Developmental Psychology, Mar 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001944

This study explores the directionality of the associations between silent reading fluency and arithmetic fluency development from Grade 1 through Grade 9 (ages 7 to 16) in a large Finnish sample of 2,518 participants. Participants’ silent reading and arithmetic fluency skills were assessed at seven time points across Grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model was employed to distinguish between between-person and within-person associations. The model revealed a strong positive correlation between reading and arithmetic fluency at the between-person level, suggesting that individuals proficient in one domain typically excel in the other as well. At the within-person level, significant developmental associations emerged predominantly during the early acquisition phase (Grades 1–3). Between Grades 1 and 2, we identified positive bidirectional effects between reading and arithmetic fluency, indicating that variations in one skill predict variations in the other at a subsequent time point. From Grades 2 to 3, a positive unidirectional path from reading to arithmetic was identified, suggesting that variations in silent reading fluency predict subsequent variations in arithmetic fluency. After Grade 3, no significant cross-lagged paths were identified. These findings highlight the dynamic interplay between reading and arithmetic fluency at different stages of development and that factors influencing time-specific changes in reading and math are more similar during the early phases of schooling and skill development than in later stages. The early bidirectional relationship suggests that fostering reading skills may support arithmetic development and vice versa, particularly in early grades. This suggests that it may be useful to target both domains in the early interventions with children having problems in reading or math to enhance overall academic performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Mar 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001936

The current research examined whether telling young children about an adult’s emotional reactions to their future honesty or dishonesty influences their cheating. In five preregistered studies, children aged 3–6 years participated in a challenging test, purportedly to assess their knowledge but actually to measure their honesty (N = 480; 240 boys; all middle-class Han Chinese). Telling 5- to 6-year-olds about a familiar adult’s negative emotional reactions to their future dishonesty significantly reduced subsequent cheating, regardless of whether the adult was their homeroom teacher or their mother. Telling 3- to 4-year-olds about their mother’s positive reactions to honesty or her negative reactions to dishonesty also reduced cheating. Thus, providing information about a familiar adult’s emotional reactions can effectively promote honest behavior among young children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 27, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001874

In an attempt to better characterize the complexity of difficulties observed within developing populations, numerous data-driven techniques have been applied to large mixed data sets. However, many have failed to incorporate the core role of developmental time in these approaches, that is, the typical course of change in behavioral features that occurs over childhood to adolescence. In this study, we utilized manifold projections alongside a gradient-boosting model on data collected from the Millennium Cohort Study to unpack the central role of developmental time in how behavioral difficulties transition between the ages of 5, 11, and 17. Our analysis highlights numerous observations: (a) Girls develop relatively greater internalized behavioral problems during adolescence; (b) in the case of a chaotic home environment, co-occurring internalizing and externalizing difficulties tend to persist during childhood; (c) peer problems were the most likely to persist over the whole 12-year period (especially in the presence of early maternal depression and poor family relationships); and (d) there were two pathways with distinct risk factors leading to antisocial behaviors in adolescence—an early-childhood onset pathway and later adolescent onset pathway. Our findings provide evidence that investigations of child and adolescent difficulties must be open to the possibility of multiple subgroups and variability in trajectory over time. We further highlight the crucial role of family and social support and school experience-related factors in predicting children’s outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 27, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001952

This study examined children’s emotion situation knowledge and social problem-solving abilities as mediators in the prospective link between constructive interparental conflict (IPC) and children’s psychological adjustment in a sample of 238 preschool children (M_age = 4.38 years; 52% female children; 28% Black; 14% multiracial or other race; 16% Latinx) and their mothers. The methodological approach consisted of multiple methods and informants in a longitudinal design with three annual measurement occasions (i.e., preschool, kindergarten, first grade). Results of the path analysis indicated that Wave 1 constructive IPC predicted residualized increases in children’s emotion situation knowledge and social problem solving at Wave 2 with the inclusion of hostile IPC, demographic factors, and prior child characteristics (i.e., child age, race, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, social competence) as simultaneous predictors. In turn, children’s emotion situation knowledge at Wave 2 predicted residualized decreases in their internalizing and externalizing symptoms at Wave 3. Wave 2 social problem solving also predicted residualized increases in their social competence at Wave 3. Results are discussed in the context of how they advance developmental models of constructive family conflict. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 27, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001947

