To address the need for interventions targeting social emotional development and mental health of young children in South Africa, the Mazi Umntanakho (‘know your child’) digital tool was co-designed, and piloted with caregivers and 3–5 year-old children involved in home visiting programmes promoting early childhood development. The aim of this study was to qualitatively evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of this tool in four urban and four rural low-income communities, from the perspective of home visitors and caregivers. Focus groups were conducted with home visitors (n=117) and caregivers (n=72). Issues relating to the feasibility of implementing the tool included timing of using the tool, technical and social implementation challenges, WhatsApp as the preferred platform, and participants’ recommendations for future implementation. Overall, the tool was acceptable for home visitors and caregivers, and was perceived to have a positive impact on children’s development, and the relationship between caregivers and children.

The current study examined the inter-brain coherence (IBC) between 34 dyads of fathers and infants 7-9 months of age using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We specifically focused on father-infant IBC to broaden the empirical base beyond the mother-infant connections, as the former has received limited attention. There were three conditions: a baseline condition, and two task conditions when the infant and the adult participant jointly listened to maternal storytelling in Cantonese in infant-directed speech (IDS) and adult-directed speech (ADS). Father-infant IBC was compared with stranger-infant IBC in the same experimental settings. Our results found that father-infant IBC was greater in the baseline and ADS conditions but not in the IDS condition, compared to stranger-infant IBC. Further, stranger-infant dyads showed greater IBC in the IDS condition than in the ADS condition, with no significance in father-infant IBC between the two speech conditions. These results identified different IBC mechanisms between the two dyads. The IBC pattern in stranger-infant dyads is driven by neural entrainment to mothers’ speech, whereas father-infant IBC is more resistant to mothers’ behaviors in the co-presence of both parents.

In a sample 110 Mexican origin infants (M = 7.24; SD = 2.06; range, 3.78 - 13.04) we examine the bidirectional covariation of mother and infant positive and negative affect across the day. Further, we examine maternal emotion regulation as a potential moderator of the linkage between mother-infant affect, and infant-mother affect. Using an Ecological Momentary Assessment design, mothers reported on their positive and negative affect three times a day, for six days. Analyses employed a multi-level modeling approach to examine moment-to-moment covariation. Results indicated both mother and infant negative affect, and mother and infant positive affect to significantly covary. Interestingly, maternal emotional regulation did not moderate either the covariation of negative or positive mother-infant affect. These analyses represent one of the first examinations of daily covariation in mother-infant dyadic affect.

As a development-enhancing or a risk-promoting environment, coparenting may shape the association between maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and infant regulatory capacity. This study aimed to analyze the moderator role of positive and negative coparenting in the association between maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and infant regulatory capacity at 3 months. A sample of 103 primiparous couples (N = 206 parents) was recruited at the 1st trimester of pregnancy. Mothers reported on depressive symptoms at the 1st trimester of pregnancy, and both parents reported on depressive symptoms, coparenting, and infant regulatory capacity at 2 weeks and 3 months postpartum. Higher levels of maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and higher levels of maternal and paternal reports of negative coparenting at 2 weeks postpartum were associated with lower infant regulatory capacity at 3 months. Negative coparenting at 2 weeks postpartum accentuated the association between maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and infant regulatory capacity at 3 months. The results support a view of negative coparenting as a risk-promoting environment that can accentuate the association between maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and infant regulatory capacity. Infants in families with mothers with elevated prenatal depressive symptoms and with high levels of negative coparenting may be at high risk of low regulatory capacity.

This study addresses the assessment of metacognitive monitoring in Turkish preschool children, a critical aspect of their learning and development. A specialized paired-association task was designed to create an assessment tool targeting higher-order thinking skills in this demographic. Out of 190 participants aged 48 to 66 months, gathered from three preschools in Ankara, Turkey, the data analysis centered on 160 children, excluding those with missing or incomplete responses. The Metacognitive Thinking Test’s Judgment Part (Jp) underwent factor analysis, revealing a two-factor structure with 14 items demonstrating memory-confidence alignment. Notably, children tended to overestimate inaccurate recollections, aligning with the Dunning-Kruger effect. Despite limitations, the study offers valuable insights, shedding light on the intricate relationship between confidence and correctness in metacognitive development among young learners. This research lays the groundwork for future investigations in this domain.

Perspective taking and cognitive flexibility are important abilities for navigating our everyday lives. In this longitudinal study with 108 children (61 girls, mostly White), we investigated the developmental relation between Level 1 perspective taking at 27 months of age and Level 2 perspective taking at 52 months of age as well as relations to cognitive flexibility at 52 months of age. We found that early perspective taking was significantly related to later, more complex perspective taking abilities as well as to cognitive flexibility. This highlights the importance of early perspective taking abilities for later perspective understanding and flexible cognition.

This study investigated the potential influences of administration context on the measurement of child skills over time. The BOSCC was administered to preschool-aged children with autism at two time points at school by trained research staff and at home by the parent. Children showed improvements across all subscales and the total score over time. The Social-communication and Core total scores yield similar information in both contexts, but Restricted and Repetitive Behavior and Other Abnormal Behavior subscales scores were not related. Further, subscale and total scores are correlated between contexts at individual time points but not over time. These results underscore the importance of purposeful selection of measures and their administration context.

The home environment is one of the most proximal and impactful settings for young children. Little research has examined the nature of variability in the home environment for children from low-income homes, even as more recent work suggests heterogeneity within economically disadvantaged households. Using a subsample from a larger, longitudinal study, we examined the extent to which differential profiles of the home environment of infants from low-income backgrounds could be identified. A latent profile analysis (LPA) suggested three profiles of the home environment: low home environment, average home environment, and high involvement. These three groups did not differ on family characteristics such as parental education, income, or marital status but did differ with respect to maternal stress and material support. Specifically, maternal stress and material support were lower in the group with high involvement.

