Developmental Psychology

Publications in this journal

• Article: Longitudinal Associations Between Adolescent Perceived Degree and Style of Parental Prohibition and Internalization and Defiance.

  Maarten Vansteenkiste, Bart Soenens, Stijn Van Petegem, Bart Duriez
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  ABSTRACT: This study examined associations between perceived degree and style of parental prohibition and adolescents' internalization of and oppositional defiance against parental rules in the friendship and moral domain. Relations were investigated in 2 longitudinal adolescent samples (total N = 532). Results indicated that perceived style but not degree of prohibition related to overtime changes in internalization and oppositional defiance. Specifically, in line with self-determination theory, autonomy-supportive and controlling styles of prohibiting were found to relate differentially to quality of internalization and oppositional defiance. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that several of these associations were reciprocal. The discussion focuses on the critical role of perceived parental style for communicating prohibitions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 05/2013;
• Article: Preference for Point-Light Human Biological Motion in Newborns: Contribution of Translational Displacement.

  Christel Bidet-Ildei, Elenitsa Kitromilides, Jean-Pierre Orliaguet, Marina Pavlova, Edouard Gentaz
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  ABSTRACT: In human newborns, spontaneous visual preference for biological motion is reported to occur at birth, but the factors underpinning this preference are still in debate. Using a standard visual preferential looking paradigm, 4 experiments were carried out in 3-day-old human newborns to assess the influence of translational displacement on perception of human locomotion. Experiment 1 shows that human newborns prefer a point-light walker display representing human locomotion as if on a treadmill over random motion. However, no preference for biological movement is observed in Experiment 2 when both biological and random motion displays are presented with translational displacement. Experiments 3 and 4 show that newborns exhibit preference for translated biological motion (Experiment 3) and random motion (Experiment 4) displays over the same configurations moving without translation. These findings reveal that human newborns have a preference for the translational component of movement independently of the presence of biological kinematics. The outcome suggests that translation constitutes the first step in development of visual preference for biological motion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 05/2013;
• Article: Enhancing Peer Cultures of Academic Effort and Achievement in Early Adolescence: Promotive Effects of the SEALS Intervention.

  Jill V Hamm, Thomas W Farmer, Kerrylin Lambert, Maggie Gravelle
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  ABSTRACT: Peer cultures of effort and achievement influence early adolescents' academic adjustment. A randomized controlled trials design was used to test the extent to which aspects of peer cultures of effort and achievement were enhanced following teachers' participation in the Supporting Early Adolescents' Learning and Social Success (SEALS) intervention. Observational and survey data from teachers (N = 188) and survey data from 6th-graders (N = 2,453) in 36 rural schools across the United States were analyzed. Results indicated that in SEALS versus matched control schools, social prominence was more favorably associated with effort and school valuing, and peer group injunctive norms were more supportive of effort and achievement. Findings indicate that aspects of peer cultures respond to the school context and provide evidence of the efficacy of the SEALS model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 05/2013;
• Article: Deciding in the Dark: Age Differences in Intuitive Risk Judgment.

  Elizabeth P Shulman, Elizabeth Cauffman
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  ABSTRACT: Elevated levels of risky behavior in adolescence may signal developmental change in unconscious appraisal of risk. Yet, prior research examining adolescent risk judgment has used tasks that elicit conscious deliberation. The present study, in contrast, attempts to characterize age differences in (less conscious) intuitive impressions of risk. Participants (N = 282; ages 10-30) were presented with depictions of a range of risky and nonrisky activities. They were given 2.5 s to rate each activity on a continuous scale ranging from "bad idea" (low-risk favorability) to "good idea" (high-risk favorability). A curvilinear pattern was found, such that favorability ratings increased across adolescence and peaked around age 20. These results pose a challenge to developmental models that view early adolescence as the period of greatest predisposition toward risk taking; however, they are fairly consistent with age patterns for actual risk taking, at least with respect to crime, binge drinking, and unwanted pregnancy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 05/2013;
• Article: Developmental Changes in Motor Control: Insights From Bimanual Coordination.

