Developmental Psychology最新文献

As digital devices permeate the environments of young children, there is growing concern that media use might be displacing very young children's opportunities to cultivate important developmental skills, such as controlling their emotions and behaviors. Further, given the power of devices to capture children's attention, even when emotionally upset, parents might utilize media to both calm and distract their children, even when such use is counter to professional recommendations for very young children's media use. This study uses data from a longitudinal bilingual (English/Spanish) parenting intervention to assess how mothers' and fathers' parenting stress might be reciprocally related to their use of media to calm or distract their child from infancy to toddlerhood and how such use might be linked to young children's behavior problems from 9 to 30 months. Importantly, bidirectional relationships between the device use for behavior management and children's behavior problems are also considered. With a sample of 419 low-to-moderate income, ethnically diverse parents (210 families), we found that for mothers, parenting stress, device use to calm and distract, and children's behavior problems were reciprocally related over time. These within-subject effects indicate that the relationship between these constructs varies within mother-child dyads. For fathers, only between-subject effects were found for device use to calm and distract and children's behavior problems, indicating differences between fathers in their use of media. Such findings underscore the need to include both mothers and fathers in media research and to consider both parent and child contributions to media use and developmental processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Individual differences in early language input are rampant but hard to quantify without resource-intensive naturalistic recordings, posing a challenge for testing links between individual experience and facets of language development like vocabulary growth. We tested whether a quick parent survey on infants' exposure to common nouns could reliably predict nouns' frequency in home recordings (testing its validity) and children's own vocabulary (testing input-learning links). In Study 1 (n = 44; 95% White, 5% mixed-race), we gathered monthly home recordings and exposure surveys every 2 months from 8 to 18 months. Parent-reported exposure to each noun (16/time point, 5-point scale) was compared to the noun's relative frequency in infants' home recordings and to comprehension and production of each noun via parent vocabulary survey (Communicative Development Inventory). Reported exposure significantly predicted noun frequency in home recordings. It also predicted both reported noun comprehension and production, even after accounting for age. Results from an age- and gender-matched cross-sectional sample (Study 2, n = 264, 78% White, 11% mixed-race, 11% other) with the same vocabulary and exposure surveys were consistent, supporting generalizability. These findings suggest a brief word exposure survey can reliably estimate individualized word input and knowledge, at least for highly common nouns. This method complements naturalistic recordings and corpus-based norms by capturing individual variation and enabling more scalable research across linguistic and sociocultural contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Gender conformity powerfully shapes children's development, yet little experimental work has investigated the antecedents of this conformity. Here, we experimentally tested whether and how threats to children's felt gender typicality-the extent to which they feel typical of their gender group-elicit conformity and whether these effects vary by age and gender. We randomly assigned 147 children ages 5-10 years (70 girls; 79 racial/ethnic minority) to receive feedback suggesting their performance was gender-atypical (threat) or gender-typical (affirmation) on a pair of "gender knowledge games." We then assessed a broad battery of self-report and behavioral measures, which revealed three distinct responses to gender typicality threat: increases in evaluative concern (i.e., worrying about social judgment), typicality-enhancing behaviors (i.e., actively demonstrating gender-typical qualities), and atypicality-avoiding behaviors (i.e., distancing from gender-atypical qualities). Although gender typicality threat heightened children's evaluative concern regardless of their gender or age, only younger girls and older boys enhanced their gender typicality under threat. Moreover, gender typicality threat prompted boys but not girls to engage in atypicality avoidance. These results suggest that although children generally recognize the consequences of gender atypicality, boys become increasingly motivated to demonstrate their masculinity with age, whereas girls become less concerned with proving their femininity. Boys also uniquely learn that avoiding femininity is crucial to performing masculinity, whereas girls may not learn a corresponding masculinity-avoidance norm. These findings inform gender development theory as well as efforts to mitigate the consequences of children's everyday typicality threat experiences (e.g., teasing, bullying). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Limited attention has been given to ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development beyond emerging adulthood, which is a critical gap identified in the Lifespan Model of ERI. Previous research suggests that age of arrival in a host country may shape one's overall exposure to sociocultural contexts. The adaptation process can also be stressful, particularly as immigrants often navigate challenges related to "fitting in" and the perception of being seen as outsiders. These experiences could trigger various ERI trajectories at a later stage of life (e.g., during adulthood). Using a three-wave longitudinal data set of 596 Mexican-born mothers, three independent growth mixture models were estimated to identify variations in trajectory patterns of ERI exploration, resolution, and centrality. For exploration and resolution, high-stable and low-increasing trajectories were found. For centrality, high-mild decline and low-increasing trajectories were found. Associations between age of arrival, acculturative stressors (i.e., feeling like a misfit and foreigner stress), and trajectory patterns were examined, controlling for age, income, and education at Wave 1. Results showed that greater feelings of misfit at Wave 1 predicted a higher likelihood of belonging to the high-stable exploration and high-mild decline centrality groups, versus belonging to the low-increasing groups. These findings add to our understanding of the Lifespan Model of ERI by showing that ERI evolves beyond emerging adulthood. This study highlights the role of ongoing acculturative stress in shaping identity development, with potential clinical implications for psychological and sociocultural adaptation in adult immigrants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Prospective studies of later born siblings of autistic individuals often focus on predicting autism diagnosis. Studies concentrating on siblings who do not develop autism have found subclinical atypicalities in some children as early as the first year of life. However, when followed to school-age, the continuity of these findings has been mixed. We tracked nonautistic siblings (n = 151 higher familial likelihood of autism, n = 115 lower likelihood) longitudinally from infancy to 6-16 years of age when participants completed a battery of social communication measures (parent report and direct observation/administration). Using latent profile analysis, we derived groupings based on patterns of performance across measures. Three groups were identified: Class 1 (45.5%), Class 2 (45.2%), and Class 3 (9.3%)-characterized by higher, intermediate, and lower school-age social communication abilities, respectively. We then examined the performance of these classes on independent measures of pragmatic language, reciprocal social interaction, and cognition. Class 3 demonstrated social communication differences that were most evident with novel interactive partners (e.g., examiners) and scored lower on IQ and academic achievement measures, indicating that social communication differences captured by the latent profile analysis were part of a broader pattern of developmental differences. Using data collected in the first 3 years of life, we found that the school-age classes began showing differences by 12-18 months of age-evidence of continuity between early behavior and later development. Findings suggest that when early childhood challenges are observed in siblings of autistic children, even those not meeting criteria for autism, they should be monitored over time and additional support offered as needed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Although it is normative for children to desire praise, some might show addiction to praise. We define praise addiction as a strong reliance on praise: a constant seeking of praise, prioritization of praise-seeking, and distress when praise is not received. Some scholars argue that praise addiction is central to narcissism. Despite extensive theorizing, empirical research on praise addiction is lacking. With this multi-informant survey and experimental study, we investigated the phenotype, socialization, and manifestations of praise addiction in a nonclinical sample of children (N = 221, ages 7-13, 91% Dutch, and one of their parents, 89% Dutch). We developed a parent-report measure of praise addiction as a continuous trait, based on substance use disorder criteria. We measured children's subjective praise cravings and adapted a classic drug self-administration paradigm to capture children's efforts to obtain praise. While average praise addiction levels were low, there were meaningful individual differences. Children higher in praise addiction had lower self-esteem, were more sensitive to reward, and experienced higher parental overvaluation and lower parental warmth. Also, they exerted greater effort to obtain praise, even though the effort required to obtain it increased. By contrast, children higher in narcissism did not have lower self-esteem, were not more sensitive to reward, and experienced higher parental overvaluation without lower parental warmth. They did not exert greater effort to obtain praise but did experience elevated praise cravings. This study uncovers the nature of praise addiction, demonstrates its separateness from narcissism, and validates that children high in praise addiction may pursue praise vigorously. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

