Wiley

Child Development Perspectives

Published by Wiley and Society For Research In Child Development

Online ISSN: 1750-8606

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Print ISSN: 1750-8592

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Top-read articles

38 reads in the past 30 days

An emotion‐focused extension of coercion theory: Emerging evidence and conceptualizations for parental experienced emotion as a mechanism of reinforcement in coercive parent–child interactions

January 2024

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515 Reads

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6 Citations

According to coercion theory (Patterson, 1982, 2016), children's aggression is developed and maintained through transactional processes between parents and their children that unfold over time. The theory provides a model of the behavioral contingencies that explain how parents and children mutually “train” each other to behave in ways that over time increase the likelihood of children's aggression and decrease parents' control over this aggression. Although the theory characterizes the interactions that often lead to dysfunctional family processes and children's aggression, its focus on observable, interpersonal negativity has resulted in research that largely overlooks intraindividual phenomena, such as the internal experiences that drive parents' expressed negativity. In this article, I present empirical and theoretical work that supports an expanded focus of coercion theory to include emotion as an internal mechanism of reinforcement that facilitates and maintains coercive family processes and children's antisocial development.

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36 reads in the past 30 days

Theoretical model of the structure and definitions of the 10 values. [Correction made on 09 September 2024, after first online publication: Figure 1 has been updated.]
Means and Standard Deviations and Sample Size of Study Variables.
Correlations Among Study Variables in Girls Sample.
Correlations Among Study Variables in Boys Sample.
age significantly moder- ated the relationship between girl peer values and girls'

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“Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are:” The contribution of peers to adolescents' values

May 2024

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232 Reads

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3 Citations

Aims and scope


Child Development Perspectives publishes brief articles spanning the entire spectrum of modern developmental science and its applications. We welcome papers from all fields that inform modern developmental science, written in accessible language for a wide audience. Our emphasis is on brief, well synthesized reviews of research, typically focusing on emerging lines of inquiry in developmental science.

Recent articles


Modelo teórico propuesto para la transferencia intergeneracional de la prosocialidad latinoamericana. (A) Valores prosociales visualizados con la edad teórica en la que las niñas y los niños los expresan conductualmente. Lo sombreado más oscuro indica una mayor predisposición a mostrarlos. (B) Modelo teórico que muestra los procesos de socialización que median entre los valores culturales prosociales de los adultos latinoamericanos y la mayor expresión de la conducta prosocial en las niñas y los niños latinoamericanos. Esta no es una lista exhaustiva de valores culturales ni de procesos de socialización. Para facilitar la lectura, no se ilustran los ciclos completos de retroalimentación. Se utiliza un sombreado gradual para evitar indicar etapas de desarrollo definidas y reconocer la posibilidad de variación individual. Cabe mencionar una nota adicional sobre los términos de esta figura: No es sorprendente que algunos de los términos utilizados en el artículo original en inglés no se traduzcan perfectamente al español. Por ejemplo, en la (A), la versión en inglés tenía siete términos para denotar el desarrollo («Birth», «Infancy», «Toddlerhood», «Early Childhood», «Middle Childhood», «Late Childhood», «Early, Mid‐Adolescence»). Sin embargo, en la traducción solo se muestran cinco términos. De igual manera, en el recuadro izquierdo de la (B), el término inglés «cuidadores» se cambió a «adultos». Creemos que estos cambios ayudan a transmitir al español el significado originalmente transmitido en el artículo en inglés.
La socialización de los valores culturales y el desarrollo de la prosocialidad latinoamericana
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June 2025

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8 Reads

Rodolfo Cortes Barragan

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Andrew N. Meltzoff


Counterfactual Reasoning Development in Different Languages

April 2025

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10 Reads

Counterfactual reasoning is the ability to reason about how the world might have been if past events or states had been different. It is helpful for making sense of past experiences to create future blueprints. Languages like English apply subjunctive forms to directly mark counterfactual premises. In contrast, Chinese does not apply subjunctive forms and conveys counterfactuality by contextual and semantic cues. These differences in expressing counterfactual premises may influence how children interpret and reason from counterfactual premises, affecting their performance on counterfactual reasoning tasks. In this article, I review both studies of children speaking Chinese, which does not apply subjunctive forms, and studies of children speaking languages that do apply subjunctive forms (e.g., English). In doing so, I suggest how and why the development of counterfactual reasoning may differ across languages. I also make suggestions for studying cross‐linguistic variations.


Possibility Judgments in Childhood: Is Uncertainty Monitoring the Missing Link?

