Child development最新文献

Using three-wave data from 962 Chinese adolescents (45.1% boys, M_age = 12.369, SD = 0.699 at T1, September 2022), this study examined the link between parental social comparison shaming and adolescents' life meaning, with adolescents' satisfaction of need for competence tested as a mediator and filial piety tested as a moderator. Parental social comparison shaming (T1) was negatively associated with adolescents' presence of life meaning (T3, September 2023, controlling for baseline) through a negative association with adolescents' satisfaction of competence need (T2, March 2023, controlling for baseline). The link between social comparison shaming and satisfaction of competence need was more pronounced among adolescents with higher (versus lower) reciprocal filial piety. The identified indirect effect was also stronger among adolescents with higher (versus lower) reciprocal filial piety.

Racial and ethnic disparities in children's diets are prevalent. Little is known about how fathers' food parenting practices may contribute to these disparities. We examined racial and ethnic variations in food parenting practices and their associations with 2–6-year-old children's diets in a cross-sectional sample of U.S. fathers surveyed in 2021–2023 (N = 1015; 16% Asian, 9% Black, 6% Hispanic, 70% White; M_age = 37 years) using path analysis. Fathers' food parenting practices were significantly associated with children's diets, yet little evidence emerged that fathers' food parenting practices explained racial and ethnic disparities in children's diets. These findings suggest the potential importance of structural constraints on healthy eating (e.g., access to healthy food) among minoritized children beyond fathers' food parenting practices.

Need for cognition (NFC) reflects the tendency to enjoy and engage in cognitive challenges. This study examines the relations between NFC and academic interest among 922 German secondary school students (academic track) assessed four times in Grades 5–7 (initial age M = 10.63, SD = 0.55; 41% female; 90% first language German) in mathematics, German, and English. Data were collected between 2008 and 2012 and were analyzed using autoregressive cross-lagged panel models. In all domains, NFC positively predicted subsequent academic interest (β = 0.03 to β = 0.17) but interest did not positively predict subsequent NFC. Findings were comparable after controlling for students' achievement, gender, socioeconomic status, and class type. They suggest that NFC is a potential facilitator of the development of academic interest in school.

Childhood adversity takes a toll on lifelong health. However, investigations of unpredictability as a form of adversity are lacking. Environmental unpredictability across multiple developmental periods and ecological levels was examined using a multiethnic, longitudinal birth cohort (1998–2000) oversampled for unmarried parents. Data were from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4898 youth at birth; 52% male; 48% Black, 27% Hispanic, 21% White) to examine unpredictability at ages 1, 3, 5, and 9 with later adolescent outcomes. An unpredictability index was associated with age 15 outcomes (N = 3595) including depressive symptoms (β = 0.11), anxiety symptoms (β = 0.08), delinquency (β = 0.13), impulsivity (β = 0.09), heavier weight categories (β = 0.09), and internalizing (β = 0.14), externalizing (β = 0.23), and attention problems (β = 0.16). Findings support unpredictability as a unique form of adversity.

What are the psychological consequences of receiving direct and indirect help in childhood? We conducted three preregistered experiments (N = 619, 7–9 years, 80% Dutch, 51% girls, 49% boys, mostly higher socioeconomic status) in the Netherlands (July 2020–July 2022). Children received direct help (correct answer), indirect help (hint), or no help. An internal meta-analysis showed that children who received help felt less competent, liked the task less, and felt more in need of help. Children who received help also sought fewer challenges (Study 3). Effect sizes were modest. Direct and indirect help had largely similar effects, except that children disliked and misreported receiving direct help more. Thus, despite being well-intentioned, direct and indirect help can be discouraging.

Observed parental sensitivity during a parent–child teaching task and free-play task was tested as mediators of the association between family socioeconomic risk and child receptive language at 48 months, consistent with family investment theory. Parents (n = 881 mothers; 624 fathers, data collected between 2006-2008) and their 5-month-old children (52% male) were recruited from public health clinics in Norway. Both maternal sensitivity (measured at 24 months) and paternal sensitivity (measured at 36 months) during the teaching task mediated the association between family socioeconomic risk and child language, controlling for sensitivity during free play, which was not significantly associated with child language. Results suggest that both mothers and fathers make meaningful contributions to early language development via sensitive parenting, particularly in the context of teaching-based interactions.

Neural specialization for print can be indexed by the left-lateralized N1 response as a tuning gradient to visual words, indicated by sensitivity (character vs. visual control) and selectivity (character vs. character-like stimuli). Forty-five Chinese children (20 boys) were recorded with EEG twice with a 2-year interval during a character decision task (T1, 2016-2017: 7–9 years old; T2, 2018-2020: 9–11). Character N1 amplitude decreased faster with age (7–11 years) compared to non-character N1, and character and character-like N1 became less right-lateralized. T1 better readers showed more longitudinal decrease of print sensitivity and more left-lateralized T2 print sensitivity and selectivity. To conclude, reading skill drives functional neural efficiency for processing print, and the left hemisphere may be a linguistically universal neural mechanism for reading development.

Adjusting practice to different goals and characteristics is key to learning, but its development remains unclear. Across 2 preregistered experiments, 190 4-to-8-year-olds (106 female; mostly White; data collection: December 2021–September 2022) and 31 adults played an easy and a difficult game, then chose one to practice before a test on either the easy, difficult, or a randomly chosen game. All children adjusted their active practice choices to condition. When the test game was known, they practiced that game. However, when the test game was randomly chosen, only children 6+ and adults practiced the difficult game, while younger children only showed a trending effect. This suggests that the ability to prepare for uncertainty may develop between ages 4 and 6.