Robert W Roeser, Isha Kanhere, Rujuta Deshmankar, Sapna Kumari, Marzuka Shaikh, Shital Pardeshi, Christina David, Lalbiakzuala Chhakchhuak, Amar Rathod, Rajendra Mhaske
{"title":"Adolescent identity development in globalizing India: Changes from 2005 to 2017 and links to cultural practices and well-being‡.","authors":"Robert W Roeser, Isha Kanhere, Rujuta Deshmankar, Sapna Kumari, Marzuka Shaikh, Shital Pardeshi, Christina David, Lalbiakzuala Chhakchhuak, Amar Rathod, Rajendra Mhaske","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag161","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This diachronic, cross-temporal study examined changes in adolescents' identities, practices, and well-being during a period of globalization in India. Data were collected from two independent cohorts of primarily Hindu, middle-class adolescents attending the same city schools in 2005 (n = 1,363, Mage = 13.55 (0.95); 45% female) and 2017 (n = 1,052, Mage = 13.65 (0.96), 48% female). Over time, adolescents placed greater value on family and service and engaged in religion less and consumption more. Adolescents endorsed self-related aspirations more (e.g., hedonism), and girls identified more strongly with freedom and wealth in 2017 versus 2005. At both times, traditional identities predicted greater religiosity and well-being, whereas less traditional identities predicted greater consumption. Findings suggest the enduring role of traditional identities for well-being.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148975857","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Minority children's preference for information about in- and out-groups, and the effect of information provision on their intergroup bias.","authors":"Yara Nassir, Meytal Nasie, Gil Diesendruck","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag160","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This research examined, between 2021 and 2022, Arab Muslim Israeli children's intergroup informational biases. In Study 1, 32 5-year-olds (44% girls), 32 7-year-olds (44% girls), and 53 adults (58% women) viewed images of an Arab individual (in-group), a Jewish individual (conflict out-group), and a Scottish individual (non-conflict out-group), and had to choose individual or category information about them. Participants preferred to receive category information for out-groups more than for their in-group. In Study 2, 97 5-year-olds (55% girls) and 97 7-year-olds (59% girls) were provided either \"No-information,\" \"individual information,\" or \"category information\" about group members. Children's attitudes and essentialism were assessed before and after information provision. Category information increased negative attitudes toward Jews, whereas individual information improved positive attitudes and reduced essentialism, suggesting potential for intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148918612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Miranda Mengyu Gao, Anna M Zhou, Yijia Li, Dylan Neff, K Lee Raby, Elisabeth Conradt, Sheila E Crowell
{"title":"Maternal parasympathetic functioning during pregnancy and infant parasympathetic functioning at 7 months: Evidence for intergenerational continuity.","authors":"Miranda Mengyu Gao, Anna M Zhou, Yijia Li, Dylan Neff, K Lee Raby, Elisabeth Conradt, Sheila E Crowell","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag170","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This Registered Report tested perinatal predictors of infant resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic functioning. Maternal RSA was collected at a resting state during the third trimester of pregnancy (N = 385, 56.9% of the pregnant mothers were White, non-Hispanic/Latina). Newborn attention and arousal were assessed shortly after birth. When infants (48% are male, and 50.7% are White, non-Hispanic/Latino) were 7 months old, their resting RSA was measured, and maternal sensitivity during a free-play interaction was coded. Greater maternal prenatal RSA was found to be associated with greater infant resting RSA. This longitudinal and intergenerational association was not significantly moderated or mediated by newborn neurobehavior or maternal sensitivity. Findings suggest that infant RSA may have roots in mothers' parasympathetic functioning during pregnancy.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148905133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interpretive theory of mind predicts greater willingness to seek out disagreement for learning.","authors":"Kirsten H Blakey, Samuel Ronfard","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag174","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Though disagreement provides valuable chances to learn, people typically avoid it. This study tested whether understanding that people can hold different views because they have interpreted the same evidence differently predicts children's and adults' interest in talking to someone with a different belief (children: 6 to 11 years; N = 97; 50 females, 47 males; diverse ethnicities; adults: N = 100; 49 females, 49 males, 1 gender-queer, 1 non-binary; diverse ethnicities). Data were collected between November 2024 and March 2025. Participants were first asked about their beliefs on different topics, then asked whether they wanted to talk to someone who agreed or disagreed with them to learn more. Interpretive theory of mind (iToM) was then measured using 2 paradigms assessing the ability to recognize that 2 people could interpret the same ambiguous stimuli differently. Higher iToM predicted greater willingness to seek out disagreement to increase learning. For children, this held across belief domains, whereas for adults it was only true for moral questions and ambiguous situations, not settled facts or personal preferences. The effect was stronger in children than adults when beliefs concerned preferences. These findings suggest that iToM may be required for understanding the epistemic value of disagreement.