  Deborah J Serrien, Michiel M Sovijärvi-Spapé, Gita Rana
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  ABSTRACT: Manual dexterity is known to gradually progress with developmental age. In this study, we evaluate the performance of unimanual and bimanual actions under perturbed and unperturbed conditions in children between 4 and 10 years of age. Behavior was assessed by means of trajectory measurements and degree of bimanual coupling. The results showed that the younger children performed less successfully than the older children in the unimanual and bimanual tasks, with a plateau occurring around the age of 8 years. The SWAN rating scale of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity correlated with bimanual behavior at this particular age, suggesting that these traits are predictors of intricate skill performance during a critical developmental phase when significant refinement of control mechanisms occurs. The data furthermore revealed that a rebalancing of the between-hand performance asymmetries enabled superior bimanual coordination patterns in the older children. This suggests that progress in bimanual behavior relies on essential changes in unimanual processing and points to a dynamic interplay of circuitry. Overall, the data highlight a progressive change and integration of control systems due to developmental age with behavioral performance being guided by the existing constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 05/2013;
• Article: Moral Complexity in Middle Childhood: Children's Evaluations of Necessary Harm.

  Marc Jambon, Judith G Smetana
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  ABSTRACT: We assessed 5- to 11-year-olds' (N = 76) judgments of straightforward moral transgressions (prototypical harm) as well as their evaluations of complex, hypothetical scenarios in which an actor transgresses in order to prevent injury (necessary harm). The nature of the actor's transgression (psychological or physical harm) varied across participants. Moral judgments and justifications, knowledge of the actor's psychological experience, and their associations were examined. At all ages, children negatively evaluated prototypical harm; judgments of necessary harm became increasingly more forgiving with age as justifications pertaining to the actor's harm decreased. References to the actor's positive actions and children's tendency to coordinate conflicting concerns increased with age, but only when evaluating psychological harm. Across conditions, older children viewed transgressors as holding increasingly more positive attitudes toward their own actions, and this was uniquely associated with more forgiving moral judgments and justifications of necessary but not prototypical harm. Findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of more flexible and nuanced moral evaluations during middle childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 05/2013;
• Article: Parental Depressive Symptoms and Marital Intimacy at 4.5 Years: Joint Contributions to Mother-Child and Father-Child Interaction at 6.5 Years.

  Jennifer M Engle, Nancy L McElwain
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  ABSTRACT: Using data from a subset of 606 families who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we assessed emotional intimacy in the marriage as a buffer of the negative effects of parental depression on the quality of parent-child interaction. Maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and perceptions of emotional intimacy in the marriage were assessed via self-reports when children were 4.5 years old, and parental sensitive scaffolding and child task orientation were observed during mother-child and father-child interaction tasks at 4.5 years and again at 6.5 years. Path analyses indicated that marital intimacy moderated the longitudinal association between parental depressive symptoms and parent-child interaction, controlling for parent or child behavior at 4.5 years. The pattern of this interaction, however, differed for mothers and fathers. Paternal depressive symptoms predicted less child task orientation with fathers when marital intimacy was low and more child task orientation when marital intimacy was high. In contrast, maternal depressive symptoms predicted less sensitive scaffolding by mothers and less child task orientation with mothers when mothers reported moderate to high levels of marital intimacy. Results are discussed with respect to the buffering role of marital intimacy for children of depressed fathers and compensatory processes that may unfold for depressed mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Shared and Unique Genetic and Environmental Influences on Aging-Related Changes in Multiple Cognitive Abilities.

