Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001898

Women tend to negotiate less than men, which—along with other well-documented interpersonal and structural factors—contributes to persistent gender gaps in pay for equal work. Here, we explore the developmental origins of these gender differences in negotiation. Across three studies (N = 462), we investigated 6- to 12-year-old girls’ and boys’ perceptions of negotiation (e.g., how common and permissible it is to negotiate) and gave children opportunities to negotiate for resources themselves. These opportunities were hypothetical in Studies 1 and 2 and actual in Study 3. Overall, girls and boys had similar perceptions of negotiation. However, the links between perceptions and negotiation behavior often differed by gender, especially in the context of an actual negotiation (Study 3). Boys’—but not girls’—negotiation requests were higher when they thought that (a) other children asked for more, (b) it was permissible to ask for more, (c) they would not receive backlash for asking for more, and (d) asking for more would actually get them more. In contrast, girls’ negotiation requests were uniquely predicted by how competent they thought they were at the task for which they negotiated a reward—that is, how deserving they thought they were. Notably, boys overestimated their competence (both relative to girls and relative to reality) and negotiated for more resources as a result. Understanding the early origins of gender differences in negotiation provides insight into how to prevent the emergence of such differences and dismantle persistent gender inequities in society. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001904

Spatial skills like block building and puzzle making are associated with later growth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning. How these early spatial experiences—both in concrete and digital platforms—boost children’s spatial skills remains a mystery. This study examined how children with low- and high-parental education use corrective feedback in a series of spatial assembly tasks. We further ask whether this spatial learning increases near- and far-transfer spatial and math skills. U.S. preschoolers (N = 331) were randomly assigned to either a “business-as-usual” control or one of six spatial training groups (comprising concrete and digital training with modeling and feedback [MF], gesture feedback, or spatial language feedback). Children were trained for 5 weeks to construct 2D puzzles that match a model using a variety of geometric shapes. Pre- and posttests evaluated 2D and 3D spatial assembly, spatial language comprehension, shape identification, and math performance. Results indicate performance enhancement in trained 2D spatial assembly across all six trainings. Digital gesture feedback transferred, boosting 3D spatial assembly performance. Both concrete and digital spatial language feedback trainings increased shape identification performance. Concrete-MF significantly (and digital-MF marginally) increased word problem math performance for children with lower parental education. Finally, collapsing across conditions, both concrete and digital training increased overall spatial skills, especially for preschoolers with lower parental education. Transfer to overall mathematics performance was far less robust. Overall, early concrete and digital spatial assembly experiences seem to support preschoolers’ spatial skill development but have a minor impact on mathematics skill development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001896

Prosocial behavior, including instrumental helping, emerges early in development, but the role parental attitudes and practices take in shaping the emergence of early helping across different cultural contexts is not well understood. We took a longitudinal approach to investigate maternal socialization of early helping across two different cultural groups. Participants were mother–infant dyads from urban/suburban York, United Kingdom (43 infants: 21 females, 22 males) and the rural Masindi District, Uganda (39 infants: 22 females, 17 males). We examined cultural variations in mother’s helping-related parenting practices toward 14- and 18-month-olds and infants’ actual helping in experimental tasks at 18 months. We then asked whether maternal parenting practices and socialization goals predicted individual variation in infant helping. We found that U.K. mothers scaffolded infant helping using a larger range of strategies than Ugandan mothers, but expecting an infant to help was more common in Uganda than in the United Kingdom. Moreover, we found that the Ugandan infants were more likely and often quicker to help an adult in need than the U.K. infants. Finally, we found that maternal scaffolding behaviors positively predicted individual variation in infant helping at 18 months in the United Kingdom, but not in Uganda. By contrast, maternal alignment with relational socialization goals at 11 months positively predicted infant helping at 18 months in the Ugandan, but not in the U.K., sample. These results indicate that early instrumental helping behavior varies across societies and that maternal socialization goals and scaffolding behaviors can shape infant helping in culturally specific ways. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001914

