Children’s and adolescents’ social mindfulness in intergroup contexts: The roles of empathy, theory of mind, and inhibitory control in considerate actions

Social mindfulness (SoMi) is recognized as an indirect form of everyday prosocial behavior that involves one’s tendency to be appreciative of both one’s and others’ preferences before making a decision and giving others the opportunity to make their own choices. This study explored how SoMi is differently expressed toward in-group and out-group members among middle-aged children (aged 7–9 years here) and adolescents using an experimental approach. In addition, it examined the relationship among age, SoMi, and sociocognitive abilities, including empathy, theory of mind, and inhibitory control. The results showed that adolescents exhibited SoMi more frequently toward in-group members than did children. In children, theory of mind and age were significantly linked to higher levels of SoMi toward both in-group and out-group members. In addition, there was a positive relationship between children’s inhibitory control abilities and their display of SoMi toward in-group members but not toward out-group members. In contrast, among adolescents, only inhibitory control—not theory of mind, age, or empathy—was associated with increased SoMi toward in-group members. Adolescents’ SoMi toward out-groups was not correlated with either sociocognitive skills or age. Overall, these findings suggest that socially mindful behaviors in children and adolescents might be shaped by different sociocognitive skills and might vary in how they are directed toward in-group and out-group members. Future research should further investigate the sociocognitive mechanisms underlying these differences in socially mindful behaviors in intergroup context among children and adolescents.