Studies from both high and low-middle income (LAMI) countries have documented how being reared in poverty is linked to compromised child development. Links between poverty and development are mediated by the timing and extent of exposure to both risk factors nested under poverty and to protective influences which can attenuate the impact of risk.…

Relations between children's (n = 213) mother-reported effortful control components (attention focusing, attention shifting, inhibitory control at 42 months; activational control at 72 months) and mother-reported shyness trajectories across 42, 54, 72, and 84 months of age were examined. In growth models, shyness decreased. Inhibitory control and…

The rise in personal ownership of touch-screen technology such as iPads and smartphones in the UK in recent years has led to the increasing use of such technology by babies and very young children. This article explores this practice via an online parental survey with 226 UK parents of children aged 0-3 years within the context of the current…

Background: The aim of this study was to test the usefulness of the Cognitive and Language scales Bayley-III in the early assessment of cognitive and language functions in the context of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis. This paper focuses on the application of the Bayley-III and studies the predictive value of the test result in…

Favourable home learning environments (HLEs) support children's literacy, numeracy and social development. In large-scale research, HLE is typically measured by self-report survey, but there is little consistency between studies and many different items and latent constructs are observed. Little is known about the stability of these items and…

The phenomenon of imaginary companions (ICs) has received little attention in developmental psychology, even though it can be observed in approximately 25% of preschool-aged children. Only a few studies have investigated the effect of ICs on children's theory of mind and emotion understanding, and the results are partial or inconsistent. This…

Many studies have identified the positive "link" between imaginary play and emotion regulation in laboratory settings. However, little is known about "how" play and emotion regulation are related in everyday practice. This article examines how families use play as a tool to support young children's emotion regulation in…

In this paper, we revisit Brown's ("Br J Soc Educ" 14: 65-85, 1990) concept of "parentocracy" which has been informatively applied in educational research in a number of studies in various countries internationally--but almost none in North America. We provide an expanded conceptualization of parentocracy and suggest that it…

This paper re-examines the purposes of a planned and intentional parenting style--"concerted cultivation"--for different middle-class groups, highlighting that social class fraction, ethnicity, and also individual family disposition, guides understandings of the purposes of enrolling children in particular enrichment activities. We…

This study is part of a larger longitudinal project with the aim of focusing early social interaction and development of mentalizing ability in 12 deaf infants, including the interaction between the infants and their deaf parents. The aim of the present paper is to describe early social interaction and moments of intersubjectivity between the deaf…

Speech and language abilities are of great importance for later participation in economical and social life. In Lower Saxony/Germany, severely speech-/language (SL) impaired children may obtain special treatment during preschool in a so-called "Sprachheilkindergarten" (STK), a kindergarten focusing on early SL therapy. Purpose: This work…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the effects of a modified reciprocal imitation training (RIT) on the imitation skills of children with autism. Two parents were trained and coached to use the modified RIT with their young children with autism in home settings. The modified RIT was composed of contingent imitation, descriptive…

Background: Command of language is a fundamental skill, a cornerstone of multiple cognitive and socioemotional aspects of development, and a necessary ingredient of successful adjustment and functioning in society. Little is known about the developmental stability of language in at-risk youth or which biological and social risk factors moderate…

It has been widely reported that Korean-American students as a group outperform most other groups of students in terms of academic achievement due to having parents with especially high academic expectations due to traditional Confucian values. To examine this achievement, this study examines the common factors across the indigenous East Asian…

Research highlights the importance of early childhood intervention (ECI) for children with disabilities, and there is an increasing interest in China with respect to research on ECI. However, little research exists exploring the experience of families of young children with disabilities receiving ECI services and supports in China. The purpose of…