This study examined reciprocal relations between two dimensions of peer status, likability and popularity, and two dimensions of empathy, empathic concern and perspective taking, across adolescence. A school-based sample of 893 (M_age = 12.60, SD = 0.62) sixth- (n = 491; 55% female) and seventh-grade (n = 402; 45% female) adolescents from three, rural, lower middle-class schools in the southeastern United States completed self-report and peer-report questionnaires annually at four timepoints. Two trivariate latent curve models with structured residuals were fit. The first model examined within- and between-person associations between popularity, likability, and empathic concern, whereas the second model examined these associations with perspective taking. Results revealed no between-person relations among the latent factors for popularity and empathic concern or perspective taking. Conversely, the latent intercept for likability was positively related to the latent intercept for each of the empathic dimensions. Within-person cross-lagged effects from Grades 6 to 10 revealed that increases in popularity were associated with later decreases in empathic concern, while increases in empathic concern were associated with later decreases in popularity. Within-person changes in popularity did not predict later changes in perspective taking, but increases in perspective taking were associated with decreases in popularity. There were positive, albeit few, predictive associations with changes in likability. Results elucidate key differences in popularity and likability as dimensions of peer status; popular youth may benefit from the flexible use of empathic processes, while likable youth exhibit a stable, enduring propensity for empathic processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001903

Early pubertal timing is associated with adverse health in adulthood. These effects may be mediated by DNA methylation changes associated with accelerated cellular aging and mortality risk, but few studies tested associations between pubertal timing and epigenetic markers in adulthood. Additionally, pubertal timing effects often vary by sex and are understudied in diverse youth. Thus, this longitudinal study examined links between pubertal timing and later epigenetic aging and mortality risk together with sex differences in predominantly Black youth. Participants included 350 individuals (58% female, 42% male; 80% Black, 19% non-Hispanic White). Perceived pubertal timing relative to peers and self-reported phenotypic pubertal timing based on age-adjusted Tanner scores were assessed during early adolescence (M_age = 13) whereas epigenetic aging (GrimAge, DunedinPace of Aging Calculated from the Epigenome, and PhenoAge) and mortality risk were measured during young adulthood (M_age = 27). After adjusting for covariates (smoking, body mass index, family income, early-life stress, race/ethnicity, sex, parenthood), early pubertal timing (both perceived and phenotypic) predicted higher epigenetic mortality risk, and early phenotypic pubertal timing predicted accelerated DunedinPace of Aging Calculated from the Epigenome. Both perceived and phenotypic early pubertal timing were correlated with accelerated GrimAge. Off-time phenotypic pubertal timing (i.e., early and late) was associated with accelerated PhenoAge in males only whereas perceived off-time pubertal timing was unexpectedly linked with lower PhenoAge acceleration. These findings extend prior research by linking two dimensions of early pubertal timing with epigenetic mortality risk and accelerated aging in racially diverse young adults and showing nonlinear effects on PhenoAge acceleration that differ across pubertal timing measures and show some sex differences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001902

During early childhood, children develop a moral self-concept (MSC), reflecting the representation of their own moral behavioral preferences. Little is known about the developmental processes that relate to the emergence of the MSC. This longitudinal study followed participants from infancy to preschool age (n = 99–139; 49%–55% girls, 45%–51% boys, mostly Caucasian). It investigated the relations between the quality of early social interactions, prosocial behaviors, and the development of the MSC. We assessed maternal emotional availability at 1 year of age, children’s prosocial behaviors (helping, sharing, comforting) at 3 years of age, and their MSC at 4 years of age. Children’s comforting and sharing behavior at 3 years of age, but not their helping behavior, was associated with their MSC development. Interestingly, maternal emotional availability predicted MSC indirectly through its relation to children’s comforting behavior, suggesting a mediated pathway. The study highlights developmental trajectories from early social interactions to how children think about their own prosociality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001868

Adolescents’ experiences of discrimination and their health consequences are understudied in non-Western cultures. Using data from 90 rural Chinese adolescents (M_age = 13.70; 49% female), this study examined cumulative and daily experiences of peer discrimination (based on socioeconomic status, gender, parental migration status, appearance, grades) and their associations with diurnal cortisol output. Data highlighted a high prevalence of peer discrimination, with 85% of the sample reporting any type of cumulative discrimination in the current semester and 56% of the sample reporting any type of daily discrimination over three consecutive days. At the within-person level, daily peer discrimination (regardless of type) was associated with exaggerated cortisol functioning (i.e., more pronounced rise and fall as indicated by steeper slopes and lower bedtime levels) on the same day; daily discrimination based on parental migration status was also associated with higher cortisol awakening responses on the next day. At the between-person level, cumulative discrimination based on socioeconomic status and gender (but not other factors) was associated with exaggerated cortisol functioning (higher waking levels, steeper slopes). The study also offered a methodological example for collecting daily and cortisol data in rural boarding schools in China. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 16, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001912

