British Journal of Developmental Psychology

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; Mage = 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.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, closure of schools and other public places changed the circumstances under which young people engaged in identity development. This qualitative study examines the impact of COVID-19 on the gender identity development of 295 transgender and gender diverse youth, ages 13-22. Responses to the open-ended question “How has the COVID pandemic changed or affected your own understanding of your gender identity?” were analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings revealed six major themes and nine subthemes: (a) time for identity development (self-reflection and self-realization, self-acceptance and self-worth, and self-expression and experimentation), (b) no changes, (c) COVID-19 specific factors (masks help pass, limited expression/identity suppression, and break from social pressures, (d) trans/non-binary visibility on online platforms (knowledge, connection, and personal increased visibility), (e) increased confusion/pain, and (f) unspecified but significant changes. Close to 30% of participants reported no change to their understanding of their gender identity. Of the participants who did report change, the most common theme was time for identity development (56.3%). This study indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown had important, largely positive impacts on individuals’ gender identity development.

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.

Previous research with adults and adolescents has established that mind wandering—characterized by a shift in attention from external tasks to internal thoughts—is associated with negative affect and reduced psychological well‐being, particularly when focused on past events. This study explored the relations between low mood, worry, and the frequency and temporal orientation of mind wandering in children aged 8–12 years ( N = 77). In a testing session conducted via videoconferencing software, we assessed mind wandering using intermittent thought probes during a listening activity and collected mood and worry data through self‐report questionnaires and carer reports. Our findings indicate that children's minds wandered approximately 23% of the time, aligning with existing literature. We found a significant association between lower mood and increased mind wandering. Specifically, children with lower mood showed a higher propensity for mind wandering. Moreover, low mood was a significant predictor of past‐oriented mind wandering, and a significant relation was observed between worry and future‐oriented thought. These results highlight the need for future research using experimental designs to clarify the causal relationships between children's mood, worry, and mind wandering. A deeper understanding of these dynamics is essential for developing targeted interventions that aim to enhance emotional well‐being in children.

Development of epistemic vigilance towards online information is crucial for adolescents in the context of widespread online ‘information pollution’. Children have demonstrated selective mistrust of webpages with typographical but not semantic errors. We used a selective trust task to investigate whether this pattern changes through adolescence. Participants read two pairs of sources about scientific topics, each pair containing a webpage with either semantic or typographical errors. When asked novel factual questions, which source participants drew answers from indicates the degree of selective trust in the source. As anticipated, age group significantly predicted selective trust scores, with older adolescents ( N = 222, 16–20 years, M = 18 years) receiving higher scores than younger adolescents ( N = 153, 11–16 years, M = 13.7 years.). While this age effect was present in both typographical and semantic conditions, it was particularly pronounced for semantic errors. Additionally, pre‐exposure to an accuracy prompt was not a significant factor in selective trust scores, demonstrating some limitations in the utility of this prime for more complex selective trust decisions. We theorize that semantic errors may have more salience than typographical errors for older adolescents' selective trust decisions, whereas younger adolescents place more emphasis on a visual understanding of source credibility.

This study examined whether the experience of stressors since infancy is related to executive function and social communication in late childhood via inflammation, using data from 4457 participants of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). It explored whether the effect of stressful life events (from 6 months to 8.5 years) on working memory, response inhibition, selective attention, attentional control, communication problems and social cognition (at ages 10–11 years) was mediated by inflammation (interleukin 6 and C‐reactive protein) at age 9 years. While the study did not find evidence for mediation, it showed that, in the general child population, inflammation was related to executive function impairments, and stressful life events were related to social communication difficulties. These associations were small but robust to confounder adjustment. If causal, they suggest that reducing inflammation could improve executive functioning, the prerequisite to any purposeful and goal‐directed action.

