, and the social consequences of gaining a theory of mind. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 33 (1), 27-30.

Abstract

Fink, Begeer, Peterson, Slaughter, and de Rosnay (2014) conducted a prospective longitudinal study showing that theory-of-mind (ToM) development at school entry (mean age 5.61 years) significantly predicted friendlessness both concurrently and 2 years later. Friendlessness (defined as lacking any friendship that is mutually reciprocated) is conceptually and empirically distinct from group popularity and independently predicts adverse mental health outcomes throughout life. Here, we respond to the thoughtful commentaries by Wellman (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 24-26), Mizokawa and Koyasu (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 21-23), and Lerner and Lillard (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 18-20) with a focus on three key issues, namely (a) the definition and measurement of friendship, (b) the measurement of advanced ToM development beyond the preschool years, and (c) the exciting future potential for ToM-based training and intervention studies to combat chronic friendlessness.