Developmental Review最新文献

The significance of self-control for essential life outcomes necessitates the study of its developmental pathways. In other words, other than discussions of the factors associated with self-control in different developmental periods, investigating the processes that lead to self-control development is also essential. To address this need, in this article, we present a conceptualization of trait self-control and its development using dynamic systems concepts and explore the aspects of this conceptualization by systematic simulation experiments of an agent-based model. Moreover, our focus in this article is on the adolescence period, which despite being a period of lasting changes, has received less attention on the subject of self-control development. Using an agent-based model of the parent-adolescent dyad, we show how moderate rule-setting can enhance self-control development. By simulating the processes that shape the adolescent’s trait self-control in the context of family, we provide a framework that could guide future theoretical and empirical studies of this critical ability.

Parental postpartum depression may be a risk factor for children’s early language development. However, previous empirical findings have been inconclusive regarding these relations. Moreover, previous reviews of this topic have summarized across measures of language. The purpose of the present systematic review was to summarize and synthesize the relations between parental postpartum depression and children’s language development while treating language as a multidimensional construct and while considering the nature of parental depression. We identified empirical articles in the PsycInfo®/ProQuest database (8/15/2023) and through additional strategies. Articles were screened and considered eligible for inclusion based on several criteria. Twenty-six studies were included in the present systematic review. Included articles were evaluated for risk bias using a tool produced by Glod and colleagues (2015) and adapted for the present study. Findings were organized by the aspect of language (i.e., receptive, expressive) and the nature of parents’ depression (timing, status, chronicity). Varying levels of support were found for the assertion that parental depression is related to children’s receptive and expressive language. Significant relations are more likely to be found later in early childhood indicating a delayed effect of parental postpartum depression. Further, there was inconclusive support concerning the role of depression status and depression chronicity in relation to children’s language development. Additional work is needed to clarify these relations. Directions for future work are recommended that would explore mediating mechanisms, the role of fathers’ depression and how other aspects of parental mental health play a role in these relations. As a limitation, the scope of the present systematic review excluded studies of older children and studies of more general language development that are relevant to informing future work.

An emerging body of research suggests that later-life cognitive functioning may be partly the result of influences across the life course. Low socioeconomic position in childhood is associated with disparities in cognitive functioning in older adulthood. Framed by the life course perspective, several explanations for this association exist: the latency model, positing that the conditions of low early-life socioeconomic position are directly linked to later-life cognitive functioning; the pathway hypothesis, suggesting that the association is mediated through adult socioeconomic position; and the accumulation of (dis)advantage hypothesis, proposing that the combined conditions of the childhood and adulthood contexts are more impactful than either socioeconomic context alone. The purpose of this critical review was to assess the empirical evidence supporting each hypothesis through a synthesis of the extant literature on the association between childhood socioeconomic position and later-life cognitive functioning. We reviewed 29 studies with U.S. samples and found the strongest evidence for the pathway hypothesis, followed by the accumulation hypothesis. Support for the latency model is present but weaker than the other explanations. The influence of childhood socioeconomic position on cognitive functioning is stronger when cognitive functioning is assessed at a single time point rather than as change over time, suggesting that childhood socioeconomic position might not affect the rate at which cognition declines in later life but does impact performance measured at any designated testing occasion. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations of the state of the literature, directions for future research, and implications for policy.

Extensive research from cognitive neuroscience has shown that episodic memory and future thinking are related processes and has given rise to theories attempting to explain these similarities, but developmental research has only minimally been considered. We argue that developmental research is fundamental to understanding the association between episodic memory and future thinking and that existing neurocognitive theories do not fully accommodate developmental findings. We review evidence from studies investigating children’s episodic memory, future thinking, and comparing across the two, as well as studies on the developing brain, and research with patients with brain lesions and individuals with autism spectrum disorder. These data provide an emerging but incomplete picture of the relation between memory and future thinking, and therefore we present a framework that deconstructs episodic thought into its separate components – who an episode is about, what happens in it, and when and where it occurs. We argue that episodic memory and future thinking place different demands on these subcomponents but are bound together by a shared episodic simulator that plays episodes to conscious awareness. We then provide a roadmap for future research that will clarify how memory and future thinking are related in development.

Because of executive function (EF) skills’ importance for social, emotional, and academic success, there is strong interest in supporting their development in early childhood. Efforts to increase the duration and/or intensity of children’s physical activity have been proposed as one promising approach. However, this proposal has been a source of debate, and too few studies have been conducted with young children to support recommendations in early childhood. Here, we provide a critical review of relevant studies. A recurring idea is that children’s fine and gross motor development represents a sequence of goal-directed activities that serve to engage and practice their EF skills. The development of children’s motor skills appears more strongly associated with EF skill development in early childhood than the frequency, duration, or intensity of their physical activity. We integrate these ideas into the larger literature and consider implications for research and practice.

