Advances in Child Development and Behavior最新文献

Research underscores a link between cognition and academic abilities. This article reviews some of the work from my research team to shed light on this evolving viewpoint. I first present studies on the mutual relationship between cognitive and academic skills, illustrating their interactive and supportive development. Then, I delve into research within the framework of cognitive load theory to examine whether multi-component explicit instruction adheres to a ``more is better'' or ``optimal combination'' approach. Lastly, I explore the domain-specific strategy of working memory training, emphasizing how to integrate working memory into academic teaching.

Parents' involvement in children's math learning is a critical, yet underutilized, resource. Drawing on cognitive and motivational perspectives, this chapter introduces a dual-pathway model highlighting the importance of parents' cognitive and motivational math parenting practices in fostering children's math learning. Cognitive practices include the content, level, and structure of parents' math talk and gestures. Through these practices, parents introduce numeracy concepts and scaffolded support within children's zone of proximal development, thereby providing cognitive resources for the development of children's math skills. Motivational practices include parents' autonomy-support (vs. control), positive (vs. negative) affect, and process (vs. person)-orientation around math. These practices fulfill children's basic psychological needs, which develops children's math beliefs, motivation, and engagement. Empirical evidence demonstrates that parents' cognitive and motivational practices each contribute uniquely-and in an additive fashion-to children's math learning, with the possibility of interactive effects. Proximal antecedents (e.g., attributes of children, parents, and the learning context) can shape both types of practices. By delineating distinct yet complementary mechanisms of parents' influence, the dual-pathway model offers a unified framework to inform future research, educational practices, and family-focused interventions aimed at enhancing children's math learning.

Essentialism is the intuitive belief that certain categories, such as "tiger," "boy," or "gold," have an underlying reality that goes beyond surface appearances. Childhood essentialism provides insights regarding the nature, origins, and development of human cognition. This chapter reviews the current state of the art regarding research on childhood essentialism, addressing five key issues: (1) what is essentialism and why is it important?; (2) the role of experience (including context, culture, and identity); (3) language as a uniquely powerful mode of transmission; (4) developmental origins; and (5) consequences for social issues and education. Throughout, the chapter considers how children's essentialism works in concert with, and alongside, other cognitive, linguistic, social, and societal processes. Ultimately, childhood essentialism can be considered a "double-edged sword," contributing to human propensities that are both impressive (an early-developing ability to look beyond the obvious) and problematic (stereotyping, prejudice, and intergroup bias).

In the past few decades, interest in children's spatial thinking has increased substantially, and consequently, interest in spatial assessments for children has also increased. However, there are not many reliable, validated, and widely accessible spatial assessments for this segment of the population, which affects researchers' ability to conduct and interpret spatial thinking research. While some limitations of these tests relate to broader issues with spatial assessments in general (see Uttal et al., 2024), creating assessments that are appropriate for children presents unique challenges. In this chapter, we review the current state of tests of children's spatial thinking, including mental rotation and perspective-taking. We draw on insights from psychometrics, open science, and cognitive development research. Furthermore, we examine how spatial assessments affect research on the relation between spatial and STEM abilities, particularly research aimed at leveraging spatial thinking through interventions and training that improve children's spatial skills and, in turn, their STEM performance (i.e., Bruce & Hawes, 2015; Cheng & Mix, 2014; Hawes et al., 2022; Judd & Klingberg, 2021; Mix et al., 2021). Lastly, we outline recommendations for improving these assessments to ultimately improve research and theory creation on the development of spatial thinking.

In a world where English reigns as the most spoken language, proficiency in English literacy is indispensable. Within this context, it is imperative to acknowledge the significant hurdles encountered by Spanish children in mastering English, particularly in reading and writing. The learning process is intricate, influenced by various factors such as orthographic and phonological differences between languages and the depth of the orthographic system. This chapter explores the critical importance of English literacy for Spanish children, both typically developing and with dyslexia, as they learn it as a second language. By examining the literacy acquisition process and comparing orthographic systems and disparities among languages, we aim to clarify how these differences impact children's ability to learn reading and spelling. We review the literacy challenges faced by typically developing Spanish children when they encounter the deeper and more complex orthography of English. This presents distinct hurdles in reading and spelling acquisition. Moreover, individuals with dyslexia face compounded obstacles due to irregularities in the English orthographic system, alongside inherent dyslexia difficulties. In summary, this chapter sheds light on the complexities of English literacy acquisition for Spanish children, highlighting the distinct challenges faced by those with dyslexia and emphasizing the need for tailored instructional approaches to mitigate these obstacles effectively.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) unfolds over the first two years of life through complex interactions among developmental systems. Attention and autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulation represent foundational processes critical for adaptive engagement with the environment. Disruptions in these systems during early infancy may initiate developmental cascades that contribute to core ASD features, including social-communication challenges and restricted and repetitive behaviors, as well as the vast heterogeneity found within ASD. This chapter reviews our approach to integrating mechanistic research and real-world methodologies to explore autonomic and attentional pathways in the early development of ASD. We conduct prospective, longitudinal studies to track how ANS regulation and attention unfold in infancy in infants at elevated and low familial likelihood for ASD. By integrating multimethod approaches to study these functions in naturalistic contexts, we demonstrate that autonomically regulated attention mechanisms support key developmental milestones and may play an important role in the emergence of ASD. Findings presented provide preliminary support for the theory that infants later diagnosed with ASD exhibit early disruptions in parasympathetic modulation of arousal and attention across responses to social and nonsocial contexts. This work emphasizes the value of leveraging portable, non-invasive technologies to study early autonomic and attention processes in naturalistic contexts. By using this approach to uncover formative mechanisms underlying ASD, we enhance the translational potential of this research while addressing critical gaps in inclusivity and representation. Understanding autonomic and attentional systems in infancy provides an opportunity to identify cascading developmental divergences and promote adaptive developmental trajectories in ASD.

