This study examined whether a mediational cascade involving children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity to a series of cognitive and socio-evaluative stressors, their callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and psychological adjustment was moderated by their cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) reactivity. Using a multi-method, multi-informant design, 238 mothers and their preschool children (Mage = 4

Despite well-documented behavioral changes, the development of neuropsychological substrates underlying inhibitory control remains unknown, hindering understanding of this construct over time. Stability and change in N2, a neural correlate of inhibitory control, and its crosslagged, bidirectional associations with maternal emotion characteristics were examined in 121 preschoolers (59% female, predominantly

To see whether communicative-based multimodal skills (compared to non-communicative motor skills) predicted complex language skills, this study examined the predictive power of multimodal and motor skills on narrative and expressive pragmatic abilities across two groups. Participants were children with typical development (N = 88, Mage = 5.34, 48% female) and with neurodevelopmental disorders (N = 51

This study describes a novel measure of children's Theory of Mind (ToM) development—called the Comprehensive Assessment of ToM (CAT)—that addresses limitations in existing ToM measures. This behavioral measure includes three–six items each about diverse desires, diverse beliefs, knowledge access, knowledge expertise, false belief, and visual perspective taking, as well as nonsocial representational

Despite substantial improvements to memory precision in childhood, the neural mechanisms underlying these changes remain unclear. Here, 40 children (7–9 years; 22 females, 18 males; majority White) and 42 adults (24–35 years; 22 females, 20 males; majority White) modulated their approaches to memory formation—focusing on the specific details to encourage precision or general category to encourage imprecision

Acquiring robust semantic representations of numbers is crucial for math achievement. However, the learning stage where magnitude becomes automatically elicited by number symbols (i.e., digits from 1 to 9) remains unknown due to the difficulty to measure automatic semantic processing. We used a frequency‐tagging EEG paradigm targeting automatic magnitude processing in children (N = 33, 5–10‐year‐old

When determining what others know, we intuitively consider not only whether they succeed but also their probability of success in the absence of knowledge (e.g., random guessing). Across three experiments (n = 240 North American 4–6‐year‐olds, data collected between 2020–2023) we find that 4‐year‐olds understand that tasks with a lower probability of chance success are harder. However, it is not until

This pre-registered randomized clinical trial examined the efficacy of a prevention program on parenting of siblings and sibling relationships among Latinxs. Participants were 272 sibling dyads (82.9% Mexican) with 5th graders (Mage = 10.63; SD = 0.38; 51.8% female), their younger siblings in 1st to 4th grades (Mage = 8.18; SD = 1.06; 54.8% female), and their caregivers. Families were randomized to

This study examined school outness, school climate, and country inclusivity to assess their associations with bias‐based bullying and cyberbullying among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) in Europe in 2020–2021 (N = 12,764; Mage = 16.07; 69% female; 43% cisgender girls; 31% bisexual). Outness was positively related to bias‐based bullying (β = 0.10, R2 = 0.21) and cyberbullying (β = 0.04, R2 =

Aperiodic electroencephalography (EEG) activity is hypothesized to index biological mechanisms that underpin brain functioning. This longitudinal study characterized the developmental trajectories of the aperiodic slope (i.e., aperiodic exponent) and offset from infancy to 7 years of age in a US community sample (N = 391, 46.5% female, predominantly White; data collection 2013‐2023). The study further

Racial and ethnic disparities in children's diets are prevalent. Little is known about how fathers' food parenting practices may contribute to these disparities. We examined racial and ethnic variations in food parenting practices and their associations with 2–6‐year‐old children's diets in a cross‐sectional sample of U.S. fathers surveyed in 2021–2023 (N = 1015; 16% Asian, 9% Black, 6% Hispanic, 70%