April 2025

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15 Reads

Unlike adults, young children think that many weird and unlikely events are impossible. Existing theories have argued that this developmental shift is driven primarily by age‐related changes in knowledge as well as an increasing ability to reflect on one's modal intuitions. However, this intuition + reflection model fails to explain when and why children and adults engage in reflection. In this article, we review research on the development of modal intuitions, and we present a framework for thinking about development that connects intuition and reflection by positing that confidence in one's intuitions plays a key role in explaining age‐related and individual differences in children's judgments of possibility.


Call for Non‐Verbal Mind‐Mindedness Measures for Use in Infancy and Across Cultures

February 2025

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66 Reads

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1 Citation

Maternal mind‐mindedness, which examines mothers' representational capacity to treat their children as individuals with their own minds, has traditionally been operationalized by coding mothers' mental state comments to or about their children. Mind‐mindedness has been studied predominantly in Western cultures, where it predicts children's social‐cognitive developments. However, in many non‐Western cultures, mothers do not readily talk about their children's mental states; they may use nonverbal behaviors to manifest their mind‐mindedness. Nonverbal behaviors may also be the way mind‐mindedness is conveyed to young infants. Theorists have been puzzled by the fact that mind‐mindedness in mothers' speech prior to when infants understand language predicts infants' later social‐cognitive developments. In this article, I call for mind‐mindedness measures to include nonverbal behaviors. Such measures may reveal behaviors involved in communicating mind‐mindedness to infants and provide an avenue to equitable investigations of mind‐mindedness in diverse cultures, thus advancing the theory and scope of the field.


FIGURE 1 | Theoretical Model for the Intergenerational Transfer of Latin American Prosociality. (A) Prosocial values visualized with the theorized age period when children express these values behaviorally. Darker graded shading connotes more readiness to show the values. (B) Theorical model showing socialization processes that mediate between Latin American caregivers' prosocial cultural values and the heightened expression of prosocial behavior in Latin American children. This is not an exhaustive list of cultural values or socialization processes. Full feedforward/feedback loops are not illustrated for readability. Graded shading is used to avoid indicating sharp developmental stages and to recognize the possibility of individual variation.
The Socialization of Cultural Values and the Development of Latin American Prosociality

February 2025

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104 Reads

Understanding childhood socialization across multiple world cultures is important for developing comprehensive and generalizable theories of developmental psychology. Studies suggest that Latin American children show markedly high levels of prosocial behavior. In this article, we theorize that this hyper‐prosociality is supported by a particular cluster of “other‐oriented” values that are fundamental to Latin American culture—including the values of simpatía , respeto , acomedirse , familismo , and cariño. Based on our review of 60 papers describing studies with more than 12,000 participants, we discuss these values in adult caregivers and examine socialization processes that facilitate the intergenerational transfer of Latin American prosocial values from caregivers to children. The study of Latin American children yields new and important insights into cultural influences on prosocial behavior, while at the same time promoting inclusion and scientific generalizability. Social experiences, which vary by culture, undergird the development of human prosociality.


Growing Pains: The History of Human Development and the Future of the Field

January 2025

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1 Citation

Research on child development has been advanced by the contributions of human development and human development family science (or studies) departments, which trace their origins to the land grant movement, home economics programs, and the child study movement that coalesced in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries. In this article, we detail the main historical influences on the field, as well as contemporary strengths and opportunities for the field. We highlight the interdisciplinarity and applied work that are uniquely inherent strengths of human development and family science/studies. We also discuss challenges that are both historic and contemporary in reviewing how experiences of racial and gender discrimination affected and affect scholars in the field, as well as issues of field identity and purpose. Finally, we recommend that the field acknowledge and publicize its past to capitalize on the strengths of its history and to address historical challenges that remain relevant to the study of human development and family science today.


Anti‐Youth Ageism: What It Is and Why It Matters

January 2025

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60 Reads

Ageism against older adults has been well studied, yet adolescents also experience ageism in pervasive and harmful ways. In this article, we describe anti‐youth ageism as a system of oppression that encompasses negative stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination against adolescents that uphold power hierarchies and marginalize young people based on their age. Drawing from interdisciplinary theory and research, we examine adolescents' experiences of anti‐youth ageism at interpersonal, cultural, and institutional levels, and consider the ways anti‐youth ageism is internalized. Across many levels, anti‐youth ageism is understood in concert with other systems of oppression such as racism and cis‐heterosexism. The field needs a new wave of anti‐oppressive developmental science to understand the multilayered, intersectional manifestations of anti‐youth ageism and the impacts of anti‐youth ageism on various domains of development. Research can help foster the creation of intervention strategies to reduce harm to adolescents and their development.


