Journal of Genetic Psychology最新文献

We tested the mediating effect of the home environment on the link between maternal education level and Chinese primary school children's Language/Literacy and Math test scores and their growth trajectories. Survey data on maternal education and 11 locally meaningful home environment variables (e.g. number of children's books, number of extracurricular activities, childcare) were collected from 231 mothers whose children attended the same school. District-wide test scores at the end of the first semester of the first grade (Time 1), the first (Time 2) and the second semester of the second grade (Time 3) were obtained from the school. Controlling for the child's sex, the father's education level and maternal occupational prestige, structural equation modeling showed that the number of books at home mediated the link between maternal education level and the children's Language/Literacy scores at Times 1, 2 and 3 and the children's Math score at Time 3. The number of extracurricular activities mediated the link between maternal education and the children's Language/Literacy and Math scores at Time 1. The number of children in the household mediated the link between maternal education and Math score at Time 3. Furthermore, for both subjects, growth mixture modeling on the children's test scores across the three times identified two latent classes with different growth parameters. Mediation analysis showed that for Math scores, the number of children in the household mediated the link between maternal education and the latent class membership, but for Language/Literacy scores, none of the home environment variables was significant.

Research on the school experiences of children with same-gender parents has been conducted through parents', teachers', and educators' narratives, while children's perspectives are still unexplored in the LGBTQ+ field. The present study explores the quality of school experience in 36 children (6-12 years; M_age = 8.98; SD_age = 2.23) of 30 lesbian mothers (19 boys and 17 girls) born through assisted reproductive techniques. We used the specific section of the Friends and Family Interview regarding children's school experience (school experience section) that provides a measure of a child's school competence in terms of excitement and confidence in schoolwork, relationships with peers and teachers in the school context, and the child's engagement in school. Children describe school environments as contexts where they feel welcomed without episodes of discrimination or homophobic bullying from their peers. We performed a reflexive thematic analysis regarding the answers related to their relationships with their favorite teacher(s). The children suggest feelings of security and acceptance from teachers and report positive relationships with them declined into four different themes: (1) funny teacher and positive school climate; (2) kindness and patience; (3) engaging with 'unconventional activities'; and (4) protective and normative behaviors. The present study underlines the relevance of inclusive curricula, anti-bullying policies, and safe school practices regarding same-gender parent families. Moreover, teachers must be attuned to children's school experiences with same-gender parents and cultivate caring classroom environments.

Moral identity predicts moral decision-making and behavior. Moral identity goal theory claims that moral identity becomes more abstract with age. A concrete construal of moral identity refers to thinking of temporally more recent context specific moral actions, whereas an abstract construal of moral identity encompasses temporally more distant and generalized moral values. Construal level has been shown to be related to decision-making in a variety of areas (e.g. health) including the moral domain. In this study, we collected data from 246 early adolescents (M_age =13.32, 123 females) and 250 young adult university students (M_age =19.94, 181 females) about moral identity and decision-making in hypothetical scenarios. We found that moral identity was more abstract in the older age group. Moreover, moral identity abstraction predicted the prioritization of moral concerns over conflicting self-interest as well as greater consistency in moral decision-making across situations. The findings provide empirical support for moral identity abstraction as an important aspect of moral identity development.

This research used three sequential experiments to examine how peer social relationships (classroom belongingness and intimacy level), relative age (one-year-younger, same-age, one-year-older), and resource acquisition method (effort-based, random) influence high-cost sharing among Chinese children aged 4 to 6. Study 1 (N = 256, 128 boys) served as a foundational study, testing how classroom belongingness (same class, different class) and intimacy (high, low) in peer presence affect high-cost sharing. Results showed that 4- to 5-year-olds were more likely to share with high-intimacy peers, while 5- to 6-year-olds were more sensitive to same-class peers, suggesting a developmental shift toward classroom identity. Building on these findings, study 2 (N = 96, 48 boys) examined 5- to 6-year-olds in mixed-age classes, controlling for high familiarity and same-class peer presence. The presence of one-year-older peers significantly increased sharing, revealing a hierarchical age effect. Study 3 (N = 128, 64 boys) further examined the interaction between resource acquisition method and relative age. Effort-based acquisition reduced sharing, but one-year-older peer presence mitigated this effect. Findings indicate a developmental transition from intimacy driven sharing in younger children (4- to 5-year-olds) to classroom belongingness and relative age sensitive sharing in older children (5- to 6-year-olds), and show that the interaction between relative age and shared resource acquisition method critically shapes high cost sharing behavior in this age range.