Need for cognition (NFC) reflects the tendency to enjoy and engage in cognitive challenges. This study examines the relations between NFC and academic interest among 922 German secondary school students (academic track) assessed four times in Grades 5–7 (initial age M = 10.63, SD = 0.55; 41% female; 90% first language German) in mathematics, German, and English. Data were collected between 2008 and

What are the psychological consequences of receiving direct and indirect help in childhood? We conducted three preregistered experiments (N = 619, 7–9 years, 80% Dutch, 51% girls, 49% boys, mostly higher socioeconomic status) in the Netherlands (July 2020–July 2022). Children received direct help (correct answer), indirect help (hint), or no help. An internal meta‐analysis showed that children who

Childhood adversity takes a toll on lifelong health. However, investigations of unpredictability as a form of adversity are lacking. Environmental unpredictability across multiple developmental periods and ecological levels was examined using a multiethnic, longitudinal birth cohort (1998–2000) oversampled for unmarried parents. Data were from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4898

Observed parental sensitivity during a parent–child teaching task and free‐play task was tested as mediators of the association between family socioeconomic risk and child receptive language at 48 months, consistent with family investment theory. Parents (n = 881 mothers; 624 fathers, data collected between 2006‐2008) and their 5‐month‐old children (52% male) were recruited from public health clinics

Adjusting practice to different goals and characteristics is key to learning, but its development remains unclear. Across 2 preregistered experiments, 190 4‐to‐8‐year‐olds (106 female; mostly White; data collection: December 2021–September 2022) and 31 adults played an easy and a difficult game, then chose one to practice before a test on either the easy, difficult, or a randomly chosen game. All children

The present study assessed both concurrent and early influences of the maternal caregiving environment to examine unique contributions of each to variation in children's emotional responses to COVID‐19 pandemic. Preschoolers (3–5 years; M = 4.12, SD = 0.49) previously assessed in infancy, several years prior to pandemic outbreak, were re‐assessed during pandemic‐related nationwide lockdown (N = 200;

Eye‐tracking studies tested the understanding of two types of speech acts (questions and assertions) in 14‐, 18‐, and 30‐month‐olds (N = 280; 149 females; ethnicity data collection forbidden, testing in 2021–2024). Experiments involved objects either hidden or visible for a speaker. By 14 months, when the speaker asked questions, infants focused on hidden objects (rs > 0.31). Infants linked novel labels

Children with disabilities often receive accommodations, but teachers rarely explain them to typically‐developing (TD) classmates. How do TD students reason about these accommodations and evaluate their fairness? Five‐, seven‐, and nine‐year‐olds from the United States (N = 122; 50% female; 87.7% white; data collected April 2022 ‐ September 2023) heard stories where a child character with a cognitive

Music appears universally in human infancy with self‐evident effects: as many parents know intuitively, infants love to be sung to. The long‐term effects of parental singing remain unclear, however. In an offset‐design exploratory 10‐week randomized trial conducted in 2023 (110 families of young infants, Mage = 3.67 months, 53% female, 73% White), the study manipulated the frequency of infant‐directed

This longitudinal study (data collected from 2019 to 2023) examines the relation between Spanish‐English bilingual Latino toddlers' (n=46; F=22; M=24) early gesture production (Mage=18.67 months; SDage=1.02) and later language skills (Mage=36.87 months; SDage=0.81). Video recordings at child‐age 18‐months yielded counts of children's speech and gesture production; the latter included gesture words

Identifying the neural processes that underlie the association between children's early adverse experiences and cognitive development could inform more effective intervention strategies. The goal of the current study (data collected 2015–2021) was to examine relations among early experiences at 6 months, electroencephalography (EEG) theta power at 6 months and 2 years, and cognitive outcomes at 5 years

This meta‐analytic review explored the characteristics and effectiveness of combined language (e.g., vocabulary) and code (e.g., phonological awareness) interventions, including synergistic intervention effects for at‐risk preschoolers. Data from 29 randomized controlled trials, published before March 2023, reporting on 43 interventions, including 9333 children (4–6 years; 55% male, 45% African American