Cultural Brokering in Immigrant Families

January 2025

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29 Reads

Cultural brokering refers to the process of youth (i.e., children, adolescents, and emerging adults) from immigrant families interpreting cultural norms for others. Cultural brokering is not an acontextual, individual, or passive experience but varies by context (e.g., situational demands), is interpersonal (e.g., involves the broker and a social partner), and involves the cultural broker serving as a socializing agent. While researchers have sought to understand how cultural brokering affects the broker (i.e., the individual interpreting for others), findings vary. In this article, we advance the understanding of cultural brokering across development by drawing attention to pertinent aspects of this experience that have been largely overlooked. First, we review distinct forms of cultural brokering. Next, we consider how cultural brokering affects the psychological adjustment and well‐being of immigrant youth. Finally, we suggest research to deepen the understanding of cultural brokering across development.


Caregivers' cognitions about infants' mental and emotional states

November 2024

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70 Reads

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2 Citations

Given the relevance of caregivers' perceptions, cognitions, and emotions about their child's mental states for caregiving behavior and children's development, researchers from multiple theoretical perspectives have developed constructs to assess caregivers' cognitions, resulting in a large but scattered body of literature. In this article, we highlight the conceptual overlap among and uniqueness of six constructs assessing caregivers' cognitions about their child at 36 months and younger: infant intentionality, mental representations, mind‐mindedness, parental embodied mentalizing, parental empathy, and parental reflective functioning. We define constructs, present approaches to measurement, and propose elements of importance that fall under the umbrella of caregivers' cognitions and that may be associated differentially with children's early cognitive and social–emotional development. We conclude with recommendations for researchers aiming to capture caregivers' cognitions about their child's mental states, whether focusing on one of the six reviewed constructs or on specific elements (e.g., awareness of the child's mind or accuracy of caregivers' perceptions of their child) under the umbrella of caregivers' cognitions.


A little imprecision goes a long way in launching memory development

November 2024

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33 Reads

From the earliest moments in their lives, infants begin to build memories about their past and accumulate knowledge about the world. In this article, we focus on the distinction between memory for specific events and memory for general information, and the ongoing debate about which type of memory provides the foundation for the development of the other. Some researchers argue that specific memory developmentally precedes general memory, whereas others support the opposite position. Our literature review suggests that the latter position is inconsistent with many empirical findings and theoretical principles of memory captured by computational models capable of accounting for these findings. We propose that just good enough mnemonic acuity could be a starting point for memory development, and that it can support both specific and generalized memories.


Coming of age in a warming world: A self‐determination theory perspective

October 2024

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62 Reads

Today's youth are growing up in a world threatened by climate change. Facing an uncertain future, young people—and especially adolescents—tend to be concerned about climate change, even more so than other age groups. How can socializing agents (e.g., educators, policymakers, clinicians) support and engage adolescents as they come of age in a warming world? In this article, we review studies on climate change and youth development from the perspective of self‐determination theory (SDT). SDT provides a framework for understanding a nascent body of literature on adolescents' responses to climate change. In particular, SDT offers insights into the factors that can facilitate or undermine adolescents' internalization of climate science, engagement in pro‐environmental behavior, and capacity for resilience and well‐being. We discuss SDT's potential to inform efforts to encourage positive youth development amid climate change, and we identify priorities for investigation.


You are here! Rethinking children's executive function development in the presence of others

October 2024

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17 Reads

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2 Citations

The development of executive function (EF) has been linked to various life outcomes, motivating intense research on the topic. While much of this research has focused on more thoroughly understanding age‐related changes of the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms involved, recent theoretical and empirical works have stressed how the immediate physical and social context plays an important role in how children engage in control. Recent studies have shown that the experimenter is an important variable modulating how children engage EF. In this article, I argue that this social presence should be examined more thoroughly to understand the influence of the research context on assessing EF in children. However, this examination should not neglect the fact that the presence of others and the interactions with them likely shape the development of EF in the long run, with important interindividual differences. Examining how others affect children's development of EF can have important implications, such as better reproducibility of studies' findings and theoretical conceptions.


