Child development最新文献

Conflict and a lack of cohesive daily family relationships can negatively affect adolescent adjustment, although adolescents differ in how they respond (i.e., their emotional reactivity) to these daily experiences. The present study assessed whether adolescents' well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, purpose) was associated with dampened emotional reactivity to daily variability in family conflict and cohesion. Adolescents (N = 150; M_Age = 14.60, SD = 0.83; 61.3% female; 83.4% white) completed a questionnaire regarding well-being and reported family conflict, cohesion, and negative emotion for 21 days between August 2015 and November 2016. Greater life satisfaction was related to dampened negative emotional reactivity to daily conflict, whereas greater purpose was related to dampened negative emotional reactivity to changes in daily family cohesion. Well-being may foster resilience in adolescents' day-to-day emotional processes.

This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Parent–child Brain Camp, a 4-week video-based executive functions (EFs) training program for children ages 5–6, through a randomized controlled trial with a pre- and post-test design with 173 Hong Kong children (intervention ni = 79, 48.7% girls, M_age = 69.16 months; control n = 94, 56.4% girls, M_age = 68.58 months) in 2022. Results from the two-way mixed ANOVA revealed that while the main effect of the Group was not significant, the main effect of Time (η_p² = 0.232) and the Time × Group interaction effect (η_p² = 0.038) were significant, with the intervention group demonstrating greater improvements in EFs compared to the control group.

To better understand the effects of social media use on adolescents' psychosocial functioning, this study examined the temporal stability of social media effects across two separate 3-week experience sampling methodology (ESM) studies conducted 6 months apart in 2019 and 2020. Participants were 297 adolescents (M_age = 14.1 years, SD = 0.7, 58.9% girls; 41.1% boys; 0.1% other; 97% Dutch) who completed 126 momentary questionnaires on social media use, affective well-being, self-esteem, and friendship closeness in each of the two ESM studies. The effects of social media on psychosocial functioning had low rank-order stability (r = .05–.25). Findings indicated that the effects of social media use varied not only between individuals but also changed substantially within individuals over time.

Children in the United States (N = 488, 4–11 years, 239 females, 248 males, one other, 53% White; data collected 2021–2022) participated in three studies investigating their expectations about immigrants. Participants recognized that immigration impacts characters' national identity and behaviors. Although previous research reported that children may essentialize nationality, participants instead reasoned flexibly about immigrant characters. Children expected immigrant characters to share behaviors and preferences with people from both their heritage and host countries, suggesting they may think immigrants hold dual national identities. Even the youngest children tested (ages 4–6) reasoned flexibly about behaviors based on immigration status. Thus, children appear to view national identity as constructed through social and cultural experiences, rather than something innate.

Experiences in gender–sexuality alliances (GSAs) could predict youth's academic engagement through improved social–emotional wellbeing (indicated by school belonging, hope, and positive and negative affect). This study utilized three waves of data, each spaced 2–3 months apart, among 627 youth (87% LGBQ+, 45% trans/nonbinary, 48% youth of color) ages 11–22 (M_age = 15.13) in 51 GSAs in the United States in 2021–2022. Greater peer responsiveness in the GSA predicted increased academic engagement through increased wellbeing overall and specifically through hope and decreased negative affect. Advisor responsiveness and GSA leadership correlated with wellbeing and academic engagement in bivariate analyses but were not predictive in the comprehensive model. GSA experiences were uncorrelated with academic disaffection. Findings suggest how GSAs promote youth's wellbeing and academic engagement.

Australian children aged 6–9 years (N = 120, 71 females; data collected in 2021-2022) were tasked with remembering the locations of 1, 3, 5, and 7 targets hidden under 25 cups on different trials. In the critical test phase, children were provided with a limited number of tokens to allocate across trials, which they could use to mark target locations and assist future memory performance. Following the search period, children were invited to adjust their previous token allocation. Although 8- to 9-year-olds prospectively allocated proportionately more tokens to more difficult trials, 6- to 7-year-olds did so only in retrospect. During middle childhood, humans become increasingly adept at weighing up when to rely on their unaided capacities and when to offload cognitive demand.

With age, people increasingly emphasize intent when judging transgressions. However, people often lack information about intent in everyday settings; further, they may wonder about reasons underlying pro-social acts. Three studies investigated 4-to-6-year-olds', 7-to-9-year-olds', and adults' (data collected 2020–2022 in the northeastern United States, total n = 669, ~50% female, predominantly White) desire for information about why behaviors occurred. In Study 1, older children and adults exhibited more curiosity about transgressions versus pro-social behaviors (ds = 0.52–0.63). Younger children showed weaker preferences to learn about transgressions versus pro-social behaviors than did older participants (d = 0.12). Older children's emphasis on intent, but not expectation violations, drove age-related differences (Studies 2–3). Older children may target intent-related judgments specifically toward transgressions, and doing so may underlie curiosity about wrongdoing.

Digital technology enables parents and adolescents to communicate anywhere and anytime. Knowledge of parent–adolescent online communication, however, is mainly based on cross-sectional studies. In this preregistered 100-day diary study, 479 adolescents (M_age = 15.98, 54.9% girls; 96.9% Dutch) reported daily if they had communicated with their parents online, how long (i.e., duration), and what they discussed (i.e., topics). Parent–adolescent online communication took place on 43% of days, for an average of 20 min a day, and predominantly concerned micro-coordination. Five profiles of parent–adolescent online communication were identified, with most adolescents (55.4%) communicating relatively infrequently and briefly. Boys and younger adolescents communicated longer than girls and older adolescents. Although parent–adolescent online contact is possible all day, very few adolescents do so.

Language exposure is an important determiner of language outcomes in bilingual children. Family language strategies (FLS, e.g., one-parent-one-language) were contrasted with parents’ individual language use to predict language exposure in 4–31-month-old children (50% female) living in Montreal, Quebec. Two-hundred twenty one children (primarily European (48%) and mixed ethnicity (29%)) were learning two community languages (French and English) and 60 (primarily mixed ethnicity (39%) and European (16%)) were learning one community and one heritage language. Parents' individual language use better predicted exposure than FLS (explaining ~50% vs. ~6% of variance). Mothers' language use was twice as influential on children's exposure as fathers', likely due to gendered caregiving roles. In a subset of families followed longitudinally, ~25% showed changes in FLS and individual language use over time. Caregivers, especially mothers, individually shape bilingual children's language exposure.

Purpose offers several important benefits to youth. Thus, it is necessary to understand how a sense of purpose develops in supportive contexts and what psychological resources can help. From 2021 to 2022, this study investigated purpose change among 321 youth (M_age = 16.4 years; 71% female; 25.9% Black, 33.3% Asian, 15.6% Hispanic/Latinx, 13.4% White, 9.7% multiracial) participating in GripTape, a ~10-week self-driven learning program. Many youth started with high initial purpose that increased throughout enrollment (Strengthening), whereas others began with slightly lower purpose that remained stable (Maintaining). For each unit increase in baseline agency, youth were 1.6x more likely to be classified as Strengthening. As such, agency may be a resource that helps youth capitalize on certain types of environments.