The understanding of emotion among young Chinese children

Abstract

The development of emotion understanding in young Chinese preschoolers was examined. The overall developmental trend, as measured by the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC), proved similar to that found among preschoolers in Western Europe. However, Chinese children performed better at understanding the distinction between real and apparent emotion and worse at understanding the connection between reminders and emotion. Children’s theory of mind and verbal ability were significant predictors of their ability to understand emotion.

Keywords

culture Chinese emotion understanding preschoolers

The ability to understand emotion is a consistent correlate of several developmental outcomes (for a meta-analysis, see Trentacosta & Fine, 2010), including greater popularity (Denham, McKinley, Couchoud, & Holt, 1990), fewer internalizing behaviors (Fine, Izard, Mostow, Trentacosta, & Ackerman, 2003), and more prosocial behaviors (Ensor & Hughes, 2005). Improving children’s emotion understanding is an objective of intervention programs, both for typically (e.g., Greenberg, Kusche, Cook, & Quamma, 1995) and atypically-developing children (e.g., Golan et al., 2010). Since it is important to know whether the development of emotion understanding is similar across different cultures, we compared its development in China to that reported for children in three other cultures of Western Europe. We also examined the relationship between emotion understanding, verbal ability, and theory of mind.

The organization of emotion understanding in children

Among various models of emotion understanding, the nine components of the Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) have been widely accepted (Pons, Harris, & de Rosnay, 2004). The nine components are: (1) recognizing facial expressions of emotion; and understanding: (2) external causes of emotion; (3) links between desire and emotion; (4) links between belief and emotion; (5) relations between reminders and emotion; (6) the regulation of emotion; (7) the hiding of felt emotion; (8) mixed emotions; and (9) moral emotions. These components can be organized into a three-phase, developmental framework. The first phase (around 3–5 years) features basic aspects of emotion: the recognition of facial expressions, understanding external causes of emotion, and the relationship between desires and emotion. The intermediate phase (around 5–8 years) features more mentalistic aspects of emotion: links between reminders and emotion, between beliefs and emotion, and the hiding of felt emotion. The final phase, (around 8–11 years) features reflective processes: emotion regulation, mixed emotions, and moral emotions.

Cultural similarities and differences in the understanding of emotion

Recent studies with the TEC have suggested that emotion understanding displays a universal developmental pattern across different cultures. Results from several countries in Western Europe have revealed similar age changes (e.g., Bender, Sømhovd, Pons, Reinholdt-Dunne, & Esbjørn, 2015; Molina, Bulgarelli, Henning, & Aschersleben, 2014; Pons et al., 2004, 2014). However, with respect to understanding the hiding of emotion, findings have been mixed. The percentage of 4- and 6-year-olds differentiating between felt and expressed emotion proved similar in Britain, the USA, and Japan (Gardner, Harris, Ohmoto, & Hamazaki, 1988; Gross & Harris, 1988; Harris, Donnelly, Guz, & Pitt-Watson, 1986). Nevertheless, two studies have produced somewhat different results. Joshi and MacLean (1994) observed an improvement from 4 to 6 years in the differentiation between felt and expressed emotion, but 4-year-old girls in India outperformed 4-year-old girls in Britain. Molina, Bulgarelli, Henning, and Aschersleben (2014) found that middle-class preschoolers in Italy and Germany displayed a similar pattern of development for eight of the nine components of the TEC, but Italian children were more likely to understand that felt emotion can be hidden than were German children. In summary, cross-cultural studies show that the general direction of emotion understanding is quite similar but that cultural factors may impact children’s understanding of particular components.

In this study, we examined the development of emotion understanding among young children in China. China is a representative of a collectivistic culture; a core element is the assumption that group members are bound together and have mutual obligations. By contrast, in individualistic cultures, a core element is the assumption that individuals are relatively independent of each other (Oyserman, Coon, & Kemmelmeier, 2002). Even among collectivistic cultures, China also has several distinctive characteristics: a very long history as a single nation, a vast territory and population united by a common language (almost all people speak Mandarin), a one-party system with its own definition of democracy and freedom of speech, including an emphasis on deference and respect for authority. Given its distinctive history and status, it is appropriate to ask if the development of emotion understanding in China is comparable to the pattern observed in other cultures.

