Sicurezza dell'attaccamento e lessico mentale nelle narrazioni scritte da bambini di età scolare

The ability to use mental terms to describe the psychology of fictional characters can be seen as a window into the child’s theory of mind. Securely attached children may be more advanced in their socio-cognitive skills when reasoning about mental states than their insecure agemates. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between the ability to refer to mental states when writing fantasy stories, and security of child-mother relationship. 102 Italian-speaking children of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade participated in the study. Children filled out a self-report measure of attachment security and were asked to write a story with a minimal prompt. All stories were analysed for references to mental states. Results showed the influence of grade level, type of prompt and style of attachment on children’s production of mental state references.

Italiano La capacità di utilizzare termini mentali per descrivere la psicologia dei personaggi di storie inventate costituisce una finestra sulla teoria della mente del bambino. Si ipotizza che i bambini con attaccamento sicuro dispongano di abilità socio-cognitive più avanzate per riflettere sugli stati mentali rispetto ai loro coetanei con attaccamento insicuro. Il presente lavoro analizza la relazione tra la capacità di far riferimento a stati mentali nella composizione di storie di fantasia e la sicurezza dell’attaccamento. Alla ricerca hanno partecipato 102 bambini italiani frequentanti le ultime tre classi della scuola elementare. Ai bambini è stato chiesto di compilare un questionario sulla sicurezza dell’attaccamento e di scrivere una storia a partire da uno stimolo minimo. Le storie sono state analizzate rispetto ai riferimenti agli stati mentali. I risultati mostrano l’influenza della classe frequentata, del tipo di stimolo e della sicurezza dell’attaccamento sulla produzione di riferimenti a stati mentali. English The ability to use mental terms to describe the psychology of fictional characters can be seen as a window into the child’s theory of mind. Securely attached children may be more advanced in their socio-cognitive skills when reasoning about mental states than their insecure agemates. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between the ability to refer to mental states when writing fantasy stories, and security of child-mother relationship. 102 Italian-speaking children of 3rd, 4th and 5th grade participated in the study. Children filled out a self-report measure of attachment security and were asked to write a story with a minimal prompt. All stories were analysed for references to mental states. Results showed the influence of grade level, type of prompt and style of attachment on children’s production of mental state references.