Growing up with multiple siblings might negatively affect language development. This study examined the associations between birth order, sibling characteristics and parent‐reported vocabulary size in 6163 Norwegian 8‐ to 36‐month‐old children (51.4% female). Results confirmed that birth order was negatively associated with vocabulary, yet exhibited a U‐shaped pattern. A data‐driven measure of “child‐to‐caregiver

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This study examines associations between enrollment in high‐quality PreK and growth in children's (N = 422; Mage = 5.63 years; 47% female; 15% Asian, 19% Black, 30% White, 31% Hispanic; 5% other or mixed race) academic, executive functioning, and social–emotional skills across kindergarten (2017–2018) and first grade (2018–2019). Associations between PreK enrollment and language and math skills were

This study examined bidirectional changes in adolescents' awareness of inequality and race consciousness between 2017 and 2018 in the USA and whether discriminatory experiences informed developmental pathways. The sample (N = 2645; Mage = 14.6, SD = 2.14; 56.5% female; > 0.01% transgender and gender diverse) was White (35.8%), Latinx (31.4%), multiple racial and ethnic groups (13.5%), Black (7.3%)

Primal world beliefs (“primals”) capture understanding of general characteristics of the world, such as whether the world is Good and Enticing. Children (N = 1215, 50% girls), mothers, and fathers from Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and United States reported neighborhood danger, socioeconomic status, parental warmth, harsh parenting, psychological control, and autonomy

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly impactful stressors that increase individuals' risk for a plethora of negative developmental and health outcomes. Furthermore, minoritized groups and under‐resourced individuals are at higher risk for ACEs, positioning these stressors as possible mechanisms driving health disparities. Given this fact, a strong methodological foundation is necessary to

Do children and adults recognize the value of disagreement for learning? Across two preregistered studies (data collected 2023), 4‐ to 8‐year‐old children (N = 200, 101 females, mixed ethnicities) and adults (N = 200, 99 females, mixed ethnicities) were asked whether a protagonist would learn more by talking to someone who agrees or disagrees with them about different beliefs. Across studies, participants

This research with two studies examined whether young children's moral judgments of honesty and dishonesty predict their actual cheating behavior. Participants were 200 children aged 3–6 years (2021–2022. Study 1: N = 80, Mage = 4.96, 40 girls; Study 2: N = 120, Mage = 4.98, 60 girls; all middle‐class Han Chinese). Children completed a temptation resistance paradigm assessing honest or cheating behaviors

Recent studies have established that even preverbal infants can monitor and regulate their mental states, raising the question of the variables involved in this early metacognitive development. Here, the metacognition of fifty‐five 18‐month‐old (27 females; mostly White; data collection: 2023) was assessed using an eye‐tracking paradigm designed to capture children's ability to seek information (i

The Covid‐19 pandemic underscored the significance of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for children's development. We investigated the impact of attendance at ECEC programs following a closure period due to the pandemic. We used linear regression with a lagged dependent variable to examine assessments of children's cognitive and receptive language based on a sample of Chilean children (N =

This study, involving 120 children (Mage = 4.25; SD = 0.83; 53% Female, 49% White, 23% multiracial, 16% Black, 9% Asian American, and 3% Latine) and their parents, examined parent talk constructs and their relation to children's early academic skills in 2021. Parents' talk was best represented as a three‐factor structure (general, number, and mathematical language), suggesting that mathematical language

Children's evaluations of empathizers were examined using vignette‐based tasks (N = 159 4‐ to 7‐year‐old U.S. children, 82 girls, 52% White) between March 2023 and March 2024. Children typically evaluated empathizers positively compared to less empathic others. They rated empathic responses as more appropriate, selected empathizers as nicer, and inferred more positive relationships between empathizers