There are several indications that the emotion understanding of Chinese and European-American children might differ. Chinese preschoolers performed worse than European-American preschoolers in understanding the causes of emotion (Wang, 2008). Children’s conceptualization of the self, as reflected in their autobiographical memories, is more socially embedded in China than in the US (Wang, 2004). Chinese children also display a different rank order from US and Austrian children in their mastery of theory-of-mind tasks (Wellman, Fang, Liu, Zhu, & Liu, 2006).

We used the TEC to examine emotion understanding in Chinese preschoolers. We predicted that the overall developmental trend would be similar to that for children from Western Europe. Nevertheless, we anticipated that Chinese children might perform better than European children in understanding the hiding of emotion, especially in light of recent findings highlighting respectful deference to others among Chinese preschool children (Harris & Corriveau, 2013). We also assessed children’s verbal ability and theory of mind performance. Consistent with past research, we anticipated that both would be predictors of children’s understanding of emotion.

Method

Participants

A total of 192 children aged 4–6 years were tested: 65 children aged 4 years (M = 4 years 1 month, SD = 4 months, range: 3 years 6 months–4 years 8 months, 29 female), 60 children aged 5 years (M = 5 years 3 months, SD = 3 months, range: 4 years 9 months–5 years 8 months, 29 female), and 67 children aged 6 years (M = 6 years 5 months, SD = 4 months, range: 5 years 9 months–6 years 8 months, 33 female). Children were recruited from a kindergarten in Hangzhou, China, serving predominantly middle-class families; 78.1% were first-born children. Tables 1 –3 indicate parents’ educational background, occupation, and income (per year). For each age group, two classes of children were randomly selected from a total of six classes. Mandarin was the only language spoken by the children.

Table 1.
Educational background of parents (as reported by both parents, N = 192).

Primary or high school only Completed college Graduate school or higher Missing data

Mother 50 103 1 38

Father 47 95 7 43

Table 2.
Occupational background of parents (as reported by both parents, N = 192).

No job Manual General Middle Advanced Missing

Mother 29 28 53 31 5 46

Father 10 28 43 36 32 43

Note. No job: includes people who have no job, have a part-time job, have a non-technical job, or do agricultural work. Manual: includes people who do manual work (e.g., construction worker) or are self-employed. General: includes people who do basic managerial and technical work (e.g., retail worker, driver).

Middle: includes people who do mid-level managerial and technical work (e.g., teacher, doctor, engineer). Advanced: includes people who do senior managerial and professional work (e.g., civil servant, manager).

Table 3.
Income (yuan) of each family (per year) (as reported by the mother, N = 192).

≤50,000 50,001–150,000 150,001–300,000 ≥300,001 Missing data

Family 12 49 47 38 46

Note. The average income of family in urban areas of China is 88,683 yuan per year (reported by the National Health of Family Planning Commission, 2015).

The ethical committee of Beijing Normal University approved the study. Before testing, we explained the procedure to the school principal, the teachers, and all parents, and received approval from them. Parents also signed a voluntary participation agreement. Children were informed of their right not to participate and to withdraw at any time.

Measures and procedure

Test of emotion comprehension

The Test of Emotion Comprehension (TEC) assesses nine components of emotion understanding that emerge between the age of 3 and 11 years (see Castro, Cheng, Halberstadt, & Grühn, 2016 for a review). It has been translated into 25 languages at the time of writing. It has shown good test–retest reliability, as well as concurrent, criterion, and construct validity (see Pons et al., 2004, for a description of the procedure and materials for the TEC).

The Chinese version of the TEC was adapted to a Chinese context based on pilot testing resulting in two minor changes. The narrative for the External Cause component was revised as follows: “This boy/girl is standing at the bus stop, waiting to take a bus to go to school, just like he/she does every day.” The criterion target emotion was “alright”. This change prevented children from thinking that the bus was delayed, thereby causing the protagonist to be angry. Second, for the Belief component, the fox was replaced by a wolf; in Chinese culture, the wolf is regarded as the animal that preys on rabbits. Administration of the test took 10–15 minutes.

Children received one point for passing any given component. Each of the first two components included five items. Children received one point if they were correct on at least four of these five items. For the “Desire” component, children received one point if they were correct on all four questions. For the “Moral” component, children received one point if they were correct on both questions. For the remaining five components, children received one point if they chose the correct option from four options. Children’s total score could range from 0 to 9.

