Child development最新文献

This study explored young children's mental health trajectories during the pandemic (May 2020 to April 2021) as well as associations with family functioning (i.e., cohesion, conflict, chaos, and routines) using data reported by 204 parents (children M_age 5.49; 45% girls, 90% White). Children's internalizing problems decreased early on with the onset of the pandemic, but then leveled off, while no change in externalizing problems was found. Family conflict and chaos were significantly associated with internalizing and externalizing problems at the within- and between-family level, when examined independently. When family-level factors were evaluated simultaneously, family conflict emerged as a robust risk factor. Intervention efforts, specifically for families experiencing increased conflict, may help support the mental health needs of children.

Speech-in-noise perception is consistently reported to be impaired in learning disorders, which stresses the importance of documenting its developmental course in young children. In this cross-sectional study, ninety children (41 females, 5.5–11.6 years old) and nineteen normal-hearing adults (15 females, 20–30 years old) were tested with a newly developed closed-set speech perception in babble-noise test, combining two levels of phonological difficulty and two noise levels. Results showed that speech-in-babble-noise perception takes a definite maturation step around 7 years of age (d = 1.17, grade effect) and is not mature at 10 years of age when compared to young adults (d = 0.94, group effect). Developmental trajectories of both accuracy and response times were evaluated, with influences of psycholinguistic factors, to foster the development of adequate screening tests.

To address the widespread mental health crisis facing adolescent girls, this study examined whether a growth emotion mindset lesson can enhance emotional competence. During 2018–2022, adolescent girls (M_age = 15.68 years; 66.3% White) were randomized to a growth mindset (E-MIND; N = 81) or brain education (control; N = 82) lesson, completed the Trier Social Stressor Test, and reported on various aspects of emotional competence. Compared with the control group, the E-MIND group reported more adaptive emotion mindsets, higher emotion regulation self-efficacy, and more proactive in vivo and daily efforts to regulate emotions (effect sizes = small-to-medium to medium), with several differences remaining 4-month later. Findings provide novel insight into one promising approach for cultivating emotional resilience among adolescent girls.

Children's foundational mathematical skills are critical for future academic attainment. While home mathematical activities (HMAs) have been proposed to support these skills, the extent to which engaging in them supports mathematical skills remains unclear. This preregistered systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis identified 351 effect sizes from 72 samples in 20 countries, exploring the relation between frequency of HMAs and mathematical skills in children aged 7 years and under (M_age = 61 months). A small significant positive relation was found (r = .13), moderated by risk of bias, with larger effects associated with a higher risk of bias. Specific ways the field can move forward are discussed to better understand the role of the home mathematical environment in early mathematics.

This study examined long-term mediating effects of the smalltalk parenting intervention on children's effortful control at school age (7.5 years; 2016–2018). In 2010–2012, parents (96% female) of toddlers (N = 1201; aged 12–36 months; 52% female) were randomly assigned to either: standard playgroup, smalltalk playgroup (group-only), or smalltalk playgroup with additional home coaching (smalltalk plus). Multi-informant data indicated that smalltalk plus had unique indirect effects on children's effortful control, through parents' capacity to ‘maintain and extend’ children's focus during joint interactions. Possible mediating pathways via parent verbal responsivity, home learning activities, and descriptive language use were not supported. When parents received a structured playgroup program with additional home coaching, sustainable benefits were evident in children's self-regulation, assessed in the early school years.

This study examines paternal and maternal sensitivity as predictors of toddlers' attachment security in two naturalistic contexts. Seventy-three mostly White middle-class families participated between 2015 and 2019 when children (49.3% girls) were approximately 29.48 months old. Each child–parent dyad completed a home and playground visit. Findings revealed paternal and maternal sensitivity were significantly associated at home and marginally at the playground. Paternal sensitivity was only predictive of security to the father at the playground, showing a medium effect, while small effects of maternal sensitivity on security to the mother were found in both contexts. Cross-parent contributions to security were small and limited to the playground. The need to consider the greater ecology of child–parent relationships and suggestions for larger-scale research are discussed.

This study examines when the vocabulary knowledge of Japanese heritage speakers (HSs; N = 427, M_age = 9.96, female = 213) begins to diverge from monolingual counterparts (N = 136, M_age = 6.69, female = 65) and what factors explain individual differences in HS development. Vocabulary of HSs began to diverge from 5.61 years and this difference lasted until they were young adults. We also administered a fit-for-purpose questionnaire in 2021–2023 and identified six experiential latent factors: Holiday, School, Community, Proficiency, Literacy, and Home. Structural modeling indicates that Holiday predicted vocabulary scores, while Holiday and Literacy predicted Proficiency. Our findings highlight the importance of immersion experiences and literacy engagement for heritage language development.

While most research focused on empathic responses to negative emotions, little is known about empathy to positive emotions. We aimed to bridge this gap by examining infants' and children's empathic responses to distress and happiness, while differentiating between cognitive and emotional empathy. We conducted three studies with N = 119 3-month-old infants; N = 169 10-19 months-old infants; and N = 61 24-60 months-old children (all Jewish-Israeli). Empathy was measured using experimenter simulations (studies 1 and 3) or peer-video (study 2). All studies showed that cognitive empathy to positive and negative emotions converged (small-medium effect size), but not so for emotional empathy. This suggests that understanding others' emotions is independent of emotion valence, while the ability to share in another's emotion is valence-specific.

The longitudinal relation between toddlers' behaviors in uncertain situations (e.g., information seeking, hesitation) and preschoolers' uncertainty monitoring was investigated (between 2014 and 2019 in Northern California; Time 1: N = 183, M = 28.99 months, 53% female, 67.8% White; Time 2: N = 159, M = 41.64 months, 52.2% female). Eye movements and response latencies were recorded as children identified a target from two partially occluded (Time 1) or degraded (Time 2) images. Confidence ratings for identifications were collected at Time 2. At Time 1, gaze transitions between response options, but not response latencies and mental state language, predicted Time 2 uncertainty monitoring. Overall, these findings provide the first direct evidence of connections between toddlers' uncertainty behaviors and preschoolers' uncertainty monitoring.

Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning methodology, this study investigated whether parent emotional support moderated the relation between parent–child interbrain synchrony and interaction quality (via behavioral observation and child-report), controlling for individual emotional distress. Eighty-eight parent–child dyads (96.6% Han ethnicity), including a school-age child between the ages of 6 and 11 (M_age = 8.07 years, SD = 1.16 years; 58.0% boys) and their parent (M_age = 39.03 years, SD = 3.54 years; 69.3% mothers), participated in a cooperative task during which brain activity was assessed. Cluster-based permutations indicated parent–child interbrain synchrony in the left and right temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Interbrain synchrony in the left TPJ positively related to parent–child interaction quality in the context of high parent emotional support, whereas the association was weaker and negative when parents demonstrated low emotional support. Findings suggest the emotional context of an interaction is critical when assessing interbrain synchrony.