Development and validation of the newly developed Preschool Theory of Mind Assessment (ToMA-P)

Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to understand and attribute mental states to oneself and others. A ToM measure is warranted for preschool children to assess their ToM development from a multidimensional perspective (i.e., cognitive and affective dimensions). This study aimed to develop th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in psychology 2024-04, Vol.15, p.1274204-1274204
Main Authors: Fu, I-Ning, Chen, Cheng-Te, Chen, Kuan-Lin, Liu, Meng-Ru, Hsieh, Ching-Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
assessment
item response theory
multidimensional construct
preschool children
Psychology
theory of mind
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Summary:Theory of mind (ToM) refers to the ability to understand and attribute mental states to oneself and others. A ToM measure is warranted for preschool children to assess their ToM development from a multidimensional perspective (i.e., cognitive and affective dimensions). This study aimed to develop the Preschool Theory of Mind Assessment (ToMA-P) and to evaluate its construct validity and applicability. The ToMA-P was developed based on comprehensive literature review and revised with expert panel feedback. Its psychometric properties were evaluated in 205 typically developing preschoolers with Rasch analysis for its dimensionality, item difficulties, and convergent validity. The results indicated that all ToMA-P items, except for one, fit the hypothesized two-dimensional construct. The item difficulties in the cognitive and affective dimensions followed developmental sequences. The ToMA-P scores exhibited good convergent validity, as evidenced by its significant correlations with age, verbal comprehension, adaptive functions, and daily ToM performance (  
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1274204