Although children with marginalized sociodemographic characteristics are exposed to increased health risk and disparities, there is a paucity of population-based research on health status of children occupying multiple social marginalities. The present study investigated implications of children’s intersectional sociodemographic characteristics on health risk indicators. In this longitudinal cohort study, we used longitudinal data from the ongoing Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. The study used a population-based sample of 9- to 10-year-old children attending private and public schools in 21 U.S.-based study sites between 2016 and 2018. In the present analytic sample of 9,854 children and adolescents, eight social strata groups were identified based on children’s ethnicity/race, assigned sex at birth, and sexual orientation. Five health risk indicators were included in the study: depressed mood, suicidal ideation, self-injurious behaviors, alcohol sipping, and overweight status. Results showed that compared to White heterosexual boys (referent group), sexual minority (SM) children including White and ethnic/racial minority, boys and girls were at greater risk of having depressed mood, self-injurious behavior, and suicidal ideation. White SM children, including boys and girls, were also at greater risk of sipping alcohol, whereas heterosexual ethnically/racially minoritized children, including boys and girls, were at less risk of sipping alcohol. Although no change was found in overweight status over time across social groups, children with marginalized social categories were more likely to report being overweight. Intersectional marginality accounted for an increased health risk and disparities among children from marginalized sociodemographic background. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 13, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001911

We investigated the impact of parents’ open-ended questions during collaborative science activities. Specifically, we randomly assigned 116 parents (69.8% mothers; 89.7% White) and their 4- to 7-year-old children (50.9% girls; 87.9% White) to watch science television before or after completing an engineering activity. Using sequence analysis, we examined the conversational exchanges elicited by parents’ open-ended questions. Two patterns emerged: knowledge elaboration sequences occurred when children formulated science explanations, and knowledge gap sequences occurred when children revealed their lack of knowledge. Watching science television before (vs. after) the engineering activity promoted knowledge elaboration sequences but had no impact on knowledge gap sequences. These patterns did not vary according to children’s age. Collectively, our results offer empirical support for the notion that parents’ open-ended questions elicit two types of responses from children during collaborative science activities. Furthermore, our results suggest that science television might serve as a conversational support during those activities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 13, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001910

Adults hold a broad range of beliefs about intellectual ability. Key examples include beliefs about its malleability, its distribution in the population, whether high levels of it (“brilliance”) are necessary for success, its origins, and its responsiveness to intervention. Here, we examined the structure and motivational significance of this network of consequential beliefs in a sample of elementary school-age children (5- to 11-year-olds, N = 231; 116 girls, 112 boys, three gender nonbinary children; predominantly White and Asian children from relatively high-income backgrounds). We assessed five beliefs: (a) growth mindsets (malleability), (b) universal mindsets (distribution), (c) brilliance beliefs (necessity for success), and beliefs about ability’s (d) innateness and (e) responsiveness to intervention. Even among the youngest children, these beliefs were empirically distinguishable and also largely coherent, in that they related to each other in expected ways. Moreover, the five beliefs assessed here were differentially related to children’s learning (vs. performance) goals, preference for challenging tasks, and evaluative concern (i.e., concern that mistakes will lead others to evaluate the self negatively). Even when adjusting for age, children with growth mindsets were oriented toward learning goals and preferred challenging tasks; children who believed ability has innate origins preferred performance goals; and younger (but not older) children who thought success required brilliance expressed more concern over being evaluated. These findings speak to the multifaceted nature of children’s concepts of ability and highlight their significance for children’s achievement-related attitudes and behavior in the early school years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 09, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001860