Verbal ability

The Core Vocabulary scale of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised (WPPSI: Chinese version) was used to assess children’s verbal ability in Mandarin. Total scores on this subscale could range from 0 to 44. Administration took 2–10 minutes, depending on the length of children’s response to test items.

Theory of mind

The Theory-of-Mind scale (Chinese version) (Fang, Wellman, Liu, Liu, & Kang, 2009) was used to assess children’s theory of mind. It includes five subtasks: diverse desires, diverse beliefs, knowledge-access, false belief, and hidden emotion. Children’s total score could range from 0 to 5. Administration took 8–10 minutes.

Procedure

Children’s verbal ability and theory-of-mind understanding were assessed in one session; the TEC was administered 1 week later. Children were tested individually by a native speaker of Mandarin in a quiet area of their kindergarten.

Results

The development of emotion understanding

Children’s TEC scores ranged from 0 to 8 (M = 4.43, SD = 1.61, n = 192). No child succeeded on all nine components. A two-way ANOVA of Age (4-, 5-, 6-year-olds) × Gender (boys vs. girls) revealed a significant main effect of Age, F(2, 186) = 44.21, p < .001, partial η ² = 0.32, but no significant effect of Gender and no interaction of Age × Gender. As expected, 6-years-olds (M = 5.55, SD = 1.61) performed better than 5-year-olds (M = 4.35, SD = 1.17), and 5-year-olds performed better than 4-year-olds (M = 3.39, SD = 1.65).

Figure 1 shows the percentage of children passing each component as a function of age. Inspection of Figure 1 reveals that performance improved with age for seven components. Kruskal-Wallis one-way analyses confirmed that the number of children passing these seven components increased with age: Recognition: χ²(2) = 17.56, p < .001, η ² = 0.09; External cause: χ²(2) = 34.74, p < .001, η ² = 0.18; Desire: χ²(2) = 38.99, p < .001, η ² = 0.20; Hiding: χ²(2) = 9.93, p < .001, η ² = 0.05; Belief: χ²(2) = 20.18, p < .001, η ² = 0.11; Reminder: χ²(2) = 6.30, p < .05, η ² = 0.03; and Regulation: χ²(2) = 20.58, p < .001, η ² = 0.11. The percentage of children passing the Mixed and Morality components remained low across all three age groups.

Figure 1.
The percentage of children passing each component by age (4-year-olds, N = 65; 5-year-olds, N = 60; 6-year-olds, N = 67). Error bars indicate standard errors.

Inspection of Figure 1 reveals that the nature of these age-based improvements varied across the seven components. On four components (Recognition, External Cause, Desire, and Hiding), 4-year-olds showed considerable proficiency, with more than 50% passing each. Nevertheless, Mann-Whitney U tests also confirmed that there was a significant improvement between 4 and 5 years for each: Recognition (Z = 2.85, p < .01, r = 0.25), External Cause (Z = 2.97, p < .01, r = 0.27), Desire (Z = 4.20, p < .001, r = 0.38), and Hiding (Z = 2.42, p < .05, r = 0.22). By contrast, there was no further improvement for three of these four components between 5 and 6 years: for Recognition (Z = 0.68, n.s., r = 0.06), Desire (Z = 1.50, n.s., r = 0.13), and Hiding (Z = 0.36, n.s., r = 0.03); the understanding of External Cause, however, did improve (Z = 3.23, p < .01, r = 0.29).

With respect to three other components (Belief, Reminder, Regulation) fewer 4-year-olds showed proficiency, with no more than 33% passing any of these components and no significant improvement between 4 and 5 years: Belief (Z = 0.48, n.s., r = 0.04), Reminder (Z = 0.30, n.s., r = 0.03), and Regulation (Z = 0.58, n.s., r = 0.05). There was, however, a significant improvement on each between 5 and 6 years: Belief (Z = 3.51, p < .001, r = 0.31), Reminder (Z = 2.24, p < .05, r = 0.20), and Regulation (Z = 4.01, p < .001, r = 0.36).

Finally, as Inspection of Figure 1 confirms, few children performed successfully on the Mixed and Morality components.

In sum, the understanding of Recognition, External Cause, Desire, and Hiding became widespread between 4 and 5 years of age; the understanding of Belief, Reminder, and Regulation showed little change between 4 and 5 years but increased between 5 and 6 years. The understanding of the Mixed and Morality components remained limited throughout this age period.

