British Journal of Developmental Psychology最新文献

Curiosity is central to children's development, particularly in science learning. This longitudinal study examines how epistemic curiosity, overall and its subtypes I-type and D-type, predicts scientific reasoning and science (physics) knowledge at the start (Grade 1) and end (Grades 3-4) of primary school, beyond prior knowledge and cognitive abilities. Parents of 122 children (mean age 6.12 years) completed an 11-item curiosity questionnaire. Scientific reasoning and science knowledge were assessed with standardized inventories and a 25-item physics test. Overall curiosity predicted early reasoning, whereas I-type curiosity predicted later science knowledge. These findings highlight that curiosity has distinct faces and phases: I-type and D-type operate differently at different developmental time points. Fostering both types supports multiple aspects of science competence.

Since the implementation of multi-child policies in China, the proportion of multi-child families has increased, making sibling relationships a critical issue. The present study used latent profile analysis to identify distinct profiles of sibling relationships among Chinese adolescents. The associations between maternal and paternal differential treatment and children's membership in specific profiles were also examined. A sample of 1553 Chinese adolescents (M_age = 13.28, 48.1% boys) with at least one sibling revealed five subgroups: positive, conflicting, average, moderately negative, and highly negative groups. Results also showed that adolescents experiencing a high degree of maternal differential treatment were more likely to belong to the highly negative group, while paternal differential treatment had no significant associations. These findings highlighted the heterogeneity of sibling relationships and the important contribution of maternal differential treatment in shaping sibling dynamics, which offered valuable insights for enhancing the well-being of multi-child families.

The field of developmental science is increasingly interested in conducting research that is more representative, equitable, inclusive and generalizable. One way to achieve these aims is to conduct research that positions communities as key collaborators and central contributors to our scientific inquiries. These principles are evident in community science approaches like community-based participatory research (CBPR) and participatory action research (PAR). We argue that CBPR and PAR can be implemented by developmental scientists. Here, we describe two initiatives that utilized CBPR and PAR. The first initiative is Playful Learning Landscapes (PLL). PLL embeds research from the learning sciences into public spaces to offer playful learning opportunities for children and families, and community science practices are leveraged throughout the process. The second initiative is the Galápagos Education and Research Alliance (GERA). GERA harnesses the tools of community science by working directly with communities in the fragile environment of Galápagos to gather data about ecosystem health and build community-based plans for climate change adaptation. Together, these two initiatives offer rich examples of how CBPR and PAR principles engender active participation from the community throughout the design and evaluation of a research project. We discuss the opportunities and challenges of using community-centred approaches.

This systematic review investigates the novel concept of digital resilience, how school-based interventions address this and the extent to which they are effective. Four databases were searched and 15 interventions meeting the inclusion criteria were identified. Quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, study data were extracted, and behaviour change techniques were coded. Recognition of online risks was taught effectively across most interventions and management of online risks had some coverage which was mostly effective. However, few interventions included the teaching of recovery from online risks, and this was rarely assessed as an outcome measure. Therefore, future interventions and curricula should aim to have a greater focus on digital resilience in its entirety in which children can recognize and manage online risks and go on to recover following exposure to online risks.

Children around ages 5-6 begin valuing social mindfulness, where one leaves a diverse choice for others when selecting an item for themselves. This study investigated how Han Chinese 4- to 9-year-olds and adults may consider protagonists' preference (unknown, preferring the unique, or identical items) in their evaluations of socially mindful actions. Results show that, with age, children increasingly rate leaving a choice as nicer, both when the protagonist's preference is unknown and for the unique item. However, when the protagonist prefers identical items, neither children nor adults differentially evaluate between leaving a choice or not. Additionally, children become increasingly sensitive to the costs associated with preferences when evaluating mindful actions. They increasingly evaluated high-cost actions (sacrificing one's preferred item) most favourably, followed by unknown-cost actions, and low-cost actions (when preference aligns with leaving a choice) least favourably. These findings highlighted children's growing ability to integrate complex understandings of preference and cost into social evaluations.

A cross-sectional study of 106 students (7-12 years) from a rural school in the Brazilian Amazon investigated the interaction among motor, cognitive and environmental factors on school achievement using network analysis. Students with good school performance were significantly older and showed superior global physical fitness, motor coordination (balance and lower limbs) and alternating selective attention. Furthermore, students residing more than 1000 m from the school showed significantly higher overall school achievement. Network analysis identified motor coordination as an important central node for the group with insufficient achievement, suggesting motor interventions can be effective strategies for this population. For high-achieving students, age emerged as the most central variable. The findings underscore that academic success is a complex system, with different central factors depending on the student's performance level.

