This study traces patterns of attendance, times of arrival and departure, and policies and practices surrounding enrollment and moving children from classroom to classroom in a child care center. It appears that children's efforts to acquire competence in developing friendships with their peers not only depends on their own capacities, but is also…

This study addresses the extent to which insecure and disorganized attachments increase risk for externalizing problems using meta-analysis. From 69 samples (N = 5,947), the association between insecurity and externalizing problems was significant, d = 0.31 (95% CI: 0.23, 0.40). Larger effects were found for boys (d = 0.35), clinical samples (d =…

Recent studies have demonstrated infants' pragmatic abilities for resolving the referential ambiguity of non-verbal communicative gestures, and for inferring the intended meaning of a communicator's utterances. These abilities are difficult to reconcile with the view that it is not until around 4 years that children can reason about the internal…

Growth mixture models (GMMs; B. O. Muthen & Muthen, 2000; B. O. Muthen & Shedden, 1999) are a combination of latent curve models (LCMs) and finite mixture models to examine the existence of latent classes that follow distinct developmental patterns. GMMs are often fit with linear, latent basis, multiphase, or polynomial change models…

This study investigated at what point in development 3- to 6-year-old children begin to demonstrate counterfactual reasoning by controlling for fortuitously correct answers that result from basic conditional reasoning. "Basic conditional reasoning" occurs when one applies typical regularities (such as "If 'whenever' it doesn't rain the street is…

Variations in phenotype reflect the influence of environmental conditions during development on cellular functions, including that of the genome. The recent integration of epigenetics into developmental psychobiology illustrates the processes by which environmental conditions in early life structurally alter DNA, providing a physical basis for the…

Learning is defined as a change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience. It is clear that the fetus can learn by means of habituation, classical conditioning and exposure learning. These types of learning will be discussed in relation to learning in the womb and the memory of learned material after birth. Furthermore, the potential…

Many parents work hard to foster a culture of learning early in their children's development. The desire for children to learn as early as possible is common among Hong Kong-Australian families. These children continue to perform well academically. Little is known about the pedagogy that underpins such development in the family or on the…

This prospective longitudinal study provides evidence of preschool-age precursors of hostile attribution bias in young school-age children, a topic that has received little empirical attention. We examined multiple risk domains, including laboratory and observational assessments of children's social-cognition, general cognitive functioning,…

Background: The differential susceptibility hypothesis states that some genetic variants that confer risk in adverse environments are beneficial in normal or nurturing environments. The cholinergic system is promising as a source of susceptibility genes because of its involvement in learning and neural plasticity. The cholinergic receptor gene…

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is widely accepted to have deleterious effects on the well-being and development of children and adolescents. However, rigorous meta-analytic methods have not been applied to determine the degree to which SES supports or limits children's and adolescents behavioural, cognitive and language development. While…

Background: Down syndrome (DS, OMIM #190685) is the most commonly identified genetic form of intellectual disability with congenital heart defect (CHD) occurring in 50% of cases. With advances in surgical techniques and an increasing lifespan, this has necessitated a greater understanding of the neurodevelopmental consequences of CHDs. Herein, we…

Music education is often advocated as having "extra-musical effects" contributing to the development of the whole child. The pedagogy teachers employ to deliver music programs could affect the significance of such benefits. This paper will review literature documenting how children benefit from receiving music education delivered using…

Background: Children who have been exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV) experience a wide variety of short-term social adjustment and emotional difficulties, including externalizing behavioral problems such as aggression. While children are affected by IPV at all ages, little is known about the long-term consequences of IPV exposure at…

Using grounded theory, this study investigated primary caregivers' perceptions of the role they play in influencing the academic success of students formally identified as twice-exceptional. Data from interviews were coded and analyzed for themes. Results indicated that primary caregivers (mothers) perceived that they played a major role in…