Parents and adolescents often hold concordant and discordant views on parenting behaviors. Scant research has explored short-term within-family dynamics of parent–adolescent congruency and discrepancy on parental positive reinforcement on a micro timescale. Adopting a month-long daily diary design, we examined the convergence and divergence among 86 dyads of adolescents (M_age = 14.5 years, 55% female, 45% non-White) and one of their parents (M_age = 43.7 years, 72% female, 38% non-White) on their perceived daily parental positive reinforcement behaviors and the links to adolescents’ daily emotional, hyperactivity, and conduct problems. Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling revealed both convergence and divergence at the within-family level. At the between-family level, however, there was minimal evidence for parent–adolescent convergence. Within-families, parent divergence was positively and reciprocally linked with adolescent emotional problems prospectively. Parent divergence was also associated with fewer adolescent hyperactivity problems the next day. More adolescent hyperactivity problems were negatively linked to parent–adolescent convergence the next day. The findings unveiled distinct structure of, and associations with parent–adolescent convergence and divergence on parental positive reinforcement behaviors, which highlights the importance of disentangling short-term within-family fluctuations from stable between-family differences at different levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 27, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001917

As part of the developmental stage of emerging adulthood, youth may cultivate critical consciousness (CC) to transform oppressive systems. CC development may be influenced by discriminatory experiences and may affect well-being. To better understand longitudinal CC development and its relationship to discrimination and well-being (i.e., perceived stress, anxiety, hopefulness), we studied a U.S. national longitudinal cohort of emerging adult college students between the ages of 18 and 22 at baseline (M_age = 20.0, SD = 1.3) who completed four surveys between April 2020 and July 2021 (N = 684). The analytic sample was 63% women and 37% men (gender-diverse participants were removed due to small sample size) and 26% lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer/questioning, and other minoritized sexual identities. Self-identified race/ethnicity backgrounds were 54% white, 20% Asian/Pacific Islander, 9% Latinx, 5% Black, and 10% multiple races/ethnicities and/or as Middle Eastern/North African. We conducted latent profile transition analysis and identified five patterns of CC development, with a minority of participants in two “growth” transition patterns wherein they increased their CC over time. Maintaining higher levels of CC, and especially developing CC, was associated with more prior experiences with discrimination and with concurrent and subsequent higher levels of perceived stress and anxiety. We recommend institutions of higher education and college-based organizations to build well-being practices and structures into CC-raising spaces to support empowering CC development amid ongoing sociopolitical turmoil. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 27, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001946

We examined an understudied aspect of children’s pedagogical cognition and investigated whether children selectively transmit objective information. In three experiments (N = 168), 5- and 6-year-olds were asked to distinguish between objective and subjective statements (Experiment 1) and to choose objective or subjective information to pass on to others (Experiments 2 and 3). Children of both ages distinguished between the two types of statements, OR = 19.1, and preferentially transmitted more objective than subjective information when asked to teach, OR = 5.06. A control condition, in which participants were asked to share information with a peer, found that 5- and 6-year-olds also favored sharing objective information in a nonpedagogical context, OR = 1.96. Critically, children taught more objective information when placed in a pedagogical stance compared to a conversational context, OR = 2.31. These findings contribute to the growing body of work suggesting that children recognize teaching as a unique communicative mechanism, one that calls for the propagation of objective information, not subjective opinion. Our study furthers the understanding of how young children’s pedagogical knowledge and competence develop. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001935

This article describes the adaptation of the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) for South Africa’s 11 official spoken languages. The CDI is a parent-report tool that measures early language development from 8 to 30 months. We developed cross-linguistically comparable CDIs, representing two distinct language families, West Germanic and southern Bantu, using a common protocol. We describe our approach to item construction and harmonization across languages and to obtaining sociodemographic information in different cultural settings. Issues such as language contact and variation, sampling, data collection, and quality control are discussed as well as item selection and instrument reliability and validity. This study highlights key issues for CDI adaptations and other instrument development in understudied contexts and discusses the theoretical implications of adding this diverse set of cross-linguistically comparable languages for early child language research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001931

