“I know what you mean”: A study of individual differences in children’s internal state talk in relation to school competence

A growing body of research shows a close association between children’s internal state talk and their ability to represent mental states. However, these studies are largely restricted to the observation of young children interacting with family members or friends. Much less is known about internal state talk in school aged children. This study addresses this gap by exploring individual differences in third grade children’s internal states talk in relation to theory of mind and school competence, as indexed by academic competence and beliefs about learning, whilst controlling for language ability. A group of 57 children (mean age = 90.25; SD = 3.28; range = 86-94) were individually tested for: their theory of mind understanding (Test of Emotion Comprehension, Pons & Harris 2000; Theory of Mind Test, Pons & Harris 2002), frequency of internal state talk produced in a story task (Lecce & Pagnin 2007), and beliefs about learning. In addition, teachers rated children’s school achievement via the academic competence subscale of the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham & Elliott 1990). Results showed a significant relationship between internal state talk, beliefs about learning and academic competence. A hierarchical regression demonstrated that children’s internal states talk accounts for a significant percentage of variance in the measures of academic competence and beliefs about learning, when controlling for theory of mind and language. These findings highlight the relevance of internal states talk for children’s school achievement