Investigation of the Relationship between Theory of Mind and Peer Relations in Preschool Children

Theory of mind is a concept used to describe one of the most important social cognitive abilities that play a role in human social interaction. The theory of mind is a skill that begins to develop from infancy and continues to evolve even in the later stages of life. In this study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between the theory of mind and peer relations of pre-school children. The study group consisted of 155 (77 girls, 78 boys) 4-6-year-old children attending pre-school education institutions. "Theory of Mind Scale" and "Child Behaviour Scale" was used to collect the data. The "Theory of Mind Scale" was applied to each child individually by the researcher and the "Child Behaviour Scale" was filled out by the classroom teachers to evaluate. According to Kolmogorov Smirnov Test results, t-Test was used for binary variables, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis for three and more variables. As a result of the study, it was determined that there was a significant difference in age of Knowledge and Content False Belief duties of Theory of Mind Scale according to age, while there was no significant difference in mind theory according to child's gender. When the findings related to peer relations were examined, it was found that there was a significant difference in the Child Behaviour Scale's Peer Aggression and Extreme Mobility dimensions according to gender, while there was no significant difference in peer relations according to the age of the child. Finally, according to the results of the Theory of Mind Scale and Child Behaviour Scale, it has been found that there are weak relations in some aspects of the theory of mind and peer relations.