A systematic review of measures of theory of mind for children

Abstract

Theory of mind (ToM) is a developmental and multidimensional ability to impute mental states to oneself and others. This systematic review aimed to identify and appraise the current ToM measures for children in terms of their constructs, modes of presentation and response, the test theories adopted to develop them, and psychometric properties. Among the 588 articles retrieved, 127 ToM measures were identified. Twelve measures covered the full spectrum of ToM development in childhood. Only four measures had items in all construct dimensions (i.e., cognitive–interpersonal, cognitive–intrapersonal, affective–interpersonal, and affective–intrapersonal ToM), but they were not designed with specific items on developmental components in every dimension. As regards modes of presentation and response, twenty-one measures designed with visual aids are recommended for children with poor verbal comprehension and expression abilities. Only six measures were constructed or examined with Rasch modeling to better quantify ToM ability. To sum up, currently, no single ToM measure constructed with Rasch modeling and featuring visual aids can assess children’s ToM ability simultaneously and specifically with the multidimensional construct. A thorough ToM measurement for children with the above-mentioned characteristics is warranted for clinicians and researchers to better understand children’s ToM ability and examine the mechanisms governing the developmental and multidimensional constructs.