The nature and development of cognitive offloading in children

September 2024

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59 Reads

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5 Citations

Humans routinely use external thinking tools, like pencil and paper, maps, and calculators, to solve cognitive problems that would have once been solved internally. As many youth face unprecedented exposure to increasingly capable technological aids, there is a growing pressure to understand children's cognitive offloading capacities and propensities, and what they stand to gain or lose as frequent offloaders in the modern world. In this article, we review emerging research on the development of cognitive offloading. Children as young as 4 years can engage in effective offloading strategies that follow principles similar to those used by adults—for example, greater recruitment of external support when tasks are more difficult. However, young children's strategies also show evidence of bias (sometimes inadequate and sometimes excessive offloading), lack of selectivity, and lack of self‐initiation. We also draw attention to important avenues for future research, working toward protecting and nurturing children's cognitive well‐being in the digital age.


Concurrences across time and sensorimotor capacities promote infant learning

September 2024

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48 Reads

In infancy, sensorimotor capacities directly affect learning. Although developmental scientists have studied the link between sensorimotor capacities and learning, their work has focused primarily on a narrow window of time connecting just two domains. In this article, we propose that considering concurrences across multiple time points and domains provides novel insights into how sensorimotor capacities systematically shape learning. First, we present a developmental map synthesizing changes across the vision, motor, and language domains in the first 18 months of life. Using the map as a guide, we review literature identifying how changes in one sensorimotor domain affect learning. We then highlight additional concurrences that have not been systematically explored and use the concrete example of learning word‐object mappings to illustrate how the developmental map provides rich ground to raise new questions and revisit old ones. We end with a call to action to fill key gaps in the map by considering variations in other domains and cultures, as well as in atypical development.


Designing equity‐centered early learning assessments for today's young children

September 2024

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21 Reads

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1 Citation

In this article, we adopt culturally relevant perspectives on developmental science that acknowledge and value the diversity of backgrounds and experiences of young children and their families to identify opportunities to advance the measurement of early childhood development. We focus on direct child assessments that can drive more equitable early learning experiences and outcomes by informing the work of educators and program‐ and system‐level decision‐makers. Specifically, we describe potential advancements in the content (what is measured), method (how assessments are conducted), and output (how data are presented) of early learning assessments. Throughout, we highlight opportunities to elevate the experiences of those who use assessment—children, families, educators, and administrators—to develop equity‐centered, engaging assessments that provide comprehensive, fair, and useful insights.


Rethinking pubertal research: Embracing intersectionality

August 2024

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20 Reads

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5 Citations

Scholars acknowledge the significant role of puberty in the risks for adverse outcomes. However, we lack understanding of the relevant social and structural factors at play. Current theoretical approaches to research on puberty were posited based on the experiences of White, middle‐class girls who developed early or late, disregarding the interplay among cultural, societal, and individual factors that shape perceptions of pubescent children and their experiences. The limited focus on timing effects has failed to generate comprehensive knowledge of broader pubertal experiences. In this article, we argue that intersectional understanding can overcome current deficiencies in research on puberty. We critique the predominant theoretical approaches in pubertal research, provide an overview of the intersectionality framework, and elucidate how intersectionality can be incorporated into puberty research. We conclude with recommendations for research. In so doing, we hope the intersectionality framework allows scholars of puberty to rethink how pubertal effects are examined.


The development of prosocial risk‐taking behavior: Mechanisms and opportunities

August 2024

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78 Reads

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3 Citations

Many young people are inclined toward risk taking and also toward helping other people. Prosocial risk taking is a term that can describe different ways that youth provide significant instrumental and emotional support to family members, friends, and strangers, even when it involves a personal risk. In this article, we review research about different types of prosocial risk taking and highlight examples, emphasizing a developmental perspective by examining change across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Research to date suggests that young people are more likely to engage in prosocial risk taking when they are more tolerant of uncertainty, have greater sensation‐seeking, perspective‐taking, and empathy, and when they are motivated by reputational concerns. Individual differences in prosocial risk‐taking behavior depend on youth's access to opportunities to explore, practice, and experience positive social feedback. Providing opportunities for youth to direct their risk‐taking tendencies toward prosocial outlets may help minimize risks to their psychosocial health and promote individual and community well‐being.


The (in)effectiveness of training domain‐general skills to support early math knowledge

August 2024

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122 Reads

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1 Citation

Researchers agree that both domain‐general skills and domain‐specific skills contribute to mathematics knowledge, but questions arise as to which skills can and should be trained to improve children's learning outcomes. In this article, we synthesize research on training three domain‐general constructs in early childhood (patterning skills, working memory, and spatial reasoning) and their causal links to mathematics knowledge. The results are clear: Practice with these domain‐general tasks is unlikely to transfer to higher scores on measures of mathematics knowledge, especially for preschool‐aged children. Based on this evidence, we argue against using isolated domain‐general training to enhance math knowledge in early childhood. We offer recommendations for researchers and practitioners to optimize best practices in this area.