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148905141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christian M Nelson, Brianna K Hunter, Taylor R Hayes, John M Henderson, Lisa M Oakes
{"title":"The role of motor development and point-of-view on infant attention to naturalistic scenes.","authors":"Christian M Nelson, Brianna K Hunter, Taylor R Hayes, John M Henderson, Lisa M Oakes","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag171","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We assessed the effects of scene features and locomotor status on visual fixations in 52 infants (Mage = 26.51 weeks, SDage = 4.77; 28 boys, 23 girls; 24 infants were White and non-Hispanic and 28 were Asian, Black, Mixed Race, and/or Hispanic) while viewing photographs of naturalistic spaces, such as living rooms containing furniture and toys. We evaluated the impact of local meaning, defined by adult ratings of information density at specific scene locations. This local meaning affected crawling and non-crawling infants differently depending on perspective. Whereas non-crawlers fixated high-meaning areas in lower vantage point scenes, crawlers prioritized meaning from higher vantage points, suggesting that independent self-locomotion may tune cognitive resources to prioritize new features of the visual world.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148900390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
James Bruce Tomblin, Carol Scheffner Hammer, Kristi Hendrickson
{"title":"Childhood language ability predicts intergenerational persistence and social mobility in socioeconomic status of adults.","authors":"James Bruce Tomblin, Carol Scheffner Hammer, Kristi Hendrickson","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag175","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined early language abilities as a mediator of intergenerational socioeconomic status (SES). In a 30-year longitudinal study (N = 114, 98% White, 53% male, monolingual English speakers), participants were tracked from kindergarten to age 36 with measures of language, nonverbal IQ, academic achievement, and SES. Early language ability, independent of IQ, explained nearly a quarter (24%) of adult SES variance through two pathways. The persistence pathway (7.8%) showed language mediated 66% of intergenerational SES transmission. The mobility pathway (16.1%) showed language predicted deviation from family-based expectations, with twice the contribution to mobility as to persistence. Tenth-grade academic achievement added no reliable unique variance, suggesting language operates through mechanisms beyond formal education. Oral language emerges as a candidate mechanism linking family circumstances to adult socioeconomic outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148900315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zoe Campbell, Mark Boyes, Elien Vanluydt, Noah Padgett, Elizabeth Hill, Suze Leitão, Sarah Griffiths
{"title":"Impact of children's language ability on self-report assessment of mental health: Testing measurement invariance using moderated non-linear factor analysis.","authors":"Zoe Campbell, Mark Boyes, Elien Vanluydt, Noah Padgett, Elizabeth Hill, Suze Leitão, Sarah Griffiths","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag172","DOIUrl":"10.1093/chidev/aacag172","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Children with language difficulties are at elevated risk of mental health problems, yet tools commonly used to assess mental health rely heavily on language. It is unclear if children's language ability influences their self-report measures. We tested language-related measurement invariance using moderated non-linear factor analyses. We used self-report data from children (10-11 years) with a wide range of language abilities, living in the UK, on the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-25 (RCADS-25; n = 342; 171 female; 80 with language difficulties) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-Youth Report (SDQ-YR; n = 349; 174 female; 84 with language difficulties). Language-related differences were identified in both measures: six RCADS-25 items and three SDQ-YR items functioned differently in relation to language ability. For the RCADS-25, these differences did not affect anxiety and depression factor means. For the SDQ-YR, language-related item differences did affect peer problems and prosocial factor means, but not emotional problems, conduct problems, or hyperactivity. RCADS-25 factor scores appear robust for children with language difficulties, though item responses should be interpreted cautiously. In