This research examined 3- to 6-year-old’s prosocial responses to an unfamiliar experimenter demonstrating diverse needs (instrumental, material, and emotional) in structured tasks across two distinct cultural contexts (urban Canada/Canadian vs. rural Mexico/Tzotzil Maya). Two hundred eighty participants were recruited from preschools in Zinacantán, Mexico (100% Tzotzil Maya), and Montréal, Canada (70% European descent). We compared responses to instrumental, material, and emotional needs across experimental (need present) and control (need absent) conditions. In both cultural contexts, prosociality was responsive to need. However, Canadian children were more likely to respond prosocially than the Tzotzil Maya children across all three needs. In addition, consistent with past research, we found that prosocial responses increased with age. Across the two cultural contexts, we observed both similarities (e.g., the relative frequency of responding to the various needs) and differences (e.g., the effect of task on prosocial responding to instrumental and emotional needs). Taken together, these results highlight the importance of considering the nuanced role of culture in the development of diverse prosocial behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001924

Research demonstrating the mnemonic benefits of maternal elaboration on episodic memory development has given limited attention to conversational and developmental factors that may moderate this association, especially in relation to the accuracy of children’s recall of unshared events. The present study examined associations between maternal elaboration and the accuracy of children’s collaborative recall with their mothers and independent recall with an unfamiliar adult for an unshared event. We examined whether these associations depended on maternal autonomy support, mothers’ accurate versus inaccurate preconceptions about the unshared event, and children’s age. Participants were 141 children (4- to 7-year-olds; 52% female) and their mothers (71% White, 60% completed a bachelor’s degree). Children individually participated in an unshared event and discussed the event with their mothers prior to a neutral interview with an unfamiliar adult. We experimentally manipulated whether mothers were exposed to accurate (i.e., knowledgeable) versus inaccurate (i.e., misled) details prior to collaborative recall. Maternal elaboration increased accurate collaborative recall among children with knowledgeable mothers and among older children with misled mothers but only when misled mothers were autonomy supportive. Younger children with misled mothers reported more accurate collaborative details as maternal autonomy support increased. Representing a double-edged sword, maternal elaboration increased inaccurate collaborative recall among younger children and decreased accurate independent recall in both maternal bias conditions. The present findings underscore the importance of considering conversational (i.e., maternal bias and autonomy support) and developmental contexts (i.e., child age) in elucidating the manner in which maternal elaboration relates to the accuracy of children’s recall. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001939

Real-time affective dynamics surrounding everyday conflicts are central to the quality of relationships between mothers and their socioemotionally maturing adolescents. In this longitudinal study, we examined whether dyadic affective flexibility in early adolescence predicted trajectories of mother–adolescent relationship closeness and conflicts over time. We focused on flexibility not only in dyads’ emotional fluctuations during conflict interactions (i.e., dynamic flexibility) but also in the repair of their affective patterns after conflict interactions (i.e., reactive flexibility). At Wave 1, 201 adolescents (11–12 years old, 46.3% girls) and mothers (87.5% Caucasian) completed two consecutive discussions about everyday conflicts and happy memories, respectively. Dynamic flexibility was derived from second-by-second affect coding via state space grids, and reactive flexibility was assessed as the latent change in dynamic flexibility across discussions. Annually for 5 years, including periods during the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., Waves 3–5), mothers reported feelings of closeness with the adolescents, and both dyad members identified and rated the intensity of conflicts with each other. Results revealed that greater dynamic and reactive flexibility predicted greater and increasing closeness particularly from early to mid-adolescence. Greater dynamic and reactive flexibility were also associated with less intense and less diverse conflicts overall but not developmental changes in conflicts. These findings have implications beyond the immediate dyadic interactions around conflicts, suggesting that real-time flexibility within the mother–adolescent emotional system may serve as a resilience factor that buffers against the strains of relationship adjustment during adolescence at a longer timescale. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001926