  Elliot M Tucker-Drob, Chandra A Reynolds, Deborah Finkel, Nancy L Pedersen
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  ABSTRACT: Aging-related declines occur in many different domains of cognitive function during middle and late adulthood. However, whether a global dimension underlies individual differences in changes in different domains of cognition and whether global genetic influences on cognitive changes exist is less clear. We addressed these issues by applying multivariate growth curve models to longitudinal data from 857 individuals from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging, who had been measured on 11 cognitive variables representative of verbal, spatial, memory, and processing speed abilities up to 5 times over up to 16 years between ages 50 and 96 years. Between ages 50 and 65 years scores on different tests changed relatively independently of one another, and there was little evidence for strong underlying dimensions of change. In contrast, over the period between 65 and 96 years of age, there were strong interrelations among rates of change both within and across domains. During this age period, variability in rates of change were, on average, 52% domain-general, 8% domain-specific, and 39% test-specific. Quantitative genetic decomposition indicated that 29% of individual differences in a global domain-general dimension of cognitive changes during this age period were attributable to genetic influences, but some domain-specific genetic influences were also evident, even after accounting for domain-general contributions. These findings are consistent with a balanced global and domain-specific account of the genetics of cognitive aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Goal Certainty Modulates Infants' Goal-Directed Gaze Shifts.

  Ivanina Henrichs, Claudia Elsner, Birgit Elsner, Nick Wilkinson, Gustaf Gredebäck
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  ABSTRACT: We investigated whether 12-month-old infants rely on information about the certainty of goal selection in order to predict observed reaching actions. Infants' goal-directed gaze shifts were recorded as they observed action sequences in a multiple-goals design. We found that 12-month-old infants exhibited gaze shifts significantly earlier when the observed hand reached for the same goal object in all trials (frequent condition) compared with when the observed hand reached for different goal objects across trials (nonfrequent condition). Infants in the frequent condition were significantly more accurate at predicting the action goal than infants in the nonfrequent condition. In addition, findings revealed rapid learning in the case of certainty and no learning in the case of uncertainty of goal selection over the course of trials. Together, our data indicate that by the end of their first year of life, infants rely on information about the certainty of goal selection to make inferences about others' action goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Intraindividual Variability Is a Fundamental Phenomenon of Aging: Evidence From an 8-Year Longitudinal Study Across Young, Middle, and Older Adulthood.

  Allison A M Bielak, Nicolas Cherbuin, David Bunce, Kaarin J Anstey
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  ABSTRACT: Moment-to-moment intraindividual variability (IIV) in cognitive speed is a sensitive behavioral indicator of the integrity of the aging brain and brain damage, but little information is known about how IIV changes from being relatively low in young adulthood to substantially higher in older adulthood. We evaluated possible age group, sex, and task differences in IIV across adulthood using a large, neurologically normal, population-based sample evaluated thrice over 8 years. Multilevel modeling controlling for education, diabetes, hypertension, and anxiety and depressive symptoms showed expected age group differences in baseline IIV across the adult lifespan. Increase in IIV was not found until older adulthood on simple tasks but was apparent even in the 40s on a more complex task. Females were more variable than males but only at baseline. IIV in cognitive speed is a fundamental behavioral characteristic associated with growing older, even among healthy adults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Minor Delinquency and Immigration: A Longitudinal Study Among Male Adolescents.

  Peter F Titzmann, Rainer K Silbereisen, Gustavo Mesch
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  ABSTRACT: On the basis of general theories of delinquency and the specific situation of immigrants, this longitudinal study investigated predictors of initial levels and rates of change in delinquency among 188 male ethnic German Diaspora immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) in Germany, 237 male native German adolescents, and 182 male Jewish Diaspora adolescents from the FSU in Israel. The participants (15.2 years old) completed 3 annual assessments. Latent growth curve models showed that ethnic German adolescents reported higher initial levels of delinquency than native German adolescents and lower levels than the Russian Jewish adolescents. Groups did not differ in the rate of change, indicating a decrease in delinquency over time. Peer-oriented leisure related positively and parental knowledge negatively with levels and change rates in delinquency in all groups, but could not fully account for the ethnic differences in delinquency levels. School bonding was associated negatively with delinquency only among native German adolescents. Acculturation-related hassles were an additional predictor for higher levels and also associated with change rates in the immigrant groups. Thus, general theories of delinquency apply to immigrants, but may be complemented by adding acculturation-specific challenges. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Mechanisms of Age-Related Decline in Memory Search Across the Adult Life Span.

