Within the last 20 years, transitions in the conceptualization of emotion and its development have given rise to calls for an explanatory framework that captures emotional development in all its organizational complexity and variability. Recent attempts have been made to couch emotional development in terms of a dynamical systems approach through…

Socio-emotional behaviour is in part sex-related in humans, although the contribution of the biological and socio-cultural factors is not yet known. This study explores sex-related differences during the earliest communicative exchange, the neonatal imitation in 43 newborn infants (3-96 hours old) using an index finger extension imitative gesture.…

Twenty six children with autism, 24 children with developmental disabilities, and 15 typically developing children participated in tasks in which an adult displayed emotions. Child focus of attention, change in facial tone (i.e., hedonic tone), and latency to changes in tone were measured and summary scores of emotional contagion were created.…

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) national model recognizes the importance of school counselors addressing the personal and social development of students, as well as the academic development, to ultimately help them succeed. A number of concerns have been raised regarding the impact of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act on…

The work in family child care is becoming increasingly more professional, moving from an image of "mothering" toward one of educare. The growing demand for expertise and competence in family child care providers can be examined in light of their pedagogical experiences and the ways in which children engage in learning in providers' homes. This…

This article was excerpted from the author's "Charting the Bumpy Road of Coparenthood: Understanding the Challenges of Family Life", published in 2007 by "ZERO TO THREE." In the "Families Through Time" longitudinal study, James P. McHale and a number of colleagues met with expectant couples and then followed the families when the infants were 3…

College age students are in the midst of important psychosocial and neurobiological changes. The developmental fluidity of this period of life compels caution in diagnosing and treating depressive episodes, especially in discriminating between bipolar and non-bipolar depression. Treating college age students with depression requires adherence to…

Among the many transitions and passages students face during their school years, the entry into middle school is one of the most difficult. During this period, it is crucial for schools and families to work together in order to establish a constructive framework that can foster positive development. This article discusses the important academic,…

Seven-year-old children (N=65) participating in a study of the influence of infant temperament on socioemotional development performed an auditory selective attention task involving words that varied in both affective (positive vs. negative) and social (social vs. nonsocial) content. Parent report of contemporaneous child temperament was also…

The goals of this paper were two-fold. The first goal was to examine the emotional and social developmental value of play in the early childhood classroom. This issue is important because of the recent impetus for a more academic focus in early childhood classrooms, and questions about the developmental benefits of play. The second goal was to…

The research shows that people cannot--and should not--separate how they feel (about themselves, their relationships, their environments) from teaching or learning. It makes the case for social emotional learning (SEL) in schools clear. First, schools are social places and learning is a social process. Students do not learn alone, but rather in…

The Early Head Start evaluation included 17 sites drawn from the first two waves of programs started more than a decade ago. By design, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) selected programs that would reflect the range of service options and context of all extant program rather than choosing a representative sample. The sites…

The "Research & Action Report," published twice a year, is a window on the activities and initiatives at the Wellesley Centers for Women. The report typically features news about the Centers, interviews with researchers, commentary on recent events or social trends affecting women and girls, announcements of new publications, and…

Behavioral and emotional strengths are important to consider when understanding youth mental health and treatment. This study examined the association between youth strengths and functional impairment and whether this association is modified by race/ethnicity. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to estimate the effects of strengths on…

Implementing the Pyramid Model with fidelity and achieving positive outcomes for children and their families requires that administrators understand their roles in the implementation process. Every administrative decision impacts program quality and sustainability. This Policy Brief underscores the importance of facilitative administrative…