Maternal postpartum depressive (PPD) symptoms have the potential to negatively impact mother–infant interactions, particularly in populations experiencing contextual stress. We used a resilience perspective to examine maternal perceptions of partner support as a protective factor in the relation between PPD symptoms and mother–infant dyadic reciprocity. Low income, Mexican-origin women (N = 322; M_age = 27.80; 86% born in Mexico) reported depressive symptoms from 6 to 24 weeks postpartum and partner support at 24 weeks postpartum. Mother–infant interactions were recorded and coded for dyadic reciprocity at 24 weeks. Results indicated that partner support moderated the relation between PPD symptoms and dyadic reciprocity, such that higher PPD symptoms were associated with lower dyadic reciprocity only among mothers reporting lower partner support. Our results suggest that partner support is an important source of resilience for Mexican-origin women experiencing PPD symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 09, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001907

Children’s high and increasing levels of screen time are of growing concern to parents, health professionals, and researchers. With the growing availability and use of devices such as smartphones and tablets, it is important to understand the impact of children’s screen use on development. Prospective longitudinal data from 6,281 children (48.3% female) in the Growing Up in New Zealand study were used to examine relations between the extent of screen exposure in early childhood (2–4.5 years) and later language development, early educational skills, and peer social functioning at ages 4.5 and 8 years. Higher levels of screen exposure were associated with lower levels of vocabulary, communication, writing, numeracy, and letter fluency and higher levels of peer problems. These associations were reduced after controlling for confounding family social background factors but remained significant. Results indicate that more than 1.5 hr of daily direct screen time at age 2 was associated with below average language and educational ability and above average levels of peer relationship problems at age 4.5. Exposure to more than 2.5 hr of daily direct screen time was associated with higher than average peer relationship problems at age 8. Findings indicate that high levels of screen exposure during early childhood are negatively associated with children’s later language, educational, and social development. Such information is critical to help inform policy guidelines, health care, and parenting practices regarding the availability and children’s use of screens in early childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 09, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001890

Due to its heavy reliance on convenience samples (CSs), developmental science has a generalizability problem that clouds its broader applicability and frustrates replicability. The surest solution to this problem is to make better use, where feasible, of probability samples, which afford clear generalizability. Because CSs that are homogeneous on one or more sociodemographic factor may afford a clearer generalizability than heterogeneous CSs, the use of homogeneous CSs instead of heterogeneous CSs may also help mitigate this generalizability problem. In this article, we argue why homogeneous CSs afford clearer generalizability, and we formally test this argument via Monte Carlo simulations. For illustration, our simulations focused on sampling bias in the sociodemographic factors of ethnicity and socioeconomic status and on the outcome of adolescent academic achievement. Monte Carlo simulations indicated that homogeneous CSs (particularly those homogeneous on multiple sociodemographic factors) reliably produce estimates that are appreciably less biased than heterogeneous CSs. Sensitivity analyses indicated that these reductions in estimate bias generalize to estimates of means and estimates of association (e.g., correlations) although reductions in estimate bias were more muted for associations. The increased employment of homogeneous CSs (particularly those homogeneous on multiple sociodemographic factors) instead of heterogeneous CSs would appreciably improve the generalizability of developmental research. Broader implications for replicability and the study of minoritized populations, considerations for application, and suggestions for sampling best practices are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 09, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001909

A strong body of evidence has underscored the cross-cultural importance of nurturing parent–child relationships for promoting early child development outcomes. However, most research on parenting has predominantly relied on self-reported measures collected from mothers. Observational tools for assessing parent–child interactions from not only mothers but also fathers remains limited, especially in Majority World contexts. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of an observational tool for assessing mother–child and father–child dyadic interactions in rural Mara, Tanzania. Specifically, we conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to determine the dimensionality of the measure, tested measurement invariance by parental gender, and assessed its predictive validity with early child development outcomes. We analyzed data from 1,690 parent–child dyads (927 mother–child dyads and 763 father–child dyads) with children under 2 years of age. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed a two-factor model with good model fit and acceptable internal consistency and interrater reliability between trained coders. While the measure demonstrated configural invariance by parental gender, it did not meet the criteria for metric or scalar invariance, indicating that maternal and paternal scores cannot be directly compared. Nonetheless, regression analyses showed positive associations between mother–child and father–child interaction scores and children’s later development. Our findings establish the reliability and predictive validity of this observational tool for assessing early parent–child interactions in rural Tanzania. Future research directions and methodological considerations for using this observational tool with both mothers and fathers in Majority World countries are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 09, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001889