contrast, language-related differences in the SDQ-YR may limit comparisons of peer problems and prosocial subscales across children with differing language abilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148886439","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Two- and three-year-olds coordinate decisions in dyads and triads.","authors":"Alissa Rivero, Jared Vasil, Michael Tomasello","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag167","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Even young toddlers coordinate actions with a partner. But coordinating choices or decisions is more challenging, particularly in multi-party groups. In this pre-registered study (data collected from Fall 2023 to Spring 2025), 2- and 3-year-olds (n = 100, 50% female, 26% underrepresented minority) needed to select \"keys\" that matched in color to open a box. Children coordinated with one another in same-aged dyads or triads. In dyads, children of both ages were mostly successful, whereas 3-year-olds were much more successful than 2-year-olds in triads. This was especially true in a generalization trial in which only one of ten 2-year-old triads was successful, while all other groups were successful. Success at both ages was predicted by rates of cooperative communication about their choice of key. These results demonstrate that even 2-year-olds can coordinate choices with a single partner, but doing so in groups tends to emerge at around age three, when children begin to develop more advanced ways of thinking about and working with others.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148879364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dana C McCoy, Kenji Kitamura, Michał Miąskiewicz, Caitlin M Dermody, Abbie Raikes
{"title":"Interventions to support social-emotional outcomes for young children in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Dana C McCoy, Kenji Kitamura, Michał Miąskiewicz, Caitlin M Dermody, Abbie Raikes","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag163","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the impacts of interventions targeting social-emotional outcomes for young children (<8 years) living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Eighty-six (quasi-)experimental studies published prior to May, 2024 were included, reporting on 107 school-, home-, and community-based interventions with 27,378 children from 26 LMICs. Included interventions ranged in their content (social-emotional vs. not), setting of implementations (homes, schools, communities), target recipients (children vs. adults), and dosage. On average, interventions improved children's social-emotional outcomes by 0.47 SD (95%CI [0.36, 0.58]) in the short term (<6 months since intervention) and 0.09 SD [0.01, 0.18] in the long term (≥6 months). However, large variability in intervention effectiveness was only partially explained by the study and intervention characteristics examined. Prediction intervals also crossed zero, implying that future implementations of similar interventions are unlikely to yield universally positive impacts. Evidence for publication bias was also found. Taken together, results suggest that interventions can improve LMIC-based children's measured social-emotional outcomes, but attention to cultural considerations is needed to ensure meaningful and locally prioritized developmental gains.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148873334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mia Radovanovic, Grace Wujiamei Sun, Jessica A Sommerville
{"title":"Exploration supports toddlers' persistence during problem-solving.","authors":"Mia Radovanovic, Grace Wujiamei Sun, Jessica A Sommerville","doi":"10.1093/chidev/aacag166","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/chidev/aacag166","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Toddlers must rapidly acquire new skills. However, these attempts frequently come with experiences of failure which can be frustrating and lead to disengagement. Given that young children are naturally inclined to enact novel exploratory strategies in response to failure, independent exploration may sustain toddlers' persistence by shaping their perceptions of task success and offering them opportunities to experience a sense of agency. Here, these relations are examined using both archival data from the United States (n = 71, 18-month-olds; 26 female, 45 male; 72% white, originally tested in 2018) and an experimental intervention in Canada (n = 60, 18-24-month-olds; 30 female, 30 male; 25% white, tested in 2024 and 2025). The number of unique strategies that toddlers generated related to their overall persistence (ηp2 = .57). Further, experimentally encouraging exploration caused toddlers to persist longer (ηp2 = .24), and this effect was mediated by the number of unique strategies toddlers enacted (ab = 13.33, 95% CI [9.84, 16.72]). These findings provide converging correlational and causal evidence that exploration supports persistence during problem-solving, suggesting that encouraging exploration may be an effective intervention to foster persistence in early childhood.</p>","PeriodicalId":10109,"journal":{"name":"Child development","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148873269","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}