Cultural differences in the understanding of emotion

To examine potential cultural differences, we rank-ordered the components in terms of the percentage of children passing each. We compared this rank-order to those observed in British (Pons, Lawson, Harris, & de Rosnay, 2003), German, and Italian children (Molina et al., 2014) (see Table 4). British and German culture can be characterized as more individualistic cultures whereas Chinese and Italian culture can be characterized as more collectivistic cultures (see Table 4 for the size, age range, and mean age of each of the four samples). Because our sample age range was from 4 to 6 years, we selected only 3- to 7-year-olds from the British sample.

Table 4.
Percentage correct and rank of each component of the test of emotion comprehension for Chinese, British, German, and Italian children.

Component Chinese N = 192 Age 4–6 M_age = 5.19 British N = 60 Age 3–7 M_age = 5.03 German N =108 Age 3–6 M_age = 4.79 Italian N = 114 Age 3–6 M_age = 5.03

Rank Pass (%) Rank Pass (%) Rank Pass (%) Rank Pass (%)

I (Recognition) 1 91.7 1 73.3 1 75.9 1 71.9

II (External) 2.5 79.2 3 65.0 2 56.5 2 50.0

III (Desire) 2.5 79.2 4 50.0 3 44.4 4 43.0

IV (Belief) 5 39.6 5 48.3 6 27.8 6 36.8

V (Reminder) 6 35.9 2 68.3 4 35.2 5 42.1

VI (Regulation) 7 35.4 7 18.3 7.5 26.9 8 29.8

VII (Hiding) 4 67.2 6 40.0 5 29.6 3 48.2

VIII (Mixed) 8 13.0 8 13.3 9 10.2 9 13.2

IX (Moral) 9 2.1 9 10.0 7.5 26.9 7 35.1

Spearman rho coefficients indicated a strong correlation between the rank-order observed in the Chinese sample and each of the other three samples: British ρ(9) = 0.82; German ρ(9) = 0.92; and Italian ρ(9) = 0.90. Nevertheless, the groups differed with respect to the relative difficulty of the Reminder and Hiding components. Chinese and Italian preschoolers performed better on the Hiding component (rank order of 4 and 3, respectively) than on the Reminder component (rank order of 6 and 5, respectively). By contrast, the British and German children performed better on the Reminder (rank order of 2 and 4, respectively) than on the Hiding component (rank order of 6 and 5, respectively).

To assess whether the variable ordering of the Hiding and Reminder components disturbed the three-phase ordering identified by Pons, Harris, and de Rosnay (2004), we compared the scores of each participant for phases 1 and 2, and for phases 2 and 3. If the scores for a later phase are equal to or less than the scores for an earlier phase, then that is consistent with the assumption that mastery of an earlier phase is needed for mastery of a later phase. The results showed that for 94.3% of the children, their scores for phase 2 were equal to or less than their scores for phase 1, and that for the 92.2% of children their scores at phase 3 were equal to or less than their scores for phase 2. Thus, although cultural differences existed, they rarely disrupted the overall three-phase developmental pattern.

Verbal ability, theory of mind, and emotional comprehension

Table 5 shows the descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and Person’s correlation coefficients among the TEC scores, verbal ability, Theory-of-Mind scores, and age (with and without controls for age). Because two tasks on the Theory-of-Mind scale (Diverse Desires and Hidden Emotion) are equivalent to the “Desire” and “Hidden” components of the TEC, we excluded these two tasks from Theory-of-Mind scale in these correlational analyses. All correlations were significant and in the theoretically expected directions.

Table 5.
Pearson’s correlation coefficients among the Test of Emotion Comprehension scores (scores range 0–8), verbal ability (scores range 0–44), theory of mind (scores range 0–3), and age, both with no control for age (under the diagonal) and with a control for age (above the diagonal). All correlations are positive correlations.

1 2 3 4

Age –

Test of Emotion Comprehension 0.58 – 0.25 0.23*

Verbal ability 0.60 0.51 – 0.23*

Theory-of-mind 0.46 0.44 0.44** –

M 5.19 4.43 12.56 1.93

SD 0.93 1.61 6.37 0.90

Note. **p < .01.