Intergenerational risk within families, stemming from familial history of mental health problems and encompassing exposure to childhood adversity, poses challenges to adolescent adjustment. However, it is important to recognize that negative developmental outcomes associated with intergenerational risk are not inevitable. To better understand resilience in this context, there is a need for studies that systematically compare different models of resilience. Further, few studies have estimated what level of adjustment should be expected for youth with high intergenerational risk but also a diverse set of strengths and competencies. Here, an intergenerational risk pathway and compensatory and protective resilience models were evaluated in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4,897, 52% female, 49% non-Hispanic Black at the age 15 assessment). The link between history of mental health problems in maternal grandparents and adolescent maladjustment (depressive symptoms, substance use, delinquent behavior, and troubles at school) was serially mediated through maternal mental health problems and its association with children’s exposure to adversity. Data-driven trajectory analyses identified participants characterized by increased exposure to multiple types of adversity across childhood. Chronic exposure to multiple adversities, in turn, predicted increased adolescent maladjustment. Yet, resilience factors, including childhood social skills, perseverance, and connectedness at school, effectively offset intergenerational risks. Adolescents with high intergenerational risk who experienced high levels of these childhood assets demonstrated adjustment that was comparable to their average-risk and low-risk peers. These findings advance our understanding of pathways of intergenerational risk and provide new evidence for a compensatory model over a protective model of resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 09, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001852

We examined associations between mothers’ (N = 137; 77.7% White/non-Hispanic) neural responding implicated in facial encoding (N170) and attention (P300) to infant emotional expressions and direct observations of their caregiving behaviors toward their 6-month-old infants. We also explored the moderating role of mother-reported and observer-rated infant temperamental distress. Few direct associations emerged that were not further moderated by temperament. Specifically, a dampened N170 to infant distress (vs. neutral) expressions was associated with mothers’ intrusiveness, and a larger P300 to infant happy (vs. neutral) expressions was associated with mothers’ sensitivity to distress. Among mothers who perceived their infants as high in temperamental distress, neural responding reflective of distinguishing (N170) and attending (P300) to infant distress (vs. neutral) expressions was associated with maternal sensitivity to distress, and neural responding reflective of encoding (N170) infant emotional (distress, happy, vs. neutral) expressions was associated with greater maternal sensitivity to nondistress. At lower levels of mother-reported temperamental distress, a heightened N170 to infant emotional (distress, happy, vs. neutral) expressions was associated with mothers’ detachment. Findings indicate that distinctive patterns of neural responding to infant emotional expressions are associated with specific caregiving behaviors and demonstrate the significance of mothers’ perceptions of infant temperamental distress in moderating the extent to which neural responding to infant expressions is associated with their caregiving behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 09, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001897

Social touch is a crucial part of how mothers interact with their infants, with different touch types serving distinct purposes in these exchanges. However, there is still a limited understanding of how mothers’ touch behavior adapts to specific interactive tasks, particularly throughout infancy. To address this gap, we observed mother–infant dyads at 7 and 12 months during three structured social play tasks: (a) play with objects, (b) play without objects, and (c) play with a difficult object. Using an adapted version of the Ordinalized Maternal Touch Scale, we categorized every touch performed by the mother. The effect of the infant’s age and play tasks on the proportion of time mothers touch their infants was evaluated using Bayesian beta mixed models, taking into account both the total quantity and the Ordinalized Maternal Touch Scale touch categories. Results showed that (a) the frequency of maternal touch is prevalent in dyadic interactions and lowered in triadic object play; (b) mothers used affectionate, static, and playful touch categories more often in dyadic play tasks; (c) in triadic play task, mothers used object-mediated touch more frequently; (d) the total frequency of maternal touch decreased across infant age, which was primarily due to a decrease in static and object-mediated touch; and (e) maternal touch varies depending on the complexity of object play task. Our findings suggested that the developmental trajectory of maternal touch behavior is modulated by the infant’s evolving needs and the different challenges in object versus nonobject play tasks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 06, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001899