  Thomas T Hills, Rui Mata, Andreas Wilke, Gregory R Samanez-Larkin
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  ABSTRACT: Three alternative mechanisms for age-related decline in memory search have been proposed, which result from either reduced processing speed (global slowing hypothesis), overpersistence on categories (cluster-switching hypothesis), or the inability to maintain focus on local cues related to a decline in working memory (cue-maintenance hypothesis). We investigated these 3 hypotheses by formally modeling the semantic recall patterns of 185 adults between 27 to 99 years of age in the animal fluency task (Thurstone, 1938). The results indicate that people switch between global frequency-based retrieval cues and local item-based retrieval cues to navigate their semantic memory. Contrary to the global slowing hypothesis that predicts no qualitative differences in dynamic search processes and the cluster-switching hypothesis that predicts reduced switching between retrieval cues, the results indicate that as people age, they tend to switch more often between local and global cues per item recalled, supporting the cue-maintenance hypothesis. Additional support for the cue-maintenance hypothesis is provided by a negative correlation between switching and digit span scores and between switching and total items recalled, which suggests that cognitive control may be involved in cue maintenance and the effective search of memory. Overall, the results are consistent with age-related decline in memory search being a consequence of reduced cognitive control, consistent with models suggesting that working memory is related to goal perseveration and the ability to inhibit distracting information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Parent-Child Cultural Orientations and Child Adjustment in Chinese American Immigrant Families.

  Stephen H Chen, Michelle Hua, Qing Zhou, Annie Tao, Erica H Lee, Jennifer Ly, Alexandra Main
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  ABSTRACT: Direct and indirect/mediated relations of (a) children's and parents' cultural orientations and (b) parent-child gaps in cultural orientations to children's psychological adjustment were examined in a socioeconomically diverse sample of 258 Chinese American children (age = 6-9 years) from immigrant families. Parents reported on children's and their own Chinese and American orientations in language proficiency, media use, and social relationships. Parents and teachers rated children's externalizing and internalizing problems and social competence. Using structural equation modeling, we found evidence for both the effects of children's and parents' cultural orientations and the effects of parent-child gaps. Specifically, children's American orientations across domains were associated with their better adjustment (especially social competence). These associations were partly mediated by authoritative parenting. Parents' English and Chinese media use were both associated with higher authoritative parenting, which in turn was associated with children's better adjustment. Furthermore, greater gaps in parent-child Chinese proficiency were associated with children's poorer adjustment, and these relations were partly mediated by authoritative parenting. Together, the findings underscore the complex relations between immigrant families' dual orientations to the host and heritage cultures and children's psychological adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Developmental and Gender Related Differences in Response Switches After Nonrepresentative Negative Feedback.

  Brenda R J Jansen, Anna C K van Duijvenvoorde, Hilde M Huizenga
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  ABSTRACT: In many decision making tasks negative feedback is probabilistic and, as a consequence, may be given when the decision is actually correct. This feedback can be referred to as nonrepresentative negative feedback. In the current study, we investigated developmental and gender related differences in such switching after nonrepresentative negative feedback. Participants performed a new probabilistic negative feedback task in which properties of choice options were known to the participants; therefore, they did not have to learn the correct response. The task was administered to a developmental sample between 8 and 16 years of age (N = 170). Results indicated that switching after nonrepresentative negative feedback decreased with age and that this switching was more pronounced in females than in males. We discuss results in light of an imbalance between emotional and inhibition systems and tentatively conclude that it is likely that the age related differences are predominantly related to the strength of the inhibition system, whereas the gender related differences are predominantly related to the strength of the emotional system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Evaluations of and Reasoning About Normative and Deviant Ingroup and Outgroup Members: Development of the Black Sheep Effect.