To examine the influence of verbal ability and theory of mind on the understanding of emotion, a multiple regression was performed, see Table 6. Children’s age in months was entered as a first step, verbal ability as a second, and theory-of-mind score as a third. Each variable contributed significantly to the prediction of children’s understanding of emotion. In total, the model explained 39.9% of variance, with Age making greatest contribution, R ² = 0.34, F(1, 190) = 95.86, p < .001. Nevertheless, after controlling for age, verbal ability was also a significant predictor at Step 2, R ² = 0.38, F(2, 189) = 57.36, p < .001 (with a unique contribution of 4%). Finally, at Step 3, Theory of Mind also had a significant effect, R ² = 0.40, F(3,188) = 41.63, p < .001 (with a unique contribution of 2%).

Table 6.
Hierarchical multiple regression analysis predicting the understanding of emotion from age, verbal ability and theory of mind.

TEC Score

Predictor ΔR ² B(SE) t 95% CI for B

Step 1 0.34*

Age 1.00(0.10) 9.79* 0.80 to 1.20

Step 2 0.04*

Age 0.73(0.12) 5.96* 0.49 to 0.98

Verbal ability 0.07(0.02) 3.59* 0.03 to 0.10

Step 3 0.02

Age 0.64(0.13) 5.10* 0.40 to 0.89

Verbal ability 0.05(0.02) 2.95 0.02 to 0.09

Theory of Mind 0.30(0.12) 2.59 0.07 to 0.53

Total R ² 0.40*

Note. p < .01; *p < .001.

Discussion

Emotion understanding develops significantly during the preschool period. We tested Chinese preschoolers, ranging from 4 to 6 years of age, to assess potential cultural differences in the development of such emotion understanding. The overall pattern of development among Chinese children was similar to that for children in Western Europe (Britain, Germany, and Italy). Confirming earlier findings, children’s understanding of several components improved markedly between 4 and 6 years. The correlations between the rank-order observed in China and in three European countries were also high (between .82 and .92). Nevertheless, children from the two more collectivistic cultures (China and Italy) performed worse on the Reminder than on the Hiding component whereas children from the two more individualistic cultures (Britain and Germany) showed the reverse pattern. Chen (2009) also observed a relatively delayed understanding of the Reminder component among Chinese children (as compared to American children). She noted that American mothers talk about past events and emotions with their children in a more elaborative and less judgmental fashion than do Chinese mothers (Wang, 2001). Such supportive conversations about past episodes may serve as a trigger for the associated emotions, thereby alerting children to the connection between reminders and the re-activation of past emotion.

Chinese children performed well on the Hiding Emotion component, echoing findings for Italian children (Molina et al., 2014). Arguably, in more individualistic cultures, people are freer to express their emotions whereas in more collectivistic cultures, maintaining group harmony is prioritized and children may be expected to hide their feelings in deference to others (Harris & Corriveau, 2013). Thus, Chinese children may experience the discrepancy between felt and expressed emotion earlier and more often than children growing up in more individualistic cultures.

Consistent with past findings (Chen, Cui, & Wang, 2005; Eggum et al., 2011; Weimer, Sallquist, & Bolnick, 2012), we obtained evidence of inter-connections between theory-of-mind and emotion understanding. Our results also confirmed that children’s verbal ability predicts their emotion understanding (Pons et al., 2003). Thus, our findings extend earlier evidence of a link beween language and emotion understanding to Chinese, Mandarin-speaking children.

This study had several limitations. First, although emotion understanding develops significantly in the preschool period, several components emerge later. In the current study, few participants passed the Mixed or Moral components. In future studies, it will be important to enroll a wider age range to assess development across the full range of the TEC. Second, we only compared the overall rank order of acquisition across cultures. In future studies, original data from different cultures should be compared with more advanced statistics (e.g., Mokken scales) in order to draw stronger conclusions. Third, the correlation between verbal ability and emotion understanding should be interpreted with caution. Administration of the TEC tasks involves a narrative (that accompanies each illustration) so that the correlation between verbal ability and emotion understanding may partially reflect this verbal component of the test, even though children can respond non-verbally.

In conclusion, the overall developmental trend for emotion understanding among Chinese preschoolers is similar to that seen among preschoolers in Western Europe. However, unlike British and German children, Chinese children showed better understanding of the distinction between felt and expressed emotion than the connection between memory and emotion. As in prior studies, children’s theory of mind and verbal ability were significant predictors of their emotion understanding.