Innovation in children is typically studied by examining their capacity to independently create tools to solve problems. However, it has been argued that innovating requires more than creative problem-solving; it is essential that the future utility of a solution is recognized. Here, we examined children’s capacity to recognize and construct a tool for future uses. Experiment 1 presented fifty-five 3- to 5-year-olds (28 girls) with a future-directed variation of a task in which children had to make a hook to solve a problem. When given a tool construction opportunity in anticipation of returning to the task, only 5-year-olds chose to make a hook-shaped tool more often than expected by chance. Experiment 2a assessed ninety-two 3- to 7-year-olds’ (48 girls) capacity to construct a tool with both present and future utility in mind. Specifically, they needed to make a tool long enough to not only poke a ball from a short tube in the present but also poke a ball from a longer tube in the future. Older children tended to construct longer tools and were more likely to do so in this situation than in a follow-up control study (2b, N = 89, 41 girls) where the future- and present-task tubes were identical. This pattern suggests that older children had the future task in mind when making their tools. Children’s propensity to construct longer tools in Experiment 2a was associated with their capacity to prepare for two alternative possibilities on a secondary task, suggesting performance reflects emerging future-oriented cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001934

Based on a representative sample of 196 Chinese children (101 girls; ages 5–9) and their parents, this study examined the longitudinal relations of early home numeracy activities, measured in preschool in 2015, with children’s math skills in third grade in 2019. The results showed that the frequency of number book activities predicted children’s third-grade nonsymbolic math skills and that the frequency of number application activities was predictive of third-grade symbolic math skills. More importantly, these relations persisted even after controlling for preschool number skills, the other types of numeracy activities, parenting styles, and demographic variables. The findings highlight the potential role of enhancing early number book and application activities at home in engendering long-lasting effects on children’s math development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 17, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001927

This study examined family factors (i.e., parenting style and relationship quality) at the beginning of the pandemic that predicted profiles of family communication about COVID-19 6 months later, as well as communication profile differences in child well-being. Parents (N = 1,025, 66% female, 33.8% male, 0.1% nonbinary) of children aged 5–17 years (M_{child age} = 11.03, SD = 3.38; 53.4% male children; 76.5% non-Hispanic White, 5.6% Black, 2.8% Asian/Pacific Islander, 2.9% Native American/Indigenous, 10.4% Hispanic/Latine, 2.1% another race or ethnicity; approximately half in households with income below $75,000/year) completed surveys during the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 (Time 1) and approximately 6 months later (Time 2) about their parenting styles, family relationship quality, family communication about the pandemic, and their child’s mental health. Latent profile analysis revealed a five-profile solution of family communication profiles for children (5–11 years; N = 533) and a three-profile solution for adolescents (12–17 years; N = 492). Both parental reports of family relationship quality and parenting styles (Time 1) predicted communication profiles (Time 2), such that better relationship quality and higher authoritative parenting at the start of the pandemic predicted communication profiles characterized by lower avoidant communication and higher active communication about COVID-19. Conversely, lower relationship quality and higher authoritative parenting were predictive of subsequent membership in profiles that were high in both avoidant and active communication. Importantly, across both age groups, parents who reported being higher in both avoidant and active communication about COVID-19 reported higher child mental health problems, whereas parents reporting communication profiles characterized by low avoidance and high active communication reported better child mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 17, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001900

Expressions of hurt feelings are assumed to serve an important social function: communicating that a transgression needs to be repaired. This message is accompanied by a threat to withdraw affection which may motivate the transgressing individual to repair—by increasing interpersonal distance and eliciting feelings of guilt. We investigated the development of this social function of hurt feelings expressed as sulking behavior in direct contrast to related yet distinct emotional expressions (i.e., anger and disappointment). Four- to 5-year-old (Study 1, N = 108, 54 female) and 6-year-old urban German children (Study 2, N = 72, 36 female) participated in a mock video call in which we assessed their responses to a peer’s sulking behavior as opposed to angry and disappointed behavior. We used a forced-choice puppet interview, measuring fear, sympathy, and guilt reactions. In an additional distancing task, we assessed whether children would distance themselves from their peer depending on their emotional expressions. In both age groups, we found that sulking behavior led to medium distancing, while angry behavior led to high and disappointed behavior to low distancing. Disappointed behavior elicited empathic reactions, and angry behavior led to fear. Sulking behavior actuated guilt among 6-year-olds, but not younger children. These results suggest that the preschool years are a critical period for understanding how children’s hurt feelings distinctively structure social interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 17, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001940

