Continued development of recursive thinking in adolescence: Longitudinal analyses with a revised recursive thinking test

• Recursive thinking continues to develop throughout adolescence.
• A linear increase with age was demonstrated between- and within participants.
• Recursive thinking seems to develop in three consecutive steps.
• Most adolescents have mastered steps 1 (action) and 2 (one-loop recursive thinking).
• Improvement in one-loop recursive thinking is partly explained by verbal abilities.

The present study adds to the emerging literature on the development of social cognition in adolescence by investigating the development of recursive thinking (i.e., thinking about thinking). Previous studies have indicated that the development of recursive thinking is not completed during childhood. The present study focused on late childhood and adolescence and presents the first longitudinal data on recursive thinking. At Time 1, 299 participants, aged 8 to 17 years, completed a revised version of the recursive thinking test developed by Miller, Kessel and Flavell (1970). At Time 2, two years later, 221 participants completed the test again. Psychometric properties of the revised test were found to be adequate. The developmental analysis showed that scores increased with age—both between- and within participants-, indicating that recursive thinking continues to develop throughout adolescence and does not level off before 18 years of age. Verbal abilities only partially explained this development.