Background: In May 2012, Northern Italy was struck by a tremendous series of earthquakes, which had devastating consequences and persisted for several months. Previous research shows that coping strategies and Theory of Mind (ToM) can help sustaining cognitive performance after a traumatic experience. Objective: We conducted a study to examine…

The present research explored the relation between socio-cognitive skills, as Theory of Mind and affective empathy, social behaviour, attachment style and scholastic success in children, aged from 8 to 11 years (N = 159; 90 females, 69 males; M[subscript age] = 9,60; DS = 0.78). Several assessment tools were administered to children on mentalizing…

This study investigated the longitudinal relations between theory of mind (ToM) understanding, self-perceptions, and perceptions of gender-role orientation in 28 school-aged children, (16 girls, 12 boys, aged 8-12 years). Theory of mind and perceptions of self were assessed at Time 1 (T1, M = 8 y 5 m) and two years later at Time 2 (T2, M = 10 y 4…

This study examined the development of children's reasoning about the afterlife and its relationship with parental afterlife beliefs and testimony. A total of 123 children aged 5, 7, and 10 years were read a story describing the events that led to a person's death. After hearing the story, children were asked questions about the dead agent's…