Developmental Psychology最新文献

{"title":"Situation models support referential prediction at 36 months of age.","authors":"Amanda Rose Yuile, Cynthia Fisher, Arielle Borovsky","doi":"10.1037/dev0002277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002277","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Adults generate causally structured situation models during comprehension and use them to predict upcoming referents. In an eye-tracked comprehension task, 36-month-olds (<i>N</i> = 115) did the same, using story-provided information to predict which character could plausibly be mentioned next. In critical sentences, such as \"She asked the goose with the boots to play with her,\" children treated \"the goose\" as unambiguous even in a story with two geese, looking toward the target animal before disambiguating information arrived if one goose was described as having left the scene earlier in the story. Success in this task implies predictive use of a situation model to infer reference to a still-present character. Individual differences in language skills predicted inference generation, and exploratory analyses suggested children with language delay did not generate these inferences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13640165/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149116793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parent conversations with young children: Implications for child well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.","authors":"Shannon E Dier, Rachel B Thibodeau-Nielsen, Francisco Palermo, Alaina Dooley, María Fernanda Rueda-Posada, Rachel E White","doi":"10.1037/dev0001851","DOIUrl":"10.1037/dev0001851","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parent-child conversations may minimize the impact of stressful situations on children's well-being. Parents were encouraged to talk with their children about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, yet research suggests that parent stress in response to the pandemic was associated with disruptions in parenting and increased child emotional distress. In the present study, 205 parents of children aged 3-6 years (50.7% girls, 56.6% White) reported on conversations about the pandemic and responded to measures of parent stress and child emotional distress in the fall of 2020. Qualitative analysis revealed that talk about mitigation strategies was frequent; most parents offered an explanation for pandemic changes, whereas fewer parents reported communicating support. Guided by the family stress model, we then examined whether different conversation types moderated the association between parent stress and child emotional distress. Only talk about pandemic changes and explanations that COVID-19 was dangerous acted as moderators, suggesting that these conversation types strengthened the association between parent stress and child emotional distress. A main effect of self-protective explanations being associated with lower child emotional distress was also found. We discuss the implications of these findings for future research on parent-child conversations about stressful situations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1985-1998"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142548429","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"COVID-19 pandemic stress and child adjustment: Examining the moderating role of mothers' and fathers' pandemic conversational style.","authors":"Jennifer G Bohanek, Cory R Platts, Madeline M Patrick, Nanxi Xu, Tara Lottes, Evan Reichard, Chase O'Neal, Amanda Bennett, Anna Blue, Halley Felty, Ashley M Groh","doi":"10.1037/dev0001995","DOIUrl":"10.1037/dev0001995","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 62(10) of <i>Developmental Psychology</i> (see record 2028-28563-002). In the article, the demographic information in the abstract is incorrect. It should read, \"Drawing from a predominantly middle-class sample of 56 families comprising mothers (M_age = 35.25 years, 80.4% White/European American), fathers (<i>N</i> = 45, M_age = 37.16, 87.2% White/ European American), and their child (M_age = 4.59 years, 58.9% male), mothers and fathers separately discussed their child's biggest challenge and most positive pandemic experience.\" The demographic information in the Participants paragraph in the Method section is also incorrect. It should read \"Mothers were primarily White/European American (80.4%), 8.9% Asian, 1.8% Black/African American, 3.6% Latinx, and 5.4% mixed/another race/ethnicity. Fathers were primarily White/European American (87.2%), 8.5% Asian, and 4.3% Latinx.\"] The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges for families, especially those with young children. While the negative impacts of these challenges on children's adjustment have been well-documented, less work has examined protective factors that may buffer children. We examined the moderating role of parent-child conversations on the relation between pandemic stress and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Drawing from a predominantly middle-class sample of 56 families comprising mothers (<i>M</i>_age = 35.25 years, 77% White/non-Hispanic), fathers (<i>N</i> = 45, <i>M</i>_age = 37.16, 84% White/non-Hispanic), and their child (<i>M</i>_age = 4.59 years, 58.9% male), mothers and fathers separately discussed their child's biggest challenge and most positive pandemic experience. Conversations were coded for frequency of internal states' language and parental level of elaboration. Results indicate that mothers', but not fathers', highly elaborative style when discussing their child's biggest challenge and most positive pandemic experiences mitigated the association between families' COVID-19 pandemic stress and children's externalizing problems. These findings have implications for future parenting and intervention work, and highlight the importance of considering parent gender, conversational style, and conversational valence in understanding the mechanistic role parent-child conversations play in buffering children from pandemic stressors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"1930-1942"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144610006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Family communication and child outcome during the pandemic.","authors":"Robyn Fivush","doi":"10.1037/dev0002206","DOIUrl":"10.1037/dev0002206","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The COVID-19 pandemic led to a worldwide crisis in which most families sheltered in place for long periods of time. We know that children, preschool through adolescence, generally suffered negative consequences of the shutdown, but we know less about the ways in which families communicated with each other during the pandemic or how this might