{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T05:32:18Z","timestamp":1784784738499,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]],"date-time":"2025-11-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763078400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001826","name":"ZonMw","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["10840302210002"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["10840302210002"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001826","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Early parent\u2013child interactions are crucial for children\u2019s social\u2013emotional development. Mental state talk (MST)\u2014language referring to thoughts, feelings, and intentions\u2014is a key contributor. MST may be reduced in hearing parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children, who face unique communication challenges. Yet, existing research on MST in hearing parents of DHH children and on MST use by DHH children themselves is limited and fragmented, often focusing on MST quantity in a single context. Few studies have examined MST quality, variation across contexts, or its relationship with children\u2019s social\u2013emotional functioning. This study addresses these gaps by investigating MST quantity and quality across two activities and its associations with children\u2019s MST and social\u2013emotional development. Forty-eight hearing parent\u2013DHH child dyads (ages 2\u20135) participated. MST was studied during storybook reading and free play. Children completed tasks on emotion understanding and theory of mind; parents reported on MS vocabulary and family characteristics. The results showed that parents adjusted MST complexity based on children\u2019s age but not audiological characteristics. MST varied by activity, with different contexts eliciting distinct types of MST. Parental and child MST were associated, though not linked to children\u2019s task performance. Findings highlight the importance of diverse interaction contexts and suggest a need for longitudinal research on MST\u2019s developmental impact.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bs15111558","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]],"date-time":"2025-11-14T16:46:22Z","timestamp":1763138782000},"page":"1558","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Language as a Window to the Mind: Parental Mental State Language in Relation to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children\u2019s Social\u2013Emotional Skills"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7114-4349","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lizet","family":"Ketelaar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Dutch Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child, 1073 GX Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nadine P. W. D.","family":"de Rue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Royal Dutch Kentalis, 5271 SW Sint-Michielsgestel, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5556-1396","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Eva","family":"de Boer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dutch Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child, 1073 GX Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4391-4462","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Evelien","family":"Dirks","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dutch Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child, 1073 GX Amsterdam, The Netherlands"},{"name":"Department Tranzo, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"673","DOI":"10.1017\/S0305000905006963","article-title":"Parent\u2013child picture-book reading, mothers\u2019 mental state language and children\u2019s theory of mind","volume":"32","author":"Adrian","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Child Language"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1532-7078.2012.00125.x","article-title":"Socialization of early prosocial behavior: Parents\u2019 talk about emotions is associated with sharing and helping in toddlers","volume":"18","author":"Brownell","year":"2013","journal-title":"Infancy"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"463","DOI":"10.1017\/S0142716400010274","article-title":"Theory of mind concepts in children\u2019s literature","volume":"19","author":"Cassidy","year":"1998","journal-title":"Applied Psycholinguistics"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1421","DOI":"10.1007\/s10802-019-00537-2","article-title":"Fathers\u2019 and mothers\u2019 early mind-mindedness predicts social competence and behavior problems in childhood","volume":"47","author":"Colonnesi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"266","DOI":"10.1093\/deafed\/5.3.266","article-title":"The impact of sign language on the cognitive development of deaf children: The case of theories of mind","volume":"5","author":"Courtin","year":"2000","journal-title":"Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"971","DOI":"10.1111\/cdev.12682","article-title":"Family correlates of false belief understanding in early childhood: A meta-analysis","volume":"89","author":"Devine","year":"2018","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1236","DOI":"10.1111\/cdev.12990","article-title":"Let\u2019s talk: Parents\u2019 mental talk (not mind-mindedness or mindreading capacity) predicts children\u2019s false belief understanding","volume":"90","author":"Devine","year":"2019","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"186","DOI":"10.1017\/S0305000919000667","article-title":"Talk with me! Parental linguistic input to toddlers with moderate hearing loss","volume":"47","author":"Dirks","year":"2020","journal-title":"Journal of Child Language"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1490","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2010.01487.x","article-title":"Maternal discussions of mental states and behaviors: Relations to emotion situation knowledge in European American and immigrant Chinese children","volume":"81","author":"Doan","year":"2010","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Drummond, J., Paul, E. F., Waugh, W. E., Hammond, S. I., and Brownell, C. A. (2014). Here, there and everywhere: Emotion and mental state talk in different social contexts predicts empathic helping in toddlers. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, (APR).","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.00361"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1016\/S0885-2014(00)00017-4","article-title":"Young children\u2019s storybooks as a source of mental state information","volume":"15","author":"Dyer","year":"2000","journal-title":"Cognitive Development"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ebert, S., Lehrl, S., and Weinert, S. (2020). Differential effects of the home language and literacy environment on child language and theory of mind and their relation to socioeconomic background. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, (OCT).","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2020.555654"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogdev.2017.08.005","article-title":"Links among parents\u2019 mental state language, family socioeconomic status, and preschoolers\u2019 theory of mind development","volume":"44","author":"Ebert","year":"2017","journal-title":"Cognitive Development"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327965pli0904_1","article-title":"Parental socialization of emotion","volume":"9","author":"Eisenberg","year":"1998","journal-title":"Psychological Inquiry"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1222","DOI":"10.1111\/cdev.12186","article-title":"Mothers\u2019 cognitive references to 2-year-olds predict theory of mind at ages 6 and 10","volume":"85","author":"Ensor","year":"2014","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"201","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2007.01120.x","article-title":"Content or connectedness? Mother-child talk and early social understanding","volume":"79","author":"Ensor","year":"2008","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"181","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogdev.2018.06.009","article-title":"Maternal mental state language during storytelling versus free-play contexts and its relation to child language and socioemotional outcomes at 12 and 30 months of age","volume":"47","author":"Farkas","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cognitive Development"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"152","DOI":"10.1097\/MAO.0000000000000938","article-title":"Comparisons of longitudinal trajectories of social competence: Parent ratings of children with cochlear implants versus hearing peers","volume":"37","author":"Hoffman","year":"2016","journal-title":"Otology and Neurotology"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"516","DOI":"10.2478\/plc-2018-0023","article-title":"How do parents use mental state language during narration to their 2- and 4-year-old children?","volume":"22","author":"Jakubowska","year":"2018","journal-title":"Psychology of Language and Communication"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"905","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8624.00575","article-title":"A longitudinal investigation of the dynamics of mental state talk in families","volume":"74","author":"Jenkins","year":"2003","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1041","DOI":"10.1093\/jpepsy\/jss086","article-title":"Does hearing lead to understanding? Theory of Mind in toddlers and preschoolers with cochlear implants","volume":"37","author":"Ketelaar","year":"2012","journal-title":"Journal of Pediatric Psychology"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1369","DOI":"10.1007\/s00787-015-0688-2","article-title":"Preliminary findings on associations between moral emotions and social behavior in young children with normal hearing and with cochlear implants","volume":"24","author":"Ketelaar","year":"2015","journal-title":"European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Krippendorff, K. (2019). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology, SAGE Publications, Inc.","DOI":"10.4135\/9781071878781"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"466","DOI":"10.1111\/jcpp.13539","article-title":"Cross-cultural similarities and differences in parenting","volume":"63","author":"Lansford","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jecp.2014.02.005","article-title":"The roles of maternal mind-mindedness and infant security of attachment in predicting preschoolers\u2019 understanding of visual perspective taking and false belief","volume":"125","author":"Laranjo","year":"2014","journal-title":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1821","DOI":"10.1017\/S0954579424001408","article-title":"A longitudinal study on moral emotions and psychosocial functioning among preschool children with and without hearing loss","volume":"37","author":"Li","year":"2024","journal-title":"Development and Psychopathology"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3129","DOI":"10.1044\/2022_JSLHR-22-00005","article-title":"Associations between parent mental state language and child inhibitory control in children who are deaf or hard of hearing","volume":"65","author":"Holt","year":"2022","journal-title":"Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research"},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"MacWhinney, B. (2000). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [3rd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102545","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mex.2023.102545","article-title":"K-alpha Calculator\u2013Krippendorff\u2019s alpha calculator: A user-friendly tool for computing Krippendorff\u2019s Alpha inter-rater reliability coefficient","volume":"12","author":"Marzi","year":"2024","journal-title":"MethodsX"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"751","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2006.00901.x","article-title":"Relations Between Maternal Input and Theory of Mind Understanding in Deaf Children","volume":"77","author":"Moeller","year":"2006","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogdev.2013.10.002","article-title":"Mental state language and quality of conversational experience in deaf and hearing children","volume":"29","author":"Morgan","year":"2014","journal-title":"Cognitive Development"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"588","DOI":"10.1097\/AUD.0000000000000427","article-title":"Can