Structural inequalities refer to systems that have historically privileged (and continue to privilege) some groups over others. We explored children’s propensity to amend structural inequalities in a resource reallocation task in the context of preexisting inequalities. In a preregistered experiment, U.S. children (N = 120; 60 girls, 60 boys; 59% White, 12% Asian, 5% Black, 4% Latine/Hispanic, 19% mixed race, and 1% identified as other) learned about two novel groups: one historically advantaged and the other historically disadvantaged. Children sequentially saw eight resources spanning four categories—Basic Goods: food and homes; Public Goods: schools and hospitals; Luxury Goods: fancy clothes and expensive cars; and Opportunity Goods: best jobs and money to start a business. On each trial, children saw an unequal allocation of resources (e.g., homes) in an 8:2 ratio favoring the advantaged group. Children had free rein in redistributing resources. Children generally amended the structural inequality, with older children adopting an equal distribution and younger children moving an average of one item from the advantaged to disadvantaged group. Importantly, children’s resource redistributions were selective: Reallocations of Luxury Goods were more likely to continue to favor the advantaged group, while children preferred equality in their reallocations of Basic Goods. For Public Goods and Opportunity Goods, children were as likely to favor the advantaged group as they were to favor equality. Finally, parents’ political beliefs predicted younger (but not older) children’s reallocation strategies. These findings highlight an emerging capacity to reason about and selectively amend structural inequalities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 17, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001930

We sought to illuminate whether and how pandemic-related experiences shaped the genetic and environmental influences on mothering behavior to better understand the effects of stress on parenting. Participants included 710 mothers of twins (M_age = 47.00; SD_age = 5.59; White: 84.8%, Black: 7%, Hispanic: 1.1%, Asian American and Pacific Islander: 0.8%, Native American: 0.8%, biracial: 0.3%, other: 3%, and not reported: 2.1%) from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Biometric analyses revealed that as pandemic-related stressors like job loss and illness increased, mother–child conflict became more environmental in origin. By contrast, we found assets (e.g., more quality time with family) served to increase maternal nurturance of both of her children by suppressing the importance of evocative child effects. Our results provide novel information on the ways stressors and assets alter the origins of parenting behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 10, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001937

Although there is a theoretical and empirical basis for age-related changes in adolescents’ empathy and prosocial behaviors, as well as in bidirectional relationships, research examining their codevelopment is lacking. Specifically, research on the extent to which an adolescent’s mean-level growth in empathy is related to parallel mean-level growth in his or her prosocial behavior is needed. This 3-year longitudinal multicohort study of adolescents (N_T1 = 1,045, 52.0% girls; M_ageT1 = 14.67 years) conducted in France investigated the codevelopmental associations between adolescents’ empathy mean-level growth and prosocial behaviors mean-level growth via parallel latent growth curve modeling. The parallel latent growth curve model indicated general mean-level increases in empathy and prosocial behaviors over time. The findings support the codevelopment of empathy and prosocial behaviors, with mean-level growth in empathy related to parallel mean-level growth of prosocial behaviors in early and middle adolescence. Importantly, both trajectories exhibited significant interindividual variability. Additionally, the initial levels of empathy were positively related to the initial levels of prosocial behaviors and vice versa. Interestingly, our results suggest that higher baseline levels of empathy are related to steeper decreases in the slope of prosocial behaviors over time and that higher baseline levels of prosocial behaviors are related to steeper decreases in the slope of empathy over time. Age- and gender-related findings were also observed. We discuss the codevelopment and developmental relationships between empathy and prosocial behaviors, the differences across age groups, and their practical implications. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 06, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001929

Black and Latine parents play a crucial role in shaping adolescents’ math and science motivation and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) course taking. However, providing extensive support across various behaviors may not always be feasible nor optimal. Analyzing data from 4,230 Black and Latine families (47% Latine, 46% Black; 50% girls; 70% noncollege educated parents), we identified six distinct parent support profiles using the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 data set. Four patterns showed higher engagement (high multifaceted supporters, involved academic discussers, moderately encouraging discussers, involved STEM-encouragers), and two exhibited slightly less support (moderately involved academic discussers and moderately involved STEM nonencouragers). Generally, consistent findings emerged for both Black and Latine families concerning the profiles and their relations with adolescents’ math and science beliefs in 11th grade and STEM coursework. The moderately encouraging discussers and involved STEM-encouragers profiles correlated with the most positive STEM motivational beliefs and course taking, whereas the moderately involved STEM nonencouragers profile was associated with the lowest motivation and course taking. This suggests that STEM encouragement from parents, combined with other supportive behaviors, may be particularly crucial for Black and Latine adolescents, and high support across all indicators may not be the optimal approach, especially for high-achieving students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001920