  Dominic Abrams, Sally B Palmer, Adam Rutland, Lindsey Cameron, Julie Van de Vyver
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  ABSTRACT: Research with adults has demonstrated a "black sheep effect" (BSE) whereby, relative to evaluations of normative group members, ingroup deviants are derogated more than outgroup deviants. The developmental subjective group dynamics (DSGD) model holds that the BSE should develop during middle childhood when children apply wider social norms. Three hundred and thirty-eight children who were between 5 and 12 years old judged a normative (socially desirable) and a deviant (socially undesirable) member from an ingroup or an outgroup school. Results confirmed a developmental increase in the BSE, the first time this has been demonstrated. Children's own evaluations of group members were mediated by their expectations about ingroup peers' evaluations. In line with DSGD and social domain theories, with age, children's explanations of peer evaluations for ingroup deviance focused relatively more on loyalty. Practical and theoretical implications for peer inclusion and exclusion are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Modeling Socioeconomic Status Effects on Language Development.

  Michael S C Thomas, Neil A Forrester, Angelica Ronald
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  ABSTRACT: Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important environmental predictor of language and cognitive development, but the causal pathways by which it operates are unclear. We used a computational model of development to explore the adequacy of manipulations of environmental information to simulate SES effects in English past-tense acquisition, in a data set provided by Bishop (2005). To our knowledge, this is the first application of computational models of development to SES. The simulations addressed 3 new challenges: (a) to combine models of development and individual differences in a single framework, (b) to expand modeling to the population level, and (c) to implement both environmental and genetic/intrinsic sources of individual differences. The model succeeded in capturing the qualitative patterns of regularity effects in both population performance and the predictive power of SES that were observed in the empirical data. The model suggested that the empirical data are best captured by relatively wider variation in learning abilities and relatively narrow variation in (and good quality of) environmental information. There were shortcomings in the model's quantitative fit, which are discussed. The model made several novel predictions, with respect to the influence of SES on delay versus giftedness, the change of SES effects over development, and the influence of SES on children of different ability levels (gene-environment interactions). The first of these predictions was that SES should reliably predict gifted performance in children but not delayed performance, and the prediction was supported by the Bishop data set. Finally, the model demonstrated limits on the inferences that can be drawn about developmental mechanisms on the basis of data from individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;
• Article: Development of Planning Abilities in Normal Aging: Differential Effects of Specific Cognitive Demands.

  Lena Köstering, Christoph Stahl, Rainer Leonhart, Cornelius Weiller, Christoph P Kaller
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  ABSTRACT: In line with the frontal hypothesis of aging, the ability to plan ahead undergoes substantial change during normal aging. Although impairments on the Tower of London planning task were reported earlier, associations between age-related declines and specific cognitive demands on planning have not been studied. Here we investigated the impact of search depth and goal ambiguity on planning, which impose demands on the depth and breadth of look-ahead processes, respectively. Besides an overall age-related decline in planning accuracy of 106 healthy older adults, differential search depth effects were found: Whereas planning accuracy of subjects in the early 60s was not affected by variations in search depth, between the ages of 65 and 76 years, accuracy was significantly decreased for high versus low levels of search depth. For subjects older than 76, different search depth levels did not further impact on accuracy, which was lowest overall. This nonlinear pattern may reflect differential impairments in fluid abilities and working memory capacity across various stages of older age. As no age-related effects of goal ambiguity were found, normal aging seems to be specifically sensitive to planning demands on the depth but not the breadth of anticipatory search processes. Hence, cognitive functions subserved by the prefrontal cortex experience differential development over the course of normal aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
  Developmental Psychology 04/2013;