Children with high fantasy orientation (HFO) can quickly switch between reality and fantasy, facilitating their processing of fantastical information. This study examined the effects of viewing a high fantastical video (HFV) and a low fantastical video (LFV) on the executive function (EF) of 102 Chinese kindergarteners at the ages of 5 and 6 by their fantasy orientation level (HFO vs. LFO). Each child's viewing was recorded by an eye tracker. Results showed that after viewing the HFV, HFO group demonstrated a significantly shorter inhibitory control reaction time than LFO group, whereas, after watching the LFV programme, HFO group's inhibitory control was significantly less accurate than the LFO group. The average pupil size of the HFO group was significantly larger than that of the LFO group, regardless of the fantastical video type. This study is the first to assess the effects of viewing two types of fantastical videos on Chinese children's EF by their FO level. It provides direct behavioural and physiological evidence associated with the post‐viewing EF changes.

The present study examined 6 to 11‐year‐old British children's ability to identify and reason about the causes of a teacher's and mother's differential treatment based on a story character's class background. Children rated the fairness of such treatment and reasons about why a teacher or a mother selected a child for a coveted role. Children also completed measures of implicit class bias. Children rated differential treatment as more unfair when a working‐class rather than an upper‐class child received a negative decision in both vignettes. Older children rated decisions as unfair more than younger children did when a teacher was the perpetrator. Parents' educational level and implicit bias did not predict their ratings of unfairness. Older children attributed discrimination as the most likely cause of differential treatment in the teacher vignette. In contrast, younger children were as likely to attribute the cause of discrimination to being better or putting in more effort. For the teacher vignette, children were more likely to invoke discrimination than other reasons when a working‐class child was not selected. The findings are discussed in relation to practical and theoretical implications.

While research on adults has highlighted the relationship between violators' leadership hierarchies and third‐party judgements/punishment behaviours, the developmental origins of these relationships remain unknown. This study addresses this question by examining how children aged 5–10 years ( N = 387, 48.87% females) and adults ( N = 120, 50.83% females) as third parties, evaluate and impose punishments on uncooperative individuals with different statuses (i.e. leader or non‐leader) within a group collaboration context. The results showed that adults evaluated and punished non‐contributing leaders more severely than non‐contributing non‐leaders. Regardless of age, children evaluated non‐contributing leaders and non‐contributing non‐leaders equally negatively. However, as they age, children punish non‐contributing leaders more severely. Around the age of 7.95, children's degree of punishment towards non‐contributing leaders surpasses that directed at non‐leaders. Additionally, compared with younger children, older children and adults mentioned violators' leadership status and the associated leadership responsibilities more frequently in their justifications for punishment behaviour.

Preterm birth increases the likelihood of early language and cognitive delays, but less is known about later aspects of language development, such as narrative generation. Narrative skills involve dimensions, such as linguistic and narrative complexity, and preterm (PT) and full‐term (FT) children's narrative performances may vary across these dimensions. We investigated the role of neonatal status on the total number of words produced, linguistic complexity, and narrative complexity across two presentation modes: narrative generation while seeing pictures and narrative generation after watching an animated video. Seventy‐one Turkish‐reared preschool‐aged children (31 PT [ M age = 48.70, SD = 1.53] and 40 FT [ M age = 48.83, SD = 1.63]) participated in the study. Despite having lower expressive vocabulary skills (assessed by a standardized task) than full‐term children, preterm children performed comparably in both picture and animated video‐stories, except PT children tended to produce longer narratives in the picture story, possibly due to the different demand characteristics of the tasks. Overall, our findings support the possibility of interacting factors that may help PT children overcome challenges in narrative development.

Previous studies suggest that generous norms influence sharing behaviour from middle childhood onwards. However, no previous study has assessed how these norms could change prior sharing decisions and beliefs about others' sharing behaviour and whether such beliefs may be linked to behavioural change promoted by generous norms. Through a within‐subject design, we evaluate 4‐to‐9‐year‐old children ( N = 111) using two dictator games; one as baseline and the other after being exposed to either a generous or a selfish descriptive norm. Similar to previous studies, the generous norm increased baseline sharing decisions only in children older than 7. In this age group, decisions and beliefs were significantly associated after this norm. Lastly, only the generous norm and not the selfish norm increased expectations about others' sharing behaviour in both age groups. These results suggest that expectations about others' sharing behaviour may support the development of more cooperative sharing behaviour. At least through descriptive norms, it appears more challenging to nudge children to share less and to believe that most children would share selfishly.