Acquiring mathematical competence is essential to independent living. In this study, we investigated the mathematics profile in young people with Down syndrome (DS), and the relations between foundational and more complex mathematics skills. The final sample included 33 participants with DS (58% male, 10.2-31.9 years) and a typically developing (TD) group matched on non-verbal mental age (N = 33, 58% male, 4.5-6.5 years). Participants completed mathematics tasks assessing symbolic number, non-symbolic number, arithmetic, reasoning and geometry. We found that performance was similar on measures of reasoning, non-symbolic number skills and geometry; however, people with DS showed a relative weakness in symbolic number skills and a relative strength in arithmetic. Associations between foundational skills and more complex mathematics also differed somewhat between groups. These differences may reflect the ongoing role of non-symbolic skills for mathematics in people with DS and perhaps the use of more complex strategies in typically developing children.

Understanding how adolescents participate in science requires examining the developmental foundations of engagement and identity formation. This theoretical paper introduces the Developmental Engagement Framework, which positions science engagement as the overarching construct, with science identity representing a developmentally advanced subset that emerges when engagement experiences are integrated with self-concept. This framework addresses persistent empirical puzzles in science identity research-including temporal instability and limited predictive validity in adolescent populations-by proposing that these patterns reflect normal neurodevelopmental processes rather than methodological limitations. During early-to-mid adolescence (ages 11-16), when self-referential neural networks remain under development, science participation operates primarily through preference-based engagement-experience-driven participation supported by earlier-maturing reward and habit formation circuits (basal ganglia, striatum). As prefrontal systems mature in late adolescence, some of this engagement becomes integrated with self-concept, emerging as identity-infused engagement. Our framework complements existing identity theories by specifying their neurodevelopmental prerequisites and optimal timing, drawing on identity process theory, neuroscientific evidence on value-based choice and recent findings on daily experience consolidation. We demonstrate that science identity represents a maturational transformation of engagement rather than a separate construct. This perspective has implications for age-appropriate measurement, intervention design and theoretical integration across developmental stages.

Apologies are a fundamental social mechanism for repairing harm and maintaining relationships, yet little is known about how individuals infer the motives behind them. This study examined how 5- to 6-year-old children (N = 64, 48.4% female; all participants were Korean) and adults (N = 132, 52.3% female; all Korean) attribute motives to wrongdoers' apologies, focusing on internal motives (guilt, shame) and external motives (relational concern, avoidance of punishment). Participants were presented with stories in which a wrongdoer caused either intentional harm (intentional-harm condition) or accidental harm (accidental-harm condition), apologized to the victim and then rated why the wrongdoer apologized based on four possible motives. Children primarily attributed relational concern to apologizers, viewing apologies as behaviours aimed at maintaining social relationships. They endorsed both relational concern and punishment avoidance more strongly for apologies following intentional rather than accidental harm. Adults endorsed a broader range of motives, most strongly attributing guilt to apologizers. Their responses varied by harm intentionality, showing stronger attributions of guilt for accidental harm and stronger attributions of punishment avoidance for intentional harm. These findings reveal developmental and contextual differences in how individuals understand the motives underlying apologies.

Social role and goal congruity theories propose that occupation gender stereotypes and goal affordances affect career interests. These assumptions were tested by examining adolescents' preferred career interests and their interest in highly gender-stereotyped occupations (HGSOs) in which their gender is also a minority (gender stereotype incongruent). U.S. students aged 12-17 years in 8th and 9th grades (N = 879; 46.5% boys) completed an online survey assessing the gender stereotype and career goals of their preferred future occupation using established rating scales (Barth et al., 2018; Barth & Yang, 2022). Students also reported the gender stereotypes and goal affordances of four HGSOs (Education, Healthcare, Engineering, Construction). Although most adolescents' preferred careers were highly gender stereotyped, their perceptions were more gender neutral. Consistent with goal congruity theory, high-earning or societally beneficial careers were of greatest interest to girls and boys, respectively. But girls rated power/status more importantly than boys. Interest in gender stereotype incongruent occupations was associated with higher ratings on all goals. Gender stereotypes for these occupations were associated with boys' interest in education and girls' interest in engineering. Findings supported and challenged social role and goal congruity theories, suggesting the need to reconsider adolescents' perceptions of gender and stereotypes.