British Journal of Developmental Psychology最新文献

The goal of the present study was to investigate the trajectories of problematic smartphone use among adolescents and its predictors, including self-regulation, fear of missing out (FoMO), depression, and anxiety among Canadian adolescents. A total of 2549 participants (1025 girls; M_age = 14.10 years, SD = 0.96 years) from grades 8 to 12 in Southern British Columbia, Canada, took part in the study. Self-reported problematic smartphone use was collected annually over 4 years. At Time 1, adolescents provided self-reports on self-regulation, depression, anxiety, and FoMO. Growth mixture modelling was used to examine the trajectories of problematic smartphone use. The results revealed three distinct trajectories: low-increasing-decreasing (35.5%), moderate-increasing (60.9%), and high-stable (3.6%). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that higher FoMO and depression were significant predictors of membership in the high-stable problematic smartphone use group, while better self-regulation predicted lower problematic smartphone use. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of problematic smartphone use and the importance of self-regulation and mental health in understanding problematic smartphone use trajectories among Canadian adolescents.

Inequalities in children's cognitive and socioemotional skills emerge early and persist throughout childhood. This study examines how multiple dimensions of children's developmental contexts, including demographic, socioeconomic and family circumstances, predict age 3 outcomes using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2012–2022). In a cross-sectional sample of 5700 three-year-olds and their families, results showed that child health, the home learning environment, turning 3 during Covid-19, child ethnicity, parent education and financial strain in the home significantly predicted early outcomes in communication, daily living, socialization and motor skills. Although income-related eligibility for early years pupil premium did not predict early outcomes, this may reflect the inadequacies of this indicator for capturing all families facing financial difficulties. There was also an increasing gap in early outcomes as children experienced more indicators related to disadvantage, relative to children with no indicators. Overall, this study highlights the importance of a multidimensional approach for understanding and reducing early educational inequalities.

Spatial skills are essential cognitive abilities that develop during middle childhood and play a crucial role in solving STEM problems. In this relation, however, important aspects of problem-solving performance remain underexplored. Consequently, this study investigated whether spatial skills contribute to solution quality and parsimony in problem-solving. The sample comprised 478 six- to eight-year-olds (219 female) who completed mental rotation, visuospatial memory and gear-based problem-solving tasks. In both problem-solving tasks, spatial skills were associated with solution quality (β = .27** or .39**, respectively) and partially with the number of operations (β = −.06 or −.16*), indicating higher parsimony. Age was significantly linked to spatial skills and partially to parsimony but not to solution quality. These findings highlight the importance of spatial skills for different aspects of children's STEM-related problem-solving.

This study investigated youths' reasoning about personal autonomy and maternal authority in hypothetical emerging adult child–mother conflicts in Türkiye. High school and university students (N = 138, M_age = 19.72 years) from secular and religious schools completed a self-report questionnaire including eight conflict scenarios where the mother opposes her child's decision to marry a non-Muslim or get a tattoo. Maternal opposition in hypothetical scenarios was presented in the forms of maternal advice and maternal use of haram opposition. Haram opposition implies the declaration of maternal accrued rights (a concept deeply rooted in Turkish culture) as haram. The results showed that participants were more likely to subordinate child autonomy to maternal authority when the mother in hypothetical scenarios was depicted as using haram opposition. Authoritative parenting appeared to strengthen this effect. This study has shown that haram opposition is a psychological control mechanism to subordinate child autonomy to maternal authority.

Humans' ability to recognize the future utility of a solution is fundamental to our capacity for innovation. It motivates us to—for instance—retain and share useful tools, transforming one-time solutions into innovations that change the future. However, developmental research on innovation has thus far primarily focused on children's capacity to create solutions, rather than recognition of their future utility. Here we examined children's tendency to retain and share a solution that would be useful again at a later point. Across two rooms, 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 83, M = 83.59 months, SD = 21.21 months, 43 girls) were given a series of time-limited tasks which could be solved by building and using a tool. When given the opportunity to transport a tool between the first and second rooms, children from age 6 onwards took the tool that would be useful again above chance levels. When subsequently asked to secure a solution for another child, only 8- to 9-year-olds chose this tool above chance. Positive age-partialled correlations between children's retaining and sharing suggest that these behaviours may reflect a common underlying capacity for recognizing future utility.

Two studies explore how 4–8-year-old children develop an understanding of aha-experiences. Study 1 used a scenario approach to investigate children's understanding of the impact that having an insight has on affect. Children (N = 125) rated affect of a story character at different timepoints in problem-solving scenarios with and without aha-moments. Study 2 presented children (N = 167) with a story character displaying an aha response and two different stories of problem solving that may have led to the response. Results show that from age 4, children associate aha-experiences with positive affect. However, age differences were observed for triggers of aha-experiences. While 4-5-year-olds attributed aha-experiences to external triggers (the solution), 7–8-year-olds attributed them to mental triggers (a new insight). These findings indicate that children's understanding of aha-experiences develops over time, which aligns with theories of emotional development and theory of mind.

This study profiled the association between social–emotional competencies, psychological well-being (PWB), and secondary/middle school transition. Analysis drew from 233 sixth-class/sixth-grade students aged 11–13 years who completed measures of emotion regulation, perceived social support, self-esteem, and PWB at baseline and 1-month follow-up in primary school, and at 6-month follow-up post-secondary school transition. COVID-19 school closures, school socioeconomic status and gender were examined as moderators. Repeated-measures multi-level models revealed a significant decline in boys' emotional suppression use, an increase in boys' self-esteem, and a decline in girls' PWB across the transition. Further, perceived social support, self-esteem, and gender were significant predictors of post-transition PWB while controlling for baseline PWB. This highlights the importance of enhancing social support and self-esteem across secondary school transition and considering gender differences in school transition effects. Policymakers should consider interventions that bolster these factors during this critical developmental phase.

The current study aims to investigate the effect of familism on successful ageing (SA) across generations and to observe the feedback loop between intergenerational transitions of SA. The final sample for the study comprised 810 participants (270 grandparents, 270 fathers, and 270 grandchildren). Families having grandchildren less than 18 years and fathers working in other cities or countries were excluded from the study. Informed consent was taken from all the families before the distribution of questionnaires. Along with demographics, data were collected on the Attitudinal Familism Scale and the Successful Ageing Scale from all participants. Results indicated that the SA of grandparents predicted their own familism, leading to fathers' familism and SA. Fathers' familism further predicted their own SA and grandchildren's familism. Both fathers' SA and grandchildren's familism further predicted SA in grandchildren, leading to the SA of grandparents. The cyclic nature of the transition of SA through familism among three generations is tested by investigating the feedback loop and indirect effects estimated. Grandparents' SA through their familism directly and indirectly affect father's SA through their respective familial values, which are further reflected in the SA of grandparents.

The current longitudinal study aimed to examine two forms of parental mentalization, parenting reflectivity and mind-mindedness, as predictors of children's attachment security and social–emotional development at 2 years old. Participants included 88 racially and socioeconomically diverse women and their toddlers. Results showed prenatal parenting reflectivity significantly predicted toddler attachment security. Mothers' use of appropriate mind-related comments did not significantly predict toddler attachment security, social–emotional competence or social–emotional problems cross-sectionally above and beyond prenatal or 2-year parenting reflectivity. A mediation analysis, however, revealed an indirect relationship between prenatal parenting reflectivity and toddler attachment security via appropriate mind-related comments. The results of the present study indicate that early parenting reflectivity may serve as an important predictor of later attachment security and social–emotional development and that prenatal parenting reflectivity may serve as a precursor to parents' use of mind-minded comments with their children.