Students often receive encouragement but do not always find it motivating. Whose encouragement motivates students and what cognitive mechanisms underlie this process? We propose that students’ responses to positive feedback (e.g., encouragement) hinge on mental state representations, specifically what the speaker knows. Across three studies, we find that U.S. adolescents (n = 581–759 11- to 19-year-olds per study, preregistered; > 80% racial/ethnic minorities; > 36% low income) report being more motivated by, more confident in, and more likely to seek out encouragement from hypothetical and real-world speakers (e.g., parents, teachers, peers) who are knowledgeable about both their abilities (e.g., students’ math skills) and the task at hand (e.g., math). To make feedback most effective, our findings suggest that students should seek and receive encouragement from those who know them and their activities well. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001905

Despite evidence that parental communication about COVID-19 can have short-term benefits such as adolescents’ increased health behaviors, less is known about the potential long-term associations between such communication and adolescent adjustment, as well as the family characteristics that facilitate such communication. Moreover, it is important to examine such processes beyond Western societies and broaden the understanding of parental communication in non-Western societies. To fill these gaps in the literature, a two-wave longitudinal study on Chinese families spanning 1 year during the pandemic (July 2020–July 2021) was conducted. Analyses revealed that the relation between parent–adolescent closeness and parental communication about COVID-19 was moderated by parental burnout. Higher parent–adolescent closeness was linked with more communication about COVID-19 only when parents experienced low, but not high, parental burnout. Moreover, the longitudinal associations between parental communication about COVID-19 and adolescent adjustment (i.e., depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and resilience) 1 year later were also moderated by parental burnout. More parental communication about COVID-19 was associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and higher levels of resilience 1 year later only when parents experienced low, but not high, parental burnout. Findings suggest future interventions to target family communication to promote adolescent well-being during challenging times, especially for families who experience higher levels of parental burnout. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001928

Families with young school-age children experienced unique challenges during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. This longitudinal, mixed-methods study explored links between parent–child conversations early in the COVID-19 pandemic and children’s later social–emotional adjustment and conceptualizations of the pandemic. In a socioeconomically diverse (36% low-income) sample of 183 families, parents (94% women, 6% men) reported on the content of their conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020 with their young school-age children (81% White, 8% Hispanic/Latine, 2% Asian/Pacific Islander, 1% Black, 8% multiracial/other; 46% girls, 54% boys, M_age = 7.15 years). Key themes identified in parent–child conversations included precautionary measures, the seriousness of the pandemic, the possibility of death or hospitalization, and collective safety efforts. Findings revealed that the content of early conversations, as reported by parents, had significant associations with children’s externalizing, attentional, and internalizing behavior problems 6–18 months later (Fall 2020 to Spring 2022; M_age = 8.01 years). Children were interviewed about their understandings of the pandemic, and their explanations echoed themes raised earlier in parent–child conversations, with added emphasis on children’s emotional experiences and disruptions to their daily routines. The results highlight the evolving nature of parents’ and children’s understandings as the pandemic progressed, as well as the developmental and contextual influences on children’s conceptualizations of the pandemic and the content of parent-reported parent–child conversations. This study underscores the importance of parental communication for children’s responses to global crises, highlighting how informed and supportive dialogues may support children’s well-being during challenging times. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001932