Children rely on their Approximate Number System to intuitively perceive number. Such adaptations often exhibit sensitivity to real‐world statistics. This study investigates a potential manifestation of the ANS's sensitivity to real‐world statistics: a negative power‐law distribution of objects in natural scenes should be reflected in children's expectations about number, or in more Bayesian terms

DNA‐methylation profile scores (MPSs) index biology relevant for lifelong physical and cognitive health, but information on their longitudinal stability in childhood is lacking. Using two waves of data collected from 2014 to 2022 (Mlag between waves = 2.41 years) from N = 407 participants (Mage = 12.05 years, 51% female, 60% White), test–retest correlations were estimated for four salivary MPSs related

Learning takes time: Performance usually starts poorly and improves with practice. Do children intuit this basic phenomenon of skill learning? In preregistered Experiment 1 (n = 125; 54% female; 48% White; collected 2022–2023), US 7‐ to 8‐year‐old children predicted improved performance, 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children predicted flat performance, and 4‐year‐old children predicted near‐instant success followed

We investigated the role of children's conflict monitoring skills in revising an intuitive scientific theory. Children aged 5 to 9 (N = 177; 53% girls, data collected in Germany from 2019‐2023) completed computer‐based tasks on water displacement, a concept prone to misconceptions. Children predicted which of two objects would displace more water before receiving feedback. With increasing age, children

This study examined the impact of the Head Start Research‐based, Developmentally Informed (REDI) preschool intervention on high school outcomes and explored longitudinal mediation. 356 children (58% White, 25% Black, 17% Latinx; 54% female, 46% male; Mage = 4.49 years) were recruited from Head Start classrooms which were randomized to intervention (N = 192) or “usual practice” (N = 164). REDI effects

Research with Western samples has uncovered the rapid development of infants' visual attention. This study evaluated spatial attention in 6‐ to 9‐month‐old infants living in rural Malawi (N = 511; = 255, = 427) or suburban California, United States (N = 57, = 29, = 37) in 2018–2019. Using the Infant Orienting With Attention (IOWA) task, results showed that infants were faster and more accurate to fixate

Joint attention (JA) has been found to correlate with many developmental outcomes. However, little is known about how naturalistic JA is established and develops during early infancy. In this study, free‐flowing tabletop toy play between infants at 5 and 15 months and their mothers (N = 48 dyads; 65% white) was observed to (1) examine changes in JA, (2) investigate whether infants become better leaders

The out‐group homogeneity effect has been found to contribute to adults' inter‐group biases. Three studies examined whether 5‐ and 8‐year‐old Arab (i.e., minority) children in Israel also manifest this effect (March 2017–January 2020). Arab children from different religious affiliations and social environments (N = 272, 54% females) were asked to choose either a homogeneous or a heterogeneous sample

Counterfactual emotions such as regret may aid future decision‐making by encouraging people to focus on controllable features of personal past events. However, it remains unclear when children begin to preferentially focus on controllable features of such events. Across two studies, Australian 4–9‐year‐olds (N = 336, 168 females; data collected during 2021–2022) completed tasks that led to positive

Quality early childhood education (ECE) can improve children's learning and development in low‐ and middle‐income countries, but little evidence exists of programs targeting marginalized girls in vulnerable rural communities. This study used a matched‐pair mixed‐methods community‐randomized trial to evaluate a preschool program for marginalized girls (N = 466, Mage = 5‐years; W1 = 2022; W2 = 2023)

The present study examined the justifications used by children, adolescents, and adults to justify eating animals. Children (n = 100, Mage = 9.82, SD = 0.77, female n = 49) as compared to adolescents (n = 76, Mage = 14.0, SD = 1.62, female n = 36) and adults (n = 113, Mage = 44.1, SD = 14.4, female n = 54) were more ambivalent or opposed to eating animals, and they showed a distinct reasoning pattern

