Abstract: Based on research about the influence of family on children’s theory of mind at home and abroad, the family microsystems can be divided into three sub-microsystems: (1) family demography sub-microsystem that includes family socioeconomic status and sibling number and type, (2) parent-child interactive sub-microsystem involving attachment type, parenting style, emotional expression and parent-child play, and (3) sibling-child interactive sub-microsystem including cooperation-conflict and pretend play. The mechanism model of family microsystems’ impact on child’s theory of mind can be assumed as follows: the family socioeconomic status and the sibling number and type in the family demography sub-microsystem influence the child’s ToM through the parent-child interactive sub-microsystem and the sibling-child interactive sub-microsystem respectively, all the factors in these two sub-microsystems influence the child’s ToM through the mediator of Mind-Mindedness. This mechanism model should be tested in the future.

Key words: family microsystems, theory of mind, mechanism