The multifaceted nature of early vocabulary development: Connecting children's characteristics with parental input types

August 2024

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63 Reads

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5 Citations

Children need to learn the demands of their native language in the early vocabulary development phase. In this dynamic process, parental multimodal input may shape neurodevelopmental trajectories while also being tailored by child‐related factors. Moving beyond typically characterized group profiles, in this article, we synthesize growing evidence on the effects of parental multimodal input (amount, quality, or absence), domain‐specific input (space and math), and language‐specific input (causal verbs and sound symbols) on preterm, full‐term, and deaf children's early vocabulary development, focusing primarily on research with children learning Turkish and Turkish Sign Language. We advocate for a theoretical perspective, integrating neonatal characteristics and parental input, and acknowledging the unique constraints of languages.


Conceptual framework linking work during pregnancy to maternal and infant health. 1: Work arrangements refer to characteristics of jobs that are determined by a contract, such as pay, benefits, working hours and schedule, and length of employment. Work conditions refer to on‐the‐job experiences, such as autonomy, physical and emotional demands, and exposure to environmental toxins or disease. 2: Family income refers to cash income from sources such as family members' earnings and public benefits programs. Economic resources include noncash sources of economic support, such as health insurance from work, and in‐kind public benefits, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. 3: Maternal health behaviors include the use of prenatal care, nutrition, smoking, and substance use. These behaviors are shaped by work arrangements and conditions as well as family income and resources—especially access to health insurance—and maternal stress, and by the policy context, such as access to Medicaid. 4: Maternal stress refers to physical and psychosocial stress. 5: Maternal health during pregnancy includes physical health outcomes, such as gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension, preeclampsia, and mental health outcomes, such as anxiety and depression. Fetal health refers to measures of health in utero, such as fetal head circumference and length measured during the prenatal period, and fetal death. It also includes measures of neonatal health—including birth weight, length, gestational age, fetal growth, and Apgar scores—which primarily reflect health in utero. 6: Maternal health in the postbirth period includes maternal mortality and physical and mental health conditions related to pregnancy, such as Type 2 diabetes and postpartum depression. 7: Infant health and development outcomes that are shaped by health in utero include infant cognition, language, self‐regulation, motor development, birth defects, chronic conditions, and mortality. 8: The policy context refers to local, state, and national policies that could affect pregnancy employment or moderate the effects of pregnancy employment on health. This includes pregnancy accommodation laws, (un)paid family and medical leave laws, Medicaid, and other income support programs, like cash transfers and SNAP.
How does work during pregnancy affect maternal and infant health and development?

July 2024

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25 Reads

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5 Citations

In the United States, most mothers work during pregnancy. Yet, until the passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act in 2022, pregnant employees did not have a right to reasonable accommodations to work under safe conditions. This law is expected to increase employment among pregnant women, making it critical to understand the effects of work during pregnancy on health and the potential benefits of the law. Because the prenatal period has long‐lasting consequences for health, employment during pregnancy can affect children's health and development in childhood and beyond. In this article, we review theory and empirical evidence on the effects of work during pregnancy on maternal and infant health. We propose a conceptual framework that outlines the pathways through which work during pregnancy affects health, discuss policies that are expected to affect work during pregnancy and health and conclude with priorities for future research.


Being good and feeling good: What happiness means to children

July 2024

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132 Reads

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1 Citation

Happiness is one of the most important parenting goals in today's modern society. To promote a happy childhood, we need to understand what happiness means to children. Contrary to the view that young children may equate happiness with satisfying material desires and experiencing simple pleasures, in this article, I review recent developmental research showing that (1) even young children have a sophisticated understanding about the role of desire satisfaction in happiness, (2) they perceive happiness as contingent on moral goodness, and (3) they experience happiness from performing morally good behaviors. Together, the findings suggest that for children, happiness means more than feeling good about satisfying material desires and experiencing simple pleasures; it also means being good to oneself and others. This research deepens our understanding of children's emotional cognition and experience, elucidates the nature and origins of happiness, and has significant implications for fostering a happy childhood and beyond.


