L'adattamento italiano della Batteria di comprensione e spiegazione della falsa credenza per la valutazione della teoria della mente nei bambini [The Italian adaptation of the False-Belief Explanation Battery to the assessment of theory of mind in children]

This study was conducted to test the convergent validity and reliability of the Italian version of the False-belief Explanation Battery by Peskin and Astington (2004), a task for assessing theory of mind in children. Compared to traditional tasks, it allows us to assess the child’s reasoning and his/her production of mental state language. Seventy-eight children attending nursery school (mean age: 54.19 months) participated in the study; in addition to this test, they were given two other theory-of-mind tasks and a language test. The correlation analysis showed highly significant results among the tests (p < .001); furthermore, Cronbach’s alpha was adequate and in line with what emerged in previous studies that have administered this Battery. The results provide support for its use together with other theory-of-mind tests in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies as well as in pre-post research designs, especially to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments with children with typical and atypical development.