When making social judgments, children prefer confidence over uncertainty. At the same time, they also value calibration and accuracy. How, then, do children reason about calibrated uncertainty, or intellectual humility, versus unwarranted confidence, or intellectual arrogance? Here we examined whether 4- to 11-year-olds evaluated intellectually humble individuals as more likable, more knowledgeable, nicer, and smarter than intellectually arrogant individuals. Across two studies involving 229 children (Study 1: N = 111, 59% White, 39% girls; Study 2: N = 118, 66% White, 49% girls), we found that children, by the age of 5.5 years, preferred an intellectually humble over an intellectually arrogant individual, with this preference strengthening over development. Moreover, children preferred intellectual humility over intellectual arrogance both when an intellectually humble individual appeared to be accurate (Study 1) and when it was unclear whether they were accurate (Study 2). Altogether, these findings indicate that children do not prioritize unwarranted confidence more than calibrated uncertainty in their social judgments. We conclude by highlighting pressing directions for future research surrounding what makes children prefer intellectual humility and why. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Overcoming challenges to achieve success involves being able to spontaneously come up with effective strategies to address different task demands. Research has linked individual differences in such strategy generation and use to optimal development over time and greater success across many areas of life. Yet, there is surprisingly little experimental evidence that tests how we might help young children to spontaneously generate and apply effective strategies across different challenging tasks. We test this in an area important to development: delaying gratification. To do this, we developed a "strategic mindset" storybook that encouraged children, when waiting felt hard, to ask themselves strategy-eliciting questions, such as: "What can I try to be better at this?" In two experiments (N = 237), 5- to 6-year-old children who read the strategic mindset storybook with an experimenter (vs. a control storybook) waited significantly longer to receive desirable treats (Experiments 1 and 2) and to watch an appealing YouTube video (Experiment 2). Moreover, they were able to wait longer because they spontaneously generated and applied a greater number of effective waiting strategies. Going beyond classic research that taught children specific strategies to delay gratification, our results suggest that our new "metacognitive" approach can empower children's self-regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Adults hold a broad range of beliefs about intellectual ability. Key examples include beliefs about its malleability, its distribution in the population, whether high levels of it ("brilliance") are necessary for success, its origins, and its responsiveness to intervention. Here, we examined the structure and motivational significance of this network of consequential beliefs in a sample of elementary school-age children (5- to 11-year-olds, N = 231; 116 girls, 112 boys, three gender nonbinary children; predominantly White and Asian children from relatively high-income backgrounds). We assessed five beliefs: (a) growth mindsets (malleability), (b) universal mindsets (distribution), (c) brilliance beliefs (necessity for success), and beliefs about ability's (d) innateness and (e) responsiveness to intervention. Even among the youngest children, these beliefs were empirically distinguishable and also largely coherent, in that they related to each other in expected ways. Moreover, the five beliefs assessed here were differentially related to children's learning (vs. performance) goals, preference for challenging tasks, and evaluative concern (i.e., concern that mistakes will lead others to evaluate the self negatively). Even when adjusting for age, children with growth mindsets were oriented toward learning goals and preferred challenging tasks; children who believed ability has innate origins preferred performance goals; and younger (but not older) children who thought success required brilliance expressed more concern over being evaluated. These findings speak to the multifaceted nature of children's concepts of ability and highlight their significance for children's achievement-related attitudes and behavior in the early school years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

We examined an understudied aspect of children's pedagogical cognition and investigated whether children selectively transmit objective information. In three experiments (N = 168), 5- and 6-year-olds were asked to distinguish between objective and subjective statements (Experiment 1) and to choose objective or subjective information to pass on to others (Experiments 2 and 3). Children of both ages distinguished between the two types of statements, OR = 19.1, and preferentially transmitted more objective than subjective information when asked to teach, OR = 5.06. A control condition, in which participants were asked to share information with a peer, found that 5- and 6-year-olds also favored sharing objective information in a nonpedagogical context, OR = 1.96. Critically, children taught more objective information when placed in a pedagogical stance compared to a conversational context, OR = 2.31. These findings contribute to the growing body of work suggesting that children recognize teaching as a unique communicative mechanism, one that calls for the propagation of objective information, not subjective opinion. Our study furthers the understanding of how young children's pedagogical knowledge and competence develop. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).