Instrumental helping motivations of children and chimpanzees

July 2024

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79 Reads

Chimpanzees and other great apes seem to be much less cooperative than humans overall, yet they nevertheless reliably help others in many instrumental circumstances. Although in many contexts the helping behavior of chimpanzees is quite similar to that of human children, recent studies using both behavioral and psychophysiological paradigms have revealed important differences, specifically, in the underlying motivations for prosocial behavior. Here we provide both a synthesis of recent empirical work as well as an evolutionary hypothesis that can account for the differences in chimpanzee and human helping motivations.


An overview of corticomuscular coherence. (a) An illustration of the experimental setup for corticomuscular coherence (CMC) measurement featuring a participant squeezing a dynamometer device in response to a computer program stimulus. (b) Electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) signals obtained during this grip task were used to compute CMC.
Toward a mechanistic understanding of the association between motor and executive function skill development in early childhood

June 2024

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53 Reads

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2 Citations

Early childhood is characterized by rapid increases in both motor skills and executive function skills. Rather than simply codeveloping, the development of motor and executive function skills may be linked causally. In this article, we introduce corticomuscular coherence as a paradigm for psychologists interested in testing mechanistic questions about the potentially causal association between motor and executive function skill development in early childhood. We also consider the broader implications of this work for informing typical and atypical development.


Supporting evidence for the hypothesized pathway of music enrichment to benefit parental responsiveness and language development. a: Gerry et al. (2012); Nicholson et al. (2008); Smith, Salley, et al. (2023). b: Madigan et al. (2019). c: Jacobsen et al. (2014); Teggelove et al. (2019); Walworth (2009). d: Gerry et al. (2012); Standley et al. (2011); Trainor et al. (2012); Williams et al. (2012). e: Español et al. (2022); Tamis‐LeMonda et al. (2014). f: Abad and Williams (2007); Nicholson et al. (2010); Smith, Eiden, et al. (2023); Vlismas et al. (2013). g: Rutherford et al. (2015). h: de l'Etoile (2006); Nakata and Trehub (2004); Shenfield et al. (2003). i: Sharman et al. (2023). j: Cirelli et al. (2018); Harder et al. (2015). k: Gudmundsdottir and Gudmundsdottir (2010); Mackenzie and Hamlett (2005); Stewart (2021). Established evidence is defined as a corpus of primarily rigorous research studies that support the pathways (e.g., a meta‐analysis). Emerging evidence includes more limited research to support the outcomes of the pathway, research that is primarily quasi‐experimental, or research that includes a primary outcome that is proximally related to the pathway outcome (e.g., only three studies were found that investigated the impact of a music enrichment program on a language outcome). The hypothesized pathways are supported by limited research evidence of proximal outcomes (e.g., parent report of increased music interaction with their infant as a possible indicator of increased infant‐directed singing).
Music enrichment programs may promote early language development by enhancing parent responsiveness: A narrative review

The first years of life are critical for language development. Numerous studies indicate that actively participating in music creates a neural processing advantage in brain regions that support language development. Nevertheless, shared social characteristics between music and language may also play a role in explaining the benefits of music engagement during infancy for language development. The causal effects of a social learning pathway explaining the relation between music and language development in infants have not been fully elucidated. In this article, we posit that music enrichment programs indirectly benefit language development through enhanced parental responsiveness, an aspect of high‐quality parent–infant interactions. We summarize research on parent–child music enrichment classes and early language development. We also provide a narrative review and conceptual model of relevant research to support how parental responsiveness may partly explain the association between participating in music enrichment programs during infancy and benefits to early language development.


Adolescent social gaming as a form of social media: A call for developmental science

June 2024

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136 Reads

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3 Citations

Social gaming—online gameplay involving digital interactions with others—is a common form of social media use among adolescents. Research on this topic has neglected the social aspect of gaming and the potential role of social gaming in adolescent development. In this article, we define social gaming, drawing on interdisciplinary theories to clarify how it is both similar to and distinct from the app‐based social media platforms that have received more research attention. We outline how social gaming may be uniquely rewarding and influential for adolescents, given three key features of adolescent development: peer relationships, identity development, and neurobiological development. We address how individual differences—including those related to social identities, neurobiology, and pre‐existing social skills—may shape social gaming experiences and related outcomes. We conclude with a call for more work on how social gaming influences adolescent development and an agenda for researchers.


Journal metrics


5.1 (2023)

Journal Impact Factor™


29%

Acceptance rate


11.9 (2023)

CiteScore™


13 days

Submission to first decision


2.917 (2023)

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$3,700.00 / £2,450.00 / €3,070.00

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