be related to child outcome. The studies presented in this special issue examine this question from multiple theoretical perspectives and employing multiple methodologies. Both what was talked about and how it was talked about were studied. Individual difference factors, including family structure and resources, parental stress and depression, and child age, were considered. Across studies, findings converge on the role that open and elaborative parent-child communication plays in positive child and adolescent mental health outcome. Implications and lessons learned are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":"62 10","pages":"2070-2074"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148991932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"From microstates to network connectivity: Age-related differences in resting-state electroencephalography and their implications for cognitive abilities in adulthood.","authors":"Ying Cui, Yating Bai, Chenghui Tan, Ling Bao, Qingfang Zhang","doi":"10.1037/dev0002271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002271","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The relationship between resting electroencephalography brain characteristics and cognitive abilities, particularly in the context of aging, remains unclear. In this study, we analyzed dynamic microstates, power spectrum, and functional connectivity in electroencephalography resting-state data collected from 123 younger individuals (17-32 years) and 99 older adults (60-81 years) experiencing normal aging, under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. We also examined correlations between these brain features and cognitive abilities, including working memory, processing speed, and inhibition. Our results revealed age-related differences in the balance between microstates C' and D, as well as in power across the delta, theta, and alpha bands, and in intra- and interhemispheric connectivity patterns. Older adults also exhibited an anterior shift and decreased asymmetry in power. Notably, significant associations emerged between these brain features and cognitive abilities, particularly in forward and backward working memory, with the effects being more pronounced in the older group. Our findings indicate a decline in overall resting-state electroencephalography brain activity with age, along with a shift in the balance between attentional and default mode networks, emphasizing the strong connection between these neural changes and cognitive abilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149116770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is liking math enough? The effects of math interest and confidence on the math anxiety-performance relation.","authors":"Zahra Maghami-Sharif, Colleen M Ganley, Olivia K Cook, Robert C Schoen, Rachelle M Johnson","doi":"10.1037/dev0002256","DOIUrl":"10.1037/dev0002256","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It has been well established that higher math anxiety is associated with lower math performance. Thus, it is important to understand what individual-level factors might play a role in the math anxiety-performance relation to inform intervention efforts. Grounded in the expectancy-value theory and control-value theory with converging support from the broaden-and-build theory, we conceptualized math interest and confidence as stable positive attitudes and hypothesized that they would buffer the negative relation between math anxiety and both concurrent and later performance. Regression analyses were conducted in two samples of elementary school children (<i>n</i>₁ = 310; <i>n</i>₂ = 3,007) spanning kindergarten through third grade. We examined the interaction effects of math anxiety and math interest, as well as math anxiety and math confidence, on children's math performance. Additionally, we explored age-related differences in these interactions. Results suggest that positive math attitudes did not reduce the negative relation between math anxiety and performance. Rather, there was some weak evidence that there is a stronger negative relation between math anxiety and performance among children with higher levels of math interest. Similarly, there was a stronger negative relation between math anxiety and performance among children with higher levels of math confidence, a finding that was stable across multiple analyses. There were no age-related differences in these interactions. These findings provide a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between math attitudes, anxiety, and performance in elementary school, underscoring the need for targeted interventions to specifically address math anxiety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149041463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A daily diary study of reciprocal associations between young adults' loneliness and problematic social media use through psychological distress symptoms: The buffering roles of mindfulness and self-compassion.","authors":"Hongjian Cao, Kunru Song, Yao Zheng, Yue Liang, Yuan-Wei Yao, Nan Zhou","doi":"10.1037/dev0002276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002276","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Loneliness and problematic social media use (PSMU) are two modern epidemics worldwide, which are often comorbid and prevalent among young adults. The design of everyday interventions calls for scientific endeavors that address how they may reciprocally influence each other on microtimescales and identify modifiable mechanisms. Using a 30-day daily diary design, this study examined the link between loneliness and PSMU among 209 Chinese young adults (<i>M</i> = 20.95 years old, 51.2% female), with psychological distress symptoms (PD) tested as a mediator and mindfulness and self-compassion explored as buffers. Results of dynamic structural equation modeling analyses indicated reciprocal positive associations between loneliness and PSMU across days at within-person level. PD mediated such associations, with a stronger indirect effect from PSMU to loneliness (vs. reverse) through PD. At between-person level, mindfulness and self-compassion attenuated the cross-day indirect effect from PSMU to loneliness (rather than reverse) via PD by buffering the same-day positive association of PSMU with PD. Between-person mindfulness and self-compassion also alleviated the same-day positive association between loneliness and PD, but no significant conditional indirect effects emerged for the cross-day pathway from loneliness to PSMU through PD. At within-person level, although self-compassion (rather than mindfulness) buffered the same-day positive association of PSMU (or loneliness) with PD, no conditional cross-day indirect effects emerged. These findings provide insights into how and why young adults' daily loneliness and PSMU perpetuate each other. Improving young adults' mindfulness and self-compassion skills and reducing their PD could help diminish vicious cycles of daily loneliness and PSMU. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149013071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Children's exploration distinguishes necessary and merely possible outcomes.","authors":"Luisa Andreuccioli, Sophie Mazor, Katarina Begus, Elizabeth Bonawitz, Stephanie Denison, Caren M Walker","doi":"10.1037/dev0002269","DOIUrl":"10.1037/dev0002269","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Preschoolers often fail tasks that require that they select between a necessary and a merely possible outcome. Prior work has interpreted these failures as evidence that children hold a minimal representation of possibility or as reflecting performance factors. However, all previous paradigms have operationalized children's modal understanding as a discrete choice or outcome, making it difficult to distinguish between these accounts. We introduce a continuous measure of search behavior to assess how modal status regulates exploration. American 3- and 4-year-olds (48% female, 52% male) searched for an object dropped into one of two boxes after passing through a set of either transparent (yielding a single necessary location) or opaque tubes (yielding two possible locations). In Experiment 1, both age groups spent relatively less time searching the first location they approached and switched more often when the outcomes were merely possible than when the outcome was necessary. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern in a touchscreen version. Experiment 3 demonstrated the same effect while controlling for object tracking by equating inferential demands across conditions. Across experiments, children's search behavior was aligned with modal status, indicating that representations of necessity and possibility guide exploration before children reliably succeed on discrete choice modal reasoning tasks. These results suggest children's early sensitivity to modal concepts is expressed in their continuous search behavior, shaping real-time decision making. Our findings inform theories of modal reasoning in early childhood, suggesting that modal representations may be more readily expressed through graded patterns of exploration rather than discrete choices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149013119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Children's and young adults' evaluations of distributional fairness in relation to other norms.","authors":"Marc Jambon, Judith G Smetana, Noah Battaglia, Jacqueline Di Biase","doi":"10.1037/dev0002261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002261","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although developmental theories have long conceptualized fairness in resource distribution contexts as a component of morality, this view has been challenged recently. Based on findings from two studies, Yucel et al. (2022) concluded that children-and perhaps adults-do not perceive fairness as a moral norm. Using social domain theory as a framework, this article considers (mis)conceptions in Yucel et al.'s definitions and measurement of morality and empirically reevaluates their claims regarding children's and adults' perceptions of fairness. Study 1 used an online survey to examine university students' (<i>N</i> = 306; 18-24 years) judgments and justifications in response to hypothetical scenarios involving straightforward moral and nonmoral norm violations. Participants' reasoning about harm and resource inequality centered on concerns for others' welfare and fairness. Judgments of harm and resource inequality were also less dependent on the existence of norms/expectations than were conventional violations (nonmoral transgressions). Study 2 used interviews to examine whether children (<i>N</i> = 50; 4-8 years) also treat resource inequality as a moral concern. Children judged unequal resource distribution, like harm, as more norm-independent than conventions and provided justifications focused on fairness. In Study 3, a partial reanalysis of data from Yucel et al.'s Study 1 suggested that their failure to detect a significant difference in norm independence judgments of resource inequality and conventional transgressions was likely due to insufficient statistical power. Together these findings suggest that children and adults do perceive distributional fairness as a moral norm as conceptualized within social domain theory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148991961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predicting elementary scientific literacy from preschoolers' causal stance, causal reasoning skills, and home science environment.","authors":"Jihye Bae, Margaret Shavlik, Amy Elizabeth Booth","doi":"10.1037/dev0002264","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002264","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This longitudinal study followed 153 children from ages 3 (<i>M</i>_age = 3.41, <i>SD</i>_age = 0.26, 53% girls, 47% boys) to 7 years (<i>M</i>_age = 7.92, <i>SD</i>_age = 0.28, 54% girls, 46% boys) representative of the diverse demographics (30% Hispanic/Latino, 13% Black/African American, 11% mixed race/other, 3% Asian) of Austin, Texas, to examine the relative degree to which preschoolers' causal stance, causal reasoning skills, and home science environment predict scientific literacy through early elementary school. Together, these three predictors explained up to one third of the variance in scientific literacy across time, with causal reasoning emerging as the single most powerful and consistent predictor in multiple regression analyses. The predictive strength of causal reasoning skill increased as children aged from 3 to 5 years old and remained significant even after accounting for general cognitive ability. Causal stance and the home science environment also contributed significantly at select time points, though their effects were weaker and less consistent. Though dominance analyses generally supported the relative importance of causal reasoning, pairwise comparisons did not consistently indicate statistical differentiation from the other predictors, thereby underscoring the complementary contributions of cognitive, motivational, and environmental factors. Overall, findings suggest that although all three factors matter, early causal reasoning skills may provide a particularly strong foundation for the development of scientific literacy, highlighting the value of fostering these skills in early childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2026-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148971748","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}