Many preteens are using social media, despite most platforms having an age requirement of 13‐year‐old. Little is known about how these young users and their parents balance out the opportunities and potential risks of their social media use. To address this gap in our understanding we interviewed nine children (aged 9–12) together with one of their parents to address two research questions: (1) ‘What strategies are used to mediate social media use among preteens?’ (2) ‘What are parents and children's reflections of why different strategies are chosen?’ The findings identify a broader range of mediation strategies than previously discussed in the literature, challenge research suggesting that parents have a typical mediation approach and give new insight into children's role in co‐constructing how the mediation strategies are used. This has implications for future policies, interventions and research into the effectiveness of different mediation approaches.

Mental health has a profound impact on how we interact with the world. How it shapes prosocial behaviour during middle childhood, a period crucial for establishing healthy relationships, remains poorly understood. Moreover, whilst child mental health and prosocial behaviour are influenced by caregiving experience more broadly, less is known about how they are shaped by parental reflective functioning (PRF), that is parents' capacity to represent their child's underlying mental states. A longitudinal design, with assessments at baseline and 1 year follow‐up, was used with 233 children (111 boys; 6–13 years old; 54.9% White, 17.2% Asian, 2.58% Black, 14.2% Multiple ethnic groups, 2.58% Other, 8.58% data unavailable). Using path modelling, we examined interrelations between baseline PRF, baseline child internalizing symptoms, and follow‐up child altruistic prosocial behaviour. At baseline, PRF was associated with child internalizing symptoms, whilst PRF and internalizing symptoms positively predicted altruistic behaviour 1 year later. These findings suggest that mental health and caregiving experience are key influences on altruistic behaviour in childhood.

The instability and unpredictability of Western societies challenge how individuals plan their life courses shaping the expectations that emerging adults develop in their future. Although there is a well‐established interest in studying emerging adulthood, there is limited information regarding the role of family and individual contexts on how emerging adults perceive their futures. The current study examined the association between attachment to parents and emerging adults' values of future expectations (optimism, pessimism, and hope) and self‐efficacy's mediating role in that association. The sample was composed of 676 emerging adults, aged between 18 and 30 years ( M = 23.04; SD = 3.37). Results showed that attachment to parents and self‐efficacy is associated with values of future expectations of emerging adults, and self‐efficacy mediates the following links: from the quality of the emotional bond with both parents and the separation anxiety regarding the mother to values of future expectations. These findings are discussed based on attachment theory.

This study investigates whether the context in which a word is learnt affects noun and verb learning. There is mixed evidence in studies of noun learning, and no studies of background perceptual context in verb learning. Two‐, three‐, and four‐year‐olds ( n = 162) saw a novel object moved in a novel way while hearing four novel words, either nouns or verbs. They were asked to generalize the word to a similar action or object shown in the same or different context. Results demonstrate that 2‐ and 3‐year‐olds were more accurate at test when learning nouns than verbs, demonstrating that verb learning is difficult; 4‐year‐olds were successful at learning both word types. For all ages, and both word types, context changes did not impact word learning. These results extend previous findings that context does not influence noun learning, while suggesting perceptual context may not play a major role in verb learning, which is a new finding.

Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices (CPM) is a widely used assessment tool for measuring general cognitive ability in developmental and educational research, particularly in studies involving young children. However, administering the full set of the 36‐item CPM can be burdensome for young participants, hindering its practicality in large‐scale studies and reducing research efficiency. In the current study, a short form of the CPM was developed based on a sample of preschoolers ( n = 336, mean age = 5.8 years) using penalised regression, a machine learning approach that allows for variable selection. The resulting 12‐item CPM short form demonstrated a very strong correlation with the total score of the 36‐item full form ( r = .94). Further investigations into the short form's item stability, content validity, and concurrent validity collectively supported its psychometric properties as a reliable and valid alternative to the full form. The significance of the CPM short form is also discussed.