The Comparison between Theory of Mind, the Concept of God, and Homeland among Children with Different Parenting Styles

The aim of this study was to compare the Theory of Mind, the Concept of God, and the Concept of homeland among nursery and preschool children with different parenting styles.
This research was a post-event descriptive study. The statistical population included kindergarten and pre-school children in Tehran. The 51 children, who were between 3.5 to 6 years old, were selected by convenience sampling. Then they were classified into three groups based on their parenting styles: authoritarian, authoritative and permissive. Theory of mind was measured by games for all the participants; God's image was measured through drawings and descriptions of God, and the cognitive concept of homeland through semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests such as Kruskal-Wallis test.
The results showed that the number of children who achieved the theory of mind in families with authoritative parenting style was more than their counterparts in other families. The results also indicated that the kind image of God in children with authoritarian parenting is lower than the other two groups. Finally, there was no significant relationship between the concept of homeland and methods of parenting.
Based on the results, we can say that authoritative parenting style influences the formation of the theory of mind and the kind image of God.