Bowlby's attachment theory has long been a dominant framework for understanding the development of intimate relationships, particularly the role of early caregiving in shaping later socio-emotional functioning. While Bowlby's proposed cognitive mechanism allowing for early experience to guide later adaptation, the Internal Working Model, has been central to the theory, the specific psychological constructs and processes at play remain underexplored. Waters and Waters (2006) advanced our understanding of the Internal Working Model by introducing the "secure base script," a cognitive representation that summarizes secure base experiences and guides behavior in attachment-related contexts. Twenty years on, this review summarizes current progress in terms of: a) assessment; b) latent structure; c) antecedents; d) sequalae; and e) stability/change. Further, it evaluates the secure base script's potential to advance attachment theory and our understanding of attachment processes by integrating both basic and clinically oriented perspectives from cognitive psychology with attachment theory.

Children possess foundational math concepts from infancy and acquire additional math skills such as words to describe numbers, sizes, and shapes of objects long before they start formal instruction in math. In this chapter, we review extant research linking variations in the home math environment to individual differences in young children's math skills. More frequent engagement in math activities in the home as well as more frequent parent-child conversations about math concepts have been associated with greater number and spatial math skills. Moreover, parents' beliefs and attitudes about math have been linked to the home math environment and thereby indirectly to children's math skills. We outline how different theories (i.e., the Ecological Model of Development and the Opportunity-Propensity model) have started to stimulate research unpacking complex interactions between environmental factors and children's and parents' characteristics that shape the home math environment and children's math skills. Drawing parallels between educational psychology research in formal settings and the informal learning environment at home can guide future research on the home math environment. We end by raising a number of important research questions for future investigations.

Reading and socio-behavioral difficulties often co-occur in elementary school, posing significant developmental and societal concerns. Yet the mechanisms underlying this co-occurrence-whether unidirectional, bidirectional, or due to shared risk factors-remain unclear. This narrative review synthesizes theories and empirical findings on the longitudinal relations between reading and socio-behavioral skills during elementary school. We discuss key frameworks, including the academic incompetence, adjustment erosion, bidirectionality, and shared risk hypotheses. We propose a set of conceptual and methodological considerations, emphasizing the need to examine executive function subconstructs as potential mechanisms or shared risk factors. We also highlight the importance of testing heterogeneity by learning status, time, family socioeconomic background, and specific subconstructs. We also call for analytical methods that separate within-child from between-child effects to better assess for cross-lagged relations. Finally, we present findings from a preliminary study investigating the longitudinal relations between reading and internalizing problem behaviors in both the general population and children with reading difficulties (RD). Using latent growth models with structured residuals and data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11, we observed bidirectional associations between reading and internalizing problem behaviors from Grade 1 to Grade 2, but only in children with RD. Within-person mediation tests suggested that kindergarten reading skills influenced Grade 2 internalizing behaviors through Grade 1 inhibitory control in general population sample. These findings provide preliminary evidence for differential developmental pathways and highlight the need for targeted interventions supporting both reading and socio-behavioral development.

Here, we will review the developmental literature on how infants and young children learn about emotions. We take a process-based perspective, highlighting how the protracted trajectory of emotional development unfolds concurrently with changes in children's cognitive abilities, and how variability based on context, culture, and experience shape this trajectory over time. We will also emphasize the role of input into this development, a factor that has often been ignored. Indeed, little research has systematically sought to understand how children's emotional development is shaped by the emotional input they receive. We focus on the development of three abilities that comprise emotion understanding. First, we will discuss the developmental trajectory of emotional expression, and how infants and young children come to express emotions and behave emotionally. Second, we will discuss how infants and young children learn to regulate those emotional responses, and how different environmental inputs affect that ability. Third, we will discuss the development of emotion perception, or how infants and young children learn how to perceive, categorize, and identify the emotions of others over time. Finally, we will discuss mechanisms for developmental change in all of these domains, and how other concurrent domains of development-including motor skill, language, theory of mind, and attachment-might have cascading effects on changes in emotion understanding.