Abstract:This study investigated the prospective relationship between preschoolers' theory of mind (ToM) skills and academic school readiness, while exploring the possible moderator role played by child gender. The participants were 75 children who were assessed at two time points: when enrolled in the second preschool year (T1) and again 4 months before school entry (T2). The results showed an association between children's ToM abilities at T1 (but not at T2) and later academic readiness at T2, but only for girls, even after accounting for child IQ and maternal education. These findings support the idea that girls and boys can differ in how they use their ToM abilities in their daily life and highlight the relevance of further exploring gender-specific effects when investigating children's social cognition and school readiness.

中文翻译：

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心理理论与大学入学准备的关系：儿童性别的调节作用

摘要：本研究调查了学龄前儿童心理理论（ToM）技能与学业准备程度之间的预期关系，同时探讨了儿童性别可能扮演的主持人角色。参加者有75个孩子，他们在两个时间点接受了评估：入学前第二个学年（T1）和入学前4个月再次（T2）。结果表明，儿童的ToM能力在T1时（但在T2时没有）与后来在T2时的学业准备之间存在关联，但仅对女孩而言，即使考虑了孩子的智商和母性教育也是如此。这些发现支持这样的观念，即男孩和女孩在日常生活中使用ToM能力的方式可能有所不同，并强调了在调查儿童的社会认知和入学准备时进一步探索针对性别的影响的相关性。