Moral disengagement enables individuals to enact behavior contrary to their moral standards without remorse. Although associations between moral disengagement and transgressions are widely studied, the process occurs in the context of personal and environmental factors that may increase or suppress its enlistment. Understanding potential moderators provide insight into how moral disengagement enables transgressions, and offers possible areas of intervention to decrease its enlistment. This review integrates research examining moral disengagement within a social cognitive theory framework from which it is part. Within the 157 eligible studies (N = 118,501) investigating moral disengagement and a related construct, 35 distinct correlates of moral disengagement were identified. Random-effects meta-analyses identified significant associations between moral disengagement and transgressive behavior, and additionally identified personal (e.g., self-efficacy; empathy) and environmental factors (e.g., parental monitoring; peer rejection) that may moderate its enlistment. Findings highlight the importance of considering intrapsychic and societal influences associated with moral disengagement when enacting transgressions. Theoretical considerations and suggestions for future research are also proposed.

A programmatic set of meta-analyses by Groh et al. (e.g., Groh et al., 2017a) and Madigan et al. (e.g., Madigan et al., 2023) demonstrated that secure child-caregiver attachments are positively associated with children’s social and emotional development, with somewhat stronger associations identified in relation to social competence and (lower) externalizing behaviors than for (lower) internalizing symptoms (Groh et al., 2017a). The association of attachment security with children’s cognitive and language outcomes, however, is relatively less well established. Moreover, it is unknown whether attachment is associated with these outcomes through direct links, indirect links (i.e., as a mediator of the association between caregiver sensitivity and child cognition and language processes), or both. Empirical tests of these hypotheses have not yet been conducted. The current study had two main objectives: 1) provide a meta-analytic update for the association between attachment security and cognition and language (k = 125 studies [107 samples]; N = 9,213 children; 52.5% boys; 100% mothers; 93% from North America/Europe), and 2) test this association within a larger mediation model that accounts for the roles of sensitivity and attachment through a meta-analytic structural equation model (sensitivity → attachment → cognitive and language outcomes). Results showed that child-mother attachment security was significantly associated with child cognition (r = 0.17, 95% CI [0.14, 0.20]) and language outcomes (r = 0.16, 95% CI [0.12, 0.20]). The MASEM model revealed a small, but significant, indirect effect of sensitivity on cognitive and language outcomes through attachment security. The discussion considers the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

The first gestures that children produce intentionally to communicate with others, make sense of the world around them, and control their behavior are ostensive gestures of showing and giving; these are also the first gestures that parents and teachers use to communicate with children and to regulate their behavior in their first months of life. Ostensive gestures are proximal gestures in which the child’s hand is occupied by an object. In this sense, objects have a role in shaping children’s first communicative acts: They are the first referents children communicate about and the first means they use to share references with others.

Despite their relevance to communicative development, a literature review highlights that there have been few studies investigating ostensive gestures in the first three years of life, while the study of distal gestures, especially pointing gestures, has prevailed. Some authors relate the relative absence of ostensive gestures in the literature to methodological issues that hinder their identification. Others question their nature as “true gestures” because they involve children’s contact with objects and therefore there can be doubt about their underlying intentionality.

Increasing evidence has shown that ostensive gestures fulfill early communicative and self-regulatory functions from the end of the first year of life. These functions are very similar to the ones that are later observed in more complex gestures, such as pointing and symbolic gestures. This similarity provides a clear idea of progression in gesture development.

Based on these ideas, this article has two main purposes: to describe ostensive gestures and reaffirm their important part in gesture development, and to explore the hypothesis that ostensive gestures not only precede pointing in development, but that they are one of pointing’s precursors, providing clues to the understanding of intentional communication’s origin.

There is a long-standing debate on the goals that underlie adolescent socially coercive behaviors, such as bullying, relational aggression, and instrumental aggression. Knowledge about these goals is critical for the development of effective interventions. Bridging evolutionary and social-cognitive perspectives, we propose and substantiate a Social Goals and Gains Model of Adolescent Bullying and Aggression. The model holds that adolescents who hold agentic goals (i.e., getting ahead of others), rather than communal goals (i.e., getting along with others), engage in more bullying and aggression. Engaging in bullying and aggression, in turn, may lead adolescents to gain popularity but lose likeability. To substantiate this model, we meta-analyzed data of 164,143 adolescents (age range: 8–20 years), from 148 independent samples, with Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM). Our results both support and refine our model. As hypothesized, adolescents’ agentic goals were associated with higher levels of bullying and aggression. Bullying and aggression, in turn, were associated with higher popularity but lower likeability. However, there was no significant association between adolescents’ communal goals and bullying or aggression. These findings suggest that socially coercive behaviors, such as bullying and aggression, can be fueled by agentic goals and potentially lead to gains in popularity but losses in likeability. This suggests that intervention programs could reduce bullying and aggression by changing the means through which adolescents pursue agentic goals.