you hear what I think? Theory of mind in young children with moderate hearing loss","volume":"38","author":"Netten","year":"2017","journal-title":"Ear & Hearing"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"288","DOI":"10.1093\/deafed\/enad004","article-title":"Theory of mind and parental mental-state talk in children with CIs","volume":"28","author":"Pluta","year":"2023","journal-title":"The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"511","DOI":"10.1093\/deafed\/enab015","article-title":"False belief understanding in deaf children with cochlear implants","volume":"26","author":"Pluta","year":"2021","journal-title":"The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101169","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogdev.2022.101169","article-title":"Exploring the impact of parental education, ethnicity and context on parent and child mental-state language","volume":"62","author":"Roby","year":"2022","journal-title":"Cognitive Development"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"734","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-8624.00435","article-title":"The relation between children\u2019s and mothers\u2019 mental state language and theory-of-mind understanding","volume":"73","author":"Ruffman","year":"2002","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"819","DOI":"10.1080\/10409289.2019.1692624","article-title":"Shared book reading at home and preschoolers\u2019 socio-emotional competence","volume":"31","author":"Schapira","year":"2020","journal-title":"Early Education and Development"},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"376","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2007.01004.x","article-title":"Language and theory of mind: A study of deaf children","volume":"78","author":"Schick","year":"2007","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Soderstrom, M., and Wittebolle, K. (2013). When do caregivers talk? The influences of activity and time of day on caregiver speech and child vocalizations in two childcare environments. PLoS ONE, 8, (11).","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0080646"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"477","DOI":"10.1007\/s00787-015-0697-1","article-title":"Emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and adolescents with hearing impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"24","author":"Stevenson","year":"2015","journal-title":"European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Kuchirko, Y. A., Escobar, K., and Bornstein, M. H. (2019). Language and play in parent\u2013child interactions. Handbook of parenting, Routledge\/Taylor & Francis Group.","DOI":"10.4324\/9780429401695-7"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"465","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2006.00882.x","article-title":"Mother and infant talk about mental states relates to desire language and emotion understanding","volume":"77","author":"Taumoepeau","year":"2006","journal-title":"Child Development"},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"223","DOI":"10.1111\/sode.12280","article-title":"The relation between parents\u2019 mental state talk and children\u2019s social understanding: A meta-analysis","volume":"27","author":"Tompkins","year":"2018","journal-title":"Social Development"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"281","DOI":"10.1111\/sode.12551","article-title":"Mother-child talk about mental states: The what, who, and how of conversations about the mind","volume":"31","author":"Tompkins","year":"2022","journal-title":"Social Development"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"van der Zee, R. B., and Dirks, E. (2022). Diversity of child and family characteristics of children with hearing loss in family-centered early intervention in The Netherlands. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11, (8).","DOI":"10.3390\/jcm11082074"},{"key":"ref_46","unstructured":"Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press."},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3487","DOI":"10.1044\/2017_JSLHR-L-17-0121","article-title":"False belief development in children who are hard of hearing compared with peers with normal hearing","volume":"60","author":"Walker","year":"2017","journal-title":"Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"728","DOI":"10.1080\/17405629.2018.1435413","article-title":"Theory of mind: The state of the art","volume":"15","author":"Wellman","year":"2018","journal-title":"European Journal of Developmental Psychology"},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.1093\/deafed\/ens042","article-title":"Emotion understanding in deaf children with a cochlear implant","volume":"18","author":"Wiefferink","year":"2013","journal-title":"The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education"},{"key":"ref_50","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"883","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijporl.2012.02.065","article-title":"Predicting social functioning in children with a cochlear implant and in normal-hearing children: The role of emotion regulation","volume":"76","author":"Wiefferink","year":"2012","journal-title":"International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"177","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecresq.2012.05.005","article-title":"Mothers\u2019 mental-state discourse with preschoolers during storybook reading and wordless storybook telling","volume":"28","author":"Ziv","year":"2013","journal-title":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly"}],"container-title":["Behavioral Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-328X\/15\/11\/1558\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,18]],"date-time":"2025-11-18T05:25:07Z","timestamp":1763443507000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-328X\/15\/11\/1558"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]]},"references-count":51,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11]]}},"alternative-id":["bs15111558"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/bs15111558","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-328X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-328X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,14]]}}}