Prior studies found hand preference trajectories predict preschool language outcomes. However, this approach has been limited to examining bimanual manipulation in toddlers. It is not known whether hand preference during infancy for acquiring objects (i.e., reach-to-grasp) similarly predicts childhood language ability. The current study explored this motor-language developmental cascade in 90 children. Hand preference for acquiring objects was assessed monthly from 6 to 14 months and language skill was assessed at 5 years. Latent class growth analysis identified three infant hand preference classes: left, early right, and late right. Infant hand preference classes predicted 5-year language skills. Children in the left and early right classes, who were categorized as having a consistent hand preference, had higher expressive and receptive language scores relative to children in the inconsistent late right class. Consistent classes did not differ from each other on language outcomes. Infant hand preference patterns explained more variance for expressive and receptive language relative to previously reported toddler hand preference patterns, above and beyond socioeconomic status (SES). Results suggest that hand preference, measured at different time points across development using a trajectory approach, is reliably linked to later language.

Children fast-map new words to their referents early on but do not show robust retention until much later. This paper examines whether children’s interest in a natural category relates to retention of newly learned words in that category. German-speaking 24-month-olds and 38-month-olds (n = 88, 41 female) were trained on novel word-object-associations from different categories. Pupillary arousal and parental reports served as indices of interest in the objects and categories presented. Recognition and retention were tested directly after exposure, five minutes later, and 24 hours later. Both younger and older children showed successful word-object recognition and retention. Furthermore, interest in the category modulates young children’s recognition and retention of newly learned word-object associations from semantic categories across ages.

The development of emotional competence is an important milestone during early childhood. Beyond early experience within the family, the (preschool) classroom is a relevant socialization context, and both teachers and peers may contribute to children’s emotion-related outcomes. Tracking changes in the emotion regulation competence of N = 173 preschool children (age in months: M = 43.3, SD = 6.6, 45% girls) over 6 months, the current study investigated whether and how peers contribute to differences in the development of emotion regulation in preschool classrooms. The research questions were addressed by examining three different kinds of peer groups: Classroom-level peer group, friendship group, and high-status peers. Teachers rated children’s emotion regulation competence and empathic co-regulation behavior at three assessment points. Multilevel growth modeling provided evidence that friendship-group empathic co-regulation (empathy, helping, and comforting behavior) predicted changes in preschoolers’ emotion regulation over time, confirming that friendship groups influence young children’s emotional development.

Increasingly, researchers have operationalized AAI derived attachment representations as reflecting individual differences in secure base script knowledge (AAIsbs)—the degree to which individuals show awareness of the temporal-causal schema that summarizes the basic features of seeking and receiving effective support from caregivers when in distress. In a series of pre-registered analyses, we used AAI transcripts recently re-coded for AAIsbs and leveraged a new follow-up assessment of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development cohort around age 30 years (479 currently partnered participants) to assess and compare the links between AAIsbs and traditional AAI coding measures in late adolescence and self-reported romantic relationship quality in adulthood. Higher AAIsbs predicted better dyadic adjustment scores in adulthood, above and beyond other AAI-derived coding measures, and sociodemographic and cognitive functioning covariates. Findings extend previous evidence pointing to the predictive significance of AAIsbs for multiple adult functioning domains.

Generic descriptions (e.g., “girls are emotional”) are argued to play a major role in the development of essentialist reasoning about social categories (Rhodes et al., 2018). However, studies have been conducted dominantly in English-speaking communities and among Western samples. This is a significant limitation given that a number of theories focus on the linguistic form of generic statements and distinguish between form and content in leading to essentialism. In this study, we plan to extend the research on generics and social essentialism beyond English-speaking, Western samples. We aim to explore how generic statements with different content (biological or cultural) about a novel social category may lead to essentialist beliefs among children and adults in Iran, a Persian-speaking community that is underrepresented in the literature. Using a design similar to Noyes & Keil (2020), we plan to expose 4 to 9-year-old children (N = 104) and adults (N = 104) to generic or specific statements (between subjects) ascribing biological or cultural features to a novel social category. We will measure the degree to which exposure to these statements leads to essentialist reasoning in terms of inheritability and “kindhood”. This work contributes to diversifying the field and informs theories of social essentialism.

We know little about the relationships that matter to emerging adults. This preregistered report elaborates our plan to survey 200 emerging adults (approximately half male) to better understand the role of significant others. First, we plan to ask emerging adults to list individuals who matter and we will code the open-ended text for relationship type. Second, we will use an adapted version of Schneck’s (2009) Mattering Scale to assess mattering among five common close relationships (i.e., mother figure, father figure, partner, best friend, sibling). We predict that mattering of partner and best friend will be highest, mothers will matter more than fathers, and siblings will matter least. We hypothesize failing to mention a relationship in the open-ended portion will be related to lower mattering of that relationship. Finally, we anticipate better well being and less loneliness when the list of those who matter is longer and when significant others matter more.

Temperament is one of the factors that explain individual differences in child cognition, and it is usually measured through parental reports. Few studies showed that temperament reports varied depending on whether the reporter is a parent or a teacher, but a quite unexplored question is how each report predicts child cognition. This study analyzes how temperament reports from parents and teachers, predict the performance in a fluid intelligence task in 87 Argentinean children aged 4-5 years from medium-to-low socioeconomic status. Children were administered the Matrix subtest of KABC-II, and their temperament was evaluated with the CBQ Very Short Form, administered to parents and also to teachers. We will run one multilevel mixed-effects linear regression for CBQ dimensions, including teacher report of child temperament as the first level of nesting, and parental report of child temperament as the second level; the Matrix subtest’s total score will be the dependent variable.