(PS4-49) Impact of Social Skills and Theory of Mind on Internalizing Symptoms

Social skills are learned abilities that enable effective interaction with others (APA Dictionary of Psychology, 2019). Theory of Mind (ToM), or the ability to infer others’ mental states, can be divided into Early (understanding of others’ basic emotions), Basic (distinction between others’ physical and mental representations), and Advanced (understanding of second-order beliefs and complex social judgements) skills (Rosello et al., 2020). Social skills and ToM are positively associated, and ToM is often viewed as a facilitator of social skills (Capage & Watson, 2001).

Both ToM and social skills have a negative relationship with internalizing symptoms (Salavera et al., 2019), but it is unclear what the role of ToM is in the relationship between social skills and internalizing problems. This study aimed to investigate whether different developmental stages of ToM mediate the relationship between social skills and internalizing symptoms in a sample of neurodiverse youth with a wide range of differences in ToM and social skills. Doing so will provide insights into how internalizing problems develop in children with social and ToM challenges, which can in turn innovate interventions to improve naturalistic ToM and mental health.

Participants consisted of a sample of 34 children enriched for autism (M_age = 12.16, SD_age = 3.18; 61.8% male). Parents completed the Theory of Mind Inventory- 2^nd Edition (Early, Basic, and Advanced ToM; ToMI-2) and the Social Skills Improvement System (Social Skills, Internalizing Problems; SSIS).

Higher social skills were correlated with fewer internalizing symptoms (r = -.53, p < .01). Early ToM was positively correlated with social skills (r =.70, p < .01), but negatively with internalizing problems (r =-.73, p < .01). Similarly, both Basic (r = .64, p < .01) and Advanced (r = .60, p < .05) ToM were positively associated with social skills, and Advanced ToM was negatively correlated with internalizing symptoms (r = -.57, p < .05). Mediation analysis suggest that higher Early ToM skills fully mediate the relationship between social skills and internalizing symptoms (β =-.5220, CI[-1.0872,-.1008]). Neither Advanced (β =-.2544, CI[-.7870,.1535]) nor Basic (β =-.2170, CI[-.6659,.4879]) ToM mediated this relationship.

Results show that Early ToM mediates the relationship between social skills and internalizing symptoms. This suggests that ToM around understanding other’s emotions can act as an intermediary or mechanism through which social skills influence internalizing behaviors. Surprisingly, Basic and Advanced ToM did not mediate this relationship, despite being significantly associated with social skills and with Advanced ToM relating to internalizing symptoms. This suggests that being able to interpret others’ basic emotions may play a role in a child’s mental well-being more than being able to interpret others’ more complex mental states, possibly because this is a foundational skill that may be crucial for navigating social environments. Future research should examine specific factors in Early ToM that influence this relationship to further target social interventions and reduce mental health issues.