Parental personality is a key determinant of parenting behaviors. Prior research has identified associations between parental identity dimensions (i.e., commitment, in-depth exploration, reconsideration of commitment) and both personality traits and parenting practices. However, the role of personality functioning in these relations remains underexplored, particularly from a dimensional perspective. The present cross-sectional study examined the impact of impairments in self (i.e., identity, self-direction) and interpersonal (i.e. empathy, intimacy) personality functioning on parenting behaviors, exploring the mediating role of parental identity in a community sample of 937 cisgender heterosexual parents (M_age = 41.80, SD = 7.48; 80.26% mothers) with children mean aged 9.16 years (SD = 5.22; 50.59% assigned female at birth). Structural equation modeling indicated that impairments in interpersonal functioning were directly associated with higher levels of parental rejection. Significant indirect effects also emerged: greater impairments in both self- and interpersonal functioning were linked to increased parental rejection via lower in-depth exploration and higher reconsideration of commitment. Additionally, self-functioning impairments were indirectly associated with greater parental rejection through reduced commitment. These findings underscore the mediating role of parental identity in the association between personality functioning and parenting, highlighting parental identity as a critical target for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at promoting healthier parent-child relationships.

The arrival of COVID-19 came along with the requirement of wearing protective gear, like facial masks, which potentially affects the recognition of facial expressions in others. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of a facial feature obstruction on emotional facial expression recognition of the six basic emotions in children aged 5 and 10 years old. Children were presented 24 stimuli within two different conditions: the full face and only the eyes visible. While both age groups were similarly affected by reduced facial information, differences emerged depending on the emotion: 5-year-olds struggled more with recognizing happiness from just the eyes, whereas 10-year-olds had more difficulty with anger. Nevertheless, both age groups had a significant reduction in accuracy for most emotions (4 out 6). Common confusions, such as mistaking fear for surprise or disgust for anger, might have contributed to the variations in results from previous studies.

This study evaluated whether children's emotional display rule behavior and gender moderated associations between mothers' affective balance and preschoolers' (46 boys, 44 girls) social initiations and prosocial behavior, which were assessed using semi-naturalistic observational methods. Seventy-three of the dyads were White and 17 were Asian. The association between mothers' affective balance and prosocial behavior was positive for children high in emotional display rule behavior and negative for children who were low in this behavior. Associations between mothers' affective balance and social initiations and prosocial behavior were negative, but only for boys. In contrast, the relation between mothers' affective balance and prosocial behavior was positive for girls. Findings can inform parent and child-focused interventions targeting parental socialization of emotion and its role in young children's peer competence.

Parents' emotion-related beliefs are widely recognized as key precursors to their emotion socialization practices, which, in turn, influence children's social-emotional development. However, few studies have explored the role of parents' general emotion beliefs in shaping their emotion socialization beliefs and practices. The present study aimed to 1) validate the Emotion Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ), a measure assessing individuals' general beliefs about emotions, in Chinese culture, and 2) examine whether parents' general emotion beliefs would relate to how they support children's emotion regulation, with their beliefs about children's emotions acting as a mediator in between. Data were collected from 1,069 fathers and 1,495 mothers of preschool children in China. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor structure of the EBQ in the Chinese context. Measurement invariance was established across parent gender. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that parents' general beliefs about the controllability of emotions were negatively related to their beliefs about children's abilities to control emotions. Furthermore, parents' beliefs about the usefulness of positive (negative) emotions were positively related to their beliefs about the value of children's positive (negative) emotions. Parents' beliefs about children's emotions were further associated with their support for children's use of adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. These findings have demonstrated the applicability of the EBQ in Chinese culture and underscored the critical role of parents' general emotion beliefs in parental emotion socialization.

Recognizing the limitations of mirror self-recognition as a measure of self development, we use a multidimensional caregiver report measure known as the self-concept questionnaire (SCQ), consisting of four different factors (self-description/evaluation, self-recognition, emotional response to wrongdoing and autonomy) to replicate the previously identified developmental correlates of objective self-awareness for 199 14- to 54-month-old children. Primary caregivers were recruited via an online research platform to answer a survey regarding the development of their child, including the SCQ, and standardized measures of attachment, cognitive development, and social behavior. Correlation and linear regression analyses demonstrated that the established cognitive and social predictors of mirror self-recognition are also related to wider aspects of self-awareness, as measured by the SCQ. Older infants, with strong attachment bonds who placed greater demands on their caregiver and engaged in more pretend play, imitation, self-regulation, and prosociality were likely to have a more developed sense of self. These factors accounted for over 60% of the variance in overall SCQ scores, with pretend play, prosociality, and relational demands making independently significant contributions to the model. To determine causality, we suggest that future observational studies broaden their understanding of the development of the self beyond the mirror mark test of self-awareness and focus on the longitudinal mapping of the social and cognitive process of self-other-differentiation.