Recent work suggests that common knowledge is an important cognitive mechanism for coordinating prosocial behavior, in part because it reduces uncertainty about others' cooperative behavior. However, it remains unclear whether children also rely on common knowledge to solve coordination problems. Here we examined whether 6- to 9-year-old children…

The human capacity for technological innovation and creative problem-solving far surpasses that of any species but develops quite late. Prior work has typically presented children with problems requiring a single solution, a limited number of resources, and a limited amount of time. Such tasks do not allow children to utilize one of their…

Machiavellianism is an antisocial interpersonal style involving the use of manipulative, deceptive, and coercive behaviors in the pursuit of self-interest. Although widely studied as a "dark" personality trait in adults, relatively little is known about the developmental correlates of Machiavellian tendencies earlier in life. The present…

The authors examined task-based (i.e., executive function), surveyed (i.e., effortful control), and physiological (i.e., resting cardiac respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) measures of child and maternal regulation as distinct moderators of longitudinal bidirectional links between child externalizing (EXT) behaviors and harsh parenting (HP) from 6…

Children who show elevated levels of indirect aggression (IA) from childhood to adolescence are at increased risks of experiencing detrimental outcomes. Some studies suggest that psychopathic traits could act as a predisposing vulnerability in the development of IA, but the contributions of all three dimensions of psychopathic traits in explaining…

Previous research shows that children evaluate the competence of others based on how effectively someone accomplished a goal, that is, based on the observed outcome of an action (e.g., number of attempts needed). Here, we investigate whether 5- to 10-year-old children and adults infer competence from how efficiently someone solves a task by…

Prior studies have indicated that prosocial behavior might be a protective factor for developing internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. However, little research has been conducted on within-person changes of prosocial behavior and behavioral problems over time. With random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs), the current…

Child temperament has long been viewed as a potential susceptibility factor in the link between parenting and child disruptive behavior (CDB). Specifically, the idea is that children with higher negative emotionality, surgency, and lower effortful control are more affected by their received parenting, but experimental evidence is scarce. Also,…

This study is a secondary data analysis that extends knowledge about the effects of the early childhood Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention to trajectories of general psychopathology problems (p factor) across early and middle childhood, and effects on adolescent psychopathology and polydrug use. The Early Steps Multisite study (ClinicalTrials.gov…

This study examined relations of affinity for solitude with social-behavioral, academic, and psychological adjustment in Chinese children and adolescents. The participants included 3,417 students (1,714 boys) in fourth, sixth, and eighth grades (M[subscript ages] = 10, 12, and 14 years, respectively) in China. Data on affinity for solitude were…

Childhood adversity can have detrimental impacts on life course mental and physical health. Timing, nature, severity, and chronicity of adversity are thought to explain much of the variability in health and developmental outcomes among exposed individuals. The current study seeks to characterize heterogeneity in adverse experiences over time at…

Maternal anxiety and depression symptomatology are risk factors for the development of children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. However, it is still unclear whether chronic and transient symptoms relate differently to child behavior. The aim of this prospective longitudinal study (N = 193) was to investigate the associations…

Emerging literature links neighborhood disadvantage to altered neural function in regions supporting socioemotional and threat processing. Few studies, however, have examined the proximal mechanisms through which neighborhood disadvantage is associated with neural functioning. In a sample of 7- to 19-year-old twins recruited from disadvantaged…

Behavior genetic methods are useful for examining mechanisms underlying the interaction between genetic and family environmental factors of internalizing problem behavior (INT). Previous twin studies, however, have shown little consistency in interaction patterns, depending on type and operationalization of measured environments. The aim of the…

This study examined the longitudinal associations of various executive function components with subsequent psychiatric problems in Chinese school-age children. Data from 1,639 children (44.36% girls) ages 6-13 years were drawn from the Children School Functions and Brain Development project. Executive function components were assessed by the…