Violence against children is a global public health issue that can lead to long-lasting negative consequences for child outcomes. The Irie Homes Toolbox (IHT) is an early childhood, violence prevention, parenting program designed for integration into early childhood educational services in Jamaica. We have previously shown that the program is effective in reducing child maltreatment when implemented by the research team. For wide-scale dissemination, the IHT needs to be delivered by preschool staff as part of their routine duties. We adapted the IHT using results from our previous evaluations, and we are conducting a mixed-method feasibility trial of the IHT fully integrated into preschool provision. Twenty-four basic schools in Kingston and St. Andrew, Jamaica, have been randomly assigned to intervention (n = 12) or wait-list control (n = 12) with 10 caregivers per school participating in the study (240 caregivers, 120/group). The intervention is delivered through 12 weekly, 1-hr sessions by a preschool teacher with groups of 10 caregivers of children aged 2–6 years. An ongoing process evaluation includes quantitative measures of caregiver attendance, teacher compliance, and fidelity of intervention implementation and qualitative measures of enablers and barriers to implementation and suggestions for improvement. In the impact evaluation, the primary outcome is the frequency of caregivers’ use of violence against their child. Secondary outcomes are caregiver attitudes to violence, preferences for harsh punishment, involvement with their child, and child conduct problems. All outcomes are measured through caregiver report. The results of the study will be used to inform revisions of the IHT for implementation at scale. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 06, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001892

Individual differences in how the brain responds to novelty are present from infancy. A common method of studying novelty processing is through event-related potentials (ERPs). While ERPs possess millisecond precision, spatial resolution remains poor, especially in infancy. This study aimed to balance spatial and temporal precision by combining ERP data with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Twenty-nine infants (15 female) underwent resting-state fMRI (M_age = 4.73 months) and electroencephalography (EEG) during a three-stimulus auditory oddball task (M_age = 5.19 months). The mismatch response (MMR) and P3 were computed from ERP data, and resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) was computed from fMRI data. We first source localized the MMR and P3 responses to five regions-of-interest (ROIs), based on prior literature. We then performed network-level enrichment analyses to identify associations between rs-FC and MMR and P3, at each of the five ROIs. In line with prior work, source-localized EEG analyses implicated the bilateral auditory cortices, posterior cingulate cortex, and superior parietal cortex in the generation of MMR and P3 responses. The MMR and P3 related to functional connectivity within the somatomotor network as well as between the somatomotor and the dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN/VAN). This was especially true for novelty response ERPs recorded at superior parietal lobule, known for its implications in initial reorienting to novel stimuli. The DAN, known for its implication in initial reorienting to support novelty detection, was implicated for the MMR. In contrast, the VAN, known for its support of later-stage, complex adjustments in attention, related to the later P3. This work further solidifies our understanding of the underlying networks implicated in the development of immediate responses to stimuli. Altered configurations of such networks may increase the risk for heightened sensitivity to novelty in certain individuals, which could have behavioral and clinical significance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 06, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001895

The COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to the mental health and well-being (MHW) of adolescents. The present study aimed to explore how parent–adolescent conversations may have protected (or threatened) adolescent mental health during the first year of the pandemic. We examined how parents and adolescents discussed MHW together and the influence of parents’ affective conversational climate on changes in adolescent anxiety/depression over time. Participants were 183 parent–adolescent dyads (adolescents: M_age = 15.23 years, SD = 0.06, 50% female assigned at birth; 47.0% Latine; parents: M_age = 42.76, SD = 6.95, 93% biological mothers) from Southern California, United States. Adolescents reported their symptoms of anxiety/depression in spring 2020 (T1) and winter 2020/2021 (T3). Between July 2020 and March 2021 (T2), parent–adolescent dyads engaged in an 8-min audio-recorded conversation about the pandemic. Conversations were coded for adolescent and parent references to MHW (i.e., their contributions to discussing their own or others’ mental health and strategies to cope with challenges) and parents’ affective climate (i.e., parents’ positive and negative emotion talk). Higher parental contribution and lower adolescent contribution to MHW discussions predicted increases in adolescents’ anxiety/depression from T1 to T3. Parents’ positive emotion talk predicted decreases in adolescents’ anxiety/depression over time, and, at increased levels of parents’ negative emotion talk, parental control over the MHW discussion predicted increases in adolescents’ anxiety/depression. These findings highlight that conversations may be important social processes that contribute to adolescent well-being during times of crisis. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)