{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43121"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43121","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The relationship between a child's affect regulation and their social cognition (theory of mind and empathy)","abstract":"Affect regulation is an essential component of human development and is crucial for successful social functioning and emotional health. Similarly social cognitive skills like empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are also necessary for successful social understanding and interaction in childhood. Researchers have reported associations between affect regulation and social cognition. For example, research shows that affect regulation is essential for empathic concern and behaviour. Additionally, studies in clinical populations have highlighted the relationship between affect regulation and ToM. Based on the literature, it was inferred that successful regulation of one's affect would result in greater empathic and ToM ability. Hence the study hypothesized that children's affect regulation would positively predict their empathy and ToM, over and above any effects of the covariates (age, IQ and working memory, gender, household income or highest level of maternal education (HLOE)). Data collected from one hundred and eighty five (N = 185) neuro-typical primary school children between the ages of 6 and 13, from three mainstream public primary schools in Cape Town was analysed. The results found no significant association between participant affect regulation scores and their empathy and ToM scores. Thus, it was concluded that affect regulation was not a significant predictor of social cognition in this sample.","abstract_html":"Affect regulation is an essential component of human development and is crucial for successful social functioning and emotional health. Similarly social cognitive skills like empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are also necessary for successful social understanding and interaction in childhood. Researchers have reported associations between affect regulation and social cognition. For example, research shows that affect regulation is essential for empathic concern and behaviour. Additionally, studies in clinical populations have highlighted the relationship between affect regulation and ToM. Based on the literature, it was inferred that successful regulation of one's affect would result in greater empathic and ToM ability. Hence the study hypothesized that children's affect regulation would positively predict their empathy and ToM, over and above any effects of the covariates (age, IQ and working memory, gender, household income or highest level of maternal education (HLOE)). Data collected from one hundred and eighty five (N = 185) neuro-typical primary school children between the ages of 6 and 13, from three mainstream public primary schools in Cape Town was analysed. The results found no significant association between participant affect regulation scores and their empathy and ToM scores. Thus, it was concluded that affect regulation was not a significant predictor of social cognition in this sample.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Diara, Heesoo Melanie"],"institution":"Department of Psychology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Malcom-Smith, Susan","Susan"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023","date_published":"2023","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:34:19Z","subjects":["Theory of Mind","social cognition","Cape Town"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43121","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Malcom-Smith, Susan","Susan"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Diara, Heesoo Melanie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-04-22T12:23:22Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-04-22T12:23:22Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2023"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Department of Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis / Dissertation"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Theory of Mind","social cognition","Cape Town"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43121"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Affect regulation is an essential component of human development and is crucial for successful social functioning and emotional health. Similarly social cognitive skills like empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are also necessary for successful social understanding and interaction in childhood. Researchers have reported associations between affect regulation and social cognition. For example, research shows that affect regulation is essential for empathic concern and behaviour. Additionally, studies in clinical populations have highlighted the relationship between affect regulation and ToM. Based on the literature, it was inferred that successful regulation of one's affect would result in greater empathic and ToM ability. Hence the study hypothesized that children's affect regulation would positively predict their empathy and ToM, over and above any effects of the covariates (age, IQ and working memory, gender, household income or highest level of maternal education (HLOE)). Data collected from one hundred and eighty five (N = 185) neuro-typical primary school children between the ages of 6 and 13, from three mainstream public primary schools in Cape Town was analysed. The results found no significant association between participant affect regulation scores and their empathy and ToM scores. Thus, it was concluded that affect regulation was not a significant predictor of social cognition in this sample."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The relationship between a child's affect regulation and their social cognition (theory of mind and empathy)"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Malcom-Smith, Susan","Susan"],"dc:creator":["Diara, Heesoo Melanie"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-04-22T12:23:22Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-04-22T12:23:22Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2023"],"dc:description.abstract":["Affect regulation is an essential component of human development and is crucial for successful social functioning and emotional health. Similarly social cognitive skills like empathy and Theory of Mind (ToM) are also necessary for successful social understanding and interaction in childhood. Researchers have reported associations between affect regulation and social cognition. For example, research shows that affect regulation is essential for empathic concern and behaviour. Additionally, studies in clinical populations have highlighted the relationship between affect regulation and ToM. Based on the literature, it was inferred that successful regulation of one's affect would result in greater empathic and ToM ability. Hence the study hypothesized that children's affect regulation would positively predict their empathy and ToM, over and above any effects of the covariates (age, IQ and working memory, gender, household income or highest level of maternal education (HLOE)). Data collected from one hundred and eighty five (N = 185) neuro-typical primary school children between the ages of 6 and 13, from three mainstream public primary schools in Cape Town was analysed. The results found no significant association between participant affect regulation scores and their empathy and ToM scores. Thus, it was concluded that affect regulation was not a significant predictor of social cognition in this sample."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43121"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher.department":["Department of Psychology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:subject":["Theory of Mind","social cognition","Cape Town"],"dc:title":["The relationship between a child's affect regulation and their social cognition (theory of mind and empathy)"],"dc:type":["Thesis / Dissertation"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:34:19Z"}