	Primary or high school only	Completed college	Graduate school or higher	Missing data
Mother	50	103	1	38
Father	47	95	7	43

	No job	Manual	General	Middle	Advanced	Missing
Mother	29	28	53	31	5	46
Father	10	28	43	36	32	43

	≤50,000	50,001–150,000	150,001–300,000	≥300,001	Missing data
Family	12	49	47	38	46

Component	Chinese N = 192 Age 4–6 M_age = 5.19	British N = 60 Age 3–7 M_age = 5.03	German N =108 Age 3–6 M_age = 4.79	Italian N = 114 Age 3–6 M_age = 5.03
I (Recognition)	1	91.7	1	73.3	1	75.9	1	71.9
II (External)	2.5	79.2	3	65.0	2	56.5	2	50.0
III (Desire)	2.5	79.2	4	50.0	3	44.4	4	43.0
IV (Belief)	5	39.6	5	48.3	6	27.8	6	36.8
V (Reminder)	6	35.9	2	68.3	4	35.2	5	42.1
VI (Regulation)	7	35.4	7	18.3	7.5	26.9	8	29.8
VII (Hiding)	4	67.2	6	40.0	5	29.6	3	48.2
VIII (Mixed)	8	13.0	8	13.3	9	10.2	9	13.2
IX (Moral)	9	2.1	9	10.0	7.5	26.9	7	35.1

	1	2	3	4
Age	–
Test of Emotion Comprehension	0.58**	–	0.25**	0.23*
Verbal ability	0.60**	0.51**	–	0.23*
Theory-of-mind	0.46**	0.44**	0.44**	–
M	5.19	4.43	12.56	1.93
SD	0.93	1.61	6.37	0.90

	TEC Score
Step 1	0.34***
Age		1.00(0.10)	9.79***	0.80 to 1.20
Step 2	0.04***
Age		0.73(0.12)	5.96***	0.49 to 0.98
Verbal ability		0.07(0.02)	3.59***	0.03 to 0.10
Step 3	0.02**
Age		0.64(0.13)	5.10***	0.40 to 0.89
Verbal ability		0.05(0.02)	2.95**	0.02 to 0.09
Theory of Mind		0.30(0.12)	2.59**	0.07 to 0.53
Total R ²	0.40***

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

We thank Lijuan Tang for help in data-collection. Finally, we are grateful to the children and teachers at the Xiasha Shiyan Kindergarten, Hangzhou.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by the MOE Project of Key Research Institutes of Humanities and Social Science at Universities, China (Grant Nos. 14JJD190003, 16JJD880007) and by the China Scholarship Council (201606040059).

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Component	Chinese N = 192 Age 4–6 M_age = 5.19		British N = 60 Age 3–7 M_age = 5.03		German N =108 Age 3–6 M_age = 4.79		Italian N = 114 Age 3–6 M_age = 5.03
Component	Rank	Pass (%)	Rank	Pass (%)	Rank	Pass (%)	Rank	Pass (%)
I (Recognition)	1	91.7	1	73.3	1	75.9	1	71.9
II (External)	2.5	79.2	3	65.0	2	56.5	2	50.0
III (Desire)	2.5	79.2	4	50.0	3	44.4	4	43.0
IV (Belief)	5	39.6	5	48.3	6	27.8	6	36.8
V (Reminder)	6	35.9	2	68.3	4	35.2	5	42.1
VI (Regulation)	7	35.4	7	18.3	7.5	26.9	8	29.8
VII (Hiding)	4	67.2	6	40.0	5	29.6	3	48.2
VIII (Mixed)	8	13.0	8	13.3	9	10.2	9	13.2
IX (Moral)	9	2.1	9	10.0	7.5	26.9	7	35.1

	TEC Score
Predictor	ΔR ²	B(SE)	t	95% CI for B
Step 1	0.34***
Age		1.00(0.10)	9.79***	0.80 to 1.20
Step 2	0.04***
Age		0.73(0.12)	5.96***	0.49 to 0.98
Verbal ability		0.07(0.02)	3.59***	0.03 to 0.10
Step 3	0.02**
Age		0.64(0.13)	5.10***	0.40 to 0.89
Verbal ability		0.05(0.02)	2.95**	0.02 to 0.09
Theory of Mind		0.30(0.12)	2.59**	0.07 to 0.53
Total R ²	0.40***