The late positive potential (LPP), an event‐related potential reflecting affective processing, may exhibit developmental shifts in magnitude and scalp location. In the present longitudinal study, 501 youth (47.3% female; 89.4% White; 12.0% Hispanic) completed the emotion interrupt task to elicit the LPP to neutral, positive, and negative images at approximately 9, 12, 15, and 18 years old (data collected

In critical approaches to the study of whiteness, white ignorance refers to systematic and intentional ways of (not) knowing that function to perpetuate racism. The current critical qualitative analysis examines how white ignorance surfaces in the racial identity narratives of white adolescents (N = 69, Mage = 15.91, SD = 0.49, data collected 2017–2019). Using semi‐structured interview data, we identified

This study used a natural experiment design to examine the impact of ethnic studies courses on students' ethnic‐racial identity (ERI) development, multicultural attitudes, and civic engagement during the 2021–2022 school year in Minneapolis, MN (N = 535; 33.5% White, 29.5% Black, 21.1% Latine, 10.7% multi‐racial; 44.7% female, 7.1% non‐binary). Compared to students who were quasi‐randomly assigned

Empirical findings on the associations of positive and dysfunctional parent–child relationship (PPCR/DPCR) characteristics with child shame, adaptive guilt, and maladaptive guilt were synthesized in six meta‐analyses. The 65 included samples yielded 633 effect sizes (Ntotal = 19,144; Mage = 15.24 years; 59.0% female; 67.7% U.S. samples, n = 12,036 with 65% White, 12.3% Hispanic and Latinx, 10.8% Black

Research examining relations between language skills and social competence has yielded mixed findings. Three meta‐analyses investigated links between language skills (overall, receptive, and expressive) and social competence in 2‐ to 12‐year‐old children. Data from 130 studies representing 62,120 children (M age at language assessment = 4.70 years; 52% male), predominantly from North America and Europe

Young children's helping can benefit both recipient and helper. This study examined how children and caregivers incorporate helper and recipient interests in evaluations of household helping. Data were collected throughout 2022. US children 4–6 years (N = 87; 47 girls, 40 boys; 71% European American, 23% Asian American, 14% Latinx, 3% Black, 2% Native American) and their caregivers were evaluated whether

Using data from the Human Connectome Project in Development (N = 1304; ages 5–21 years; 50% male; 59% White, 17% Hispanic, 13% Black, 9% Asian), multiple measures (self‐report, salivary hormones) and research designs (longitudinal, cross‐sectional) were used to characterize age‐related changes and sex differences in pubertal development. Both sexes exhibit a sigmoid trajectory of pubertal development;

This response to a Commentary by Delgado‐Ron, Jeyabalan, Watt, and Salway (2024) on Cimpian, Timmer, and Kim's (2023) paper discusses and clarifies some key issues in applying the new data‐validity sensitivity analysis proposed by Cimpian et al. (2023). The differences in the applications of the method by Delgado‐Ron et al. (2024) and Cimpian et al. (2023) present an opportunity to recognize the possibilities

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This study examined children's self‐assessment of their prosociality, relative to average peers, in situations where the recipient is described as “needy” versus “not needy” (at a school of average socioeconomic level in south Israel; N = 158; aged 6–12 years; 51% males, December–May 2021). The results show that older children exhibited the better‐than‐average (BTA) effect by seeing themselves as more

Overparenting—taking over and completing developmentally appropriate tasks for children—is pervasive and hurts children's motivation. Can overparenting in early childhood be reduced by simply framing tasks as learning opportunities? In Study 1 (N = 77; 62% female; 74% White; collected 4/2022), US parents of 4-to-5-year-olds reported taking over less on tasks they perceived as greater learning opportunities

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The present study investigated how Black and White American children, ages 6 to 9.5 years and 9.5 to 12 years (N = 219, MAge = 9.18 years, SDAge = 1.90; 51% female) evaluated vignettes in which peers included a same- or cross-race peer in a high-intimacy or low-intimacy context. These data were collected from 2021 to 2022. Children expected characters to be less likely to include cross-race peers in