어머니 성격 유형과 유아의 마음 이론의 관계

A Study on the Relationship of the Personality Types of Mothers to the Theory of Mind of Their Young Children

본 연구는 어머니의 성격 유형과 유아의 마음 이론간의 관계를 알아보고자 하는 목적으로 서울과 경기도 소재 3개 유치원의 만 3∼5세 유아 56명과 어머니를 대상으로 2005년 6월 18일~7월 9일까지 3주간 실시하였다. 유아에게는 마음 이론 의 측정을 위해 maxi 과제와 smarties 과제를 연구에 맞게 수정하여 사용하였고 어머니에게는 MBTI검사를 실시한 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 어머니의 성격유형 중 외향성과 내향성, 감각형과 직관형, 판단형과 인식형에 따른 유아의 마음이론 발달은 통계적으로 유의미한 차이를 보이지 않았다. 둘째, 어머니가 사고형인 유아가 어머니가 감정형인 유아보다 마음이론이 높은 것으로 나타났고, 통계적으로도 유의미한 차이를 보였다. 마지막으로 어머니의 성격유형 중에서 사고형이 유아의 마음이론이 가장 높았고, 다음으로 판단형, 감각형 순으로 나타났으며, 어머니가 직관형인 유아의 마음이론이 가장 낮았고, 이는 통계적으로도 유의미한 차이를 보였다. 따라서, 어머니가 사고형인 유아가 다른 유아보다 마음이론이 높음을 알 수 있었다.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of the personality types of mothers to the theory of mind of their young children. It's specifically intended to conduct a MBTI test to determine which one was tied into the theory of mind of young children among the four different personality types of their mothers involving E-I, S-N, T-F and J-P. The subjects in this study were 56 young children and their mothers. The selected young children were at the age of three to five in Western age. The MBTI test was implemented to track the personality types of the mothers, and maxi task and smarties task that were modified to suit the purpose of the study were employed to find out the young children's theory of mind. The findings of the study were as follows: First, out of the personality types of the mothers, the E-I personality types made no statistically significant difference to the young children's development of theory of mind. Second, as for the S-N personality types, the young children whose mothers had a personality of S type scored higher in the development of theory of mind, but the gap between them was statistically insignificant. Third, the young children whose mothers had a personality of T type outstripped those whose mothers had a F-type personality in theory of mind, and the gap between them was statistically significant. Fourth, the J-P personality types of the mothers made no statistically significant difference to the young children's development of theory of mind, but there was apparently a tendency that the young children whose mothers had a J-type personality were ahead of those whose mothers had a P-type personality in that aspect. Finally, the young children whose mothers had a T-type personality owned the best theory of mind, followed by those of the mothers with J-type personality and those of the mothers with S-type personality. The young children whose mothers had a N-type personality were behind the most, and the gap among the groups was statistically significant. So it's found that the young children whose mothers had a T-type personality excelled the others in theory of mind. The findings of the study were considered in preparing parent- education programs, and some suggestions about future research efforts were made.