Responding to others’ emotions entails the coordination of multiple behaviors. Yet, research on such responding typically analyses each behavior separately. We investigated the heterogeneity of 16-, 19-, and 24-month-old infants’ (N = 296, 51.4% girls; 3.1% African American, 10.1% Asian, 12.9% Hispanic, 44.7% White, 29.2% other racial/ethnic groups) behavioral response patterns to five discrete emotions (joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust) during a naturalistic interaction. Various infant behaviors (social avoidance, security seeking, stimulus exploration, prosocial responding, information seeking, relaxed play) in response to the emotional context were coded. A latent-class analysis revealed four distinct classes of behaviors: prosocial exploring, active information seeking, cautious information seeking, and relaxed playing. Finally, a generalized linear mixed-effect model examined the differences in class prevalence across discrete emotions, across age groups, and between age groups within emotions. The analysis revealed several interesting differences in the frequency of each class across emotions and ages. This is the first study to utilize an infant-centered analysis to identify patterns of goal-directed behaviors in response to discrete emotions. Our findings suggest that infants are able to coordinate a variety of goal-directed behaviors to respond to emotional contexts. Furthermore, the utilization of each pattern of behaviors might be driven by the valence of the context. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001938

We examined children’s patterns of sharing behavior with a peer across repeated social interactions. Children aged 9–12 years old (N = 186; M = 10.72 years, SD = 1.09; 108 females; 75.7% White) were matched with a same-age, same-sex, unfamiliar peer, and the dyad completed structured and unstructured tasks during three online sessions across 1 month. At the end of each session, children independently and anonymously participated in a task to assess sharing behavior with their interaction partner. We found evidence for three patterns of sharing behavior across the sessions: fair sharers (45.2%), minimal sharers (44.6%), and increasing sharers (10.2%). We examined how children’s own traits and social perceptions of their peer’s traits predicted sharing behavior. Children who were rated by their parents as lower in temperamental affiliation and children who perceived their social partner as higher in negative traits were likely to share minimally with their peer across sessions. Further, children who were rated by their parents as higher in temperamental shyness and children who perceived their social partner as higher in shy/nervous traits were likely to increase the number of tickets they shared with their peer across sessions. These findings illustrate that children’s sharing behavior with an initially unfamiliar peer is related to their own traits and their perception of the recipient and may change over the course of repeated social interactions. These patterns may be driven by differences in social-affiliative goals based on temperament and unfolding social dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001921

This study examined the effects of training involving spatial versus nonspatial representations of numerical magnitude for promoting arithmetic fluency. The key goal was to advance theoretical understanding of the relation between spatial and math learning, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the development of future educational interventions. Toward this goal, the study tested the hypothesis that the use of spatial representations during training facilitates arithmetic fluency via improvements in numerical magnitude knowledge. Participants (first graders from low-income racially/ethnically diverse backgrounds, N = 205) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: spatial-continuous, spatial-discrete, nonspatial-verbal cues, and nonspatial-no verbal cues. All conditions involved eight 30-min training sessions, in which children received instruction on addition/subtraction problems with totals within 10. The key difference between conditions was the type of materials utilized during training—specifically, the type of magnitude cues they contained. The results showed that children’s arithmetic skills increased from pre- to posttest in all conditions and that the increase was significantly larger in the spatial, compared to nonspatial, conditions. However, there was no effect of condition on numerical magnitude knowledge, which leaves open the question about the underlying mechanism. The findings demonstrating a causal relation between spatial and mathematical domains have both theoretical significance and practical implications for the choice of instructional materials. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Feb 03, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001925

Parents bring their preparenthood experiences into their family relationships, which may have a persistent impact on family dynamics. One such significant experience is infertility, often shared by both partners but differentially experienced by women and men. Using a prospective longitudinal study of adoptive parents with a history of infertility challenges who later adopted a child (N = 461, 91% White), we aimed to (a) examine the impact of preparenthood infertility distress on heterosexual couples’ perceived marital instability trajectories in the 11 years of parenthood and (b) test whether social support from their partner and other sources would moderate the impact of infertility distress. Results revealed cubic curves of marital instability for mothers and fathers during parenthood, where marital instability increased from the child age of 9 months to 4–5 years, then decreased till 8–9 years, followed by another increase to 11 years. Mothers’ preparenthood infertility distress predicted higher marital instability after child age of 4.5 years, and their satisfaction with partner support mitigated this association. No such effect was identified for fathers. Overall, results indicated that mothers’ infertility distress experienced before becoming a parent of their adopted child serves as a risk factor for marital instability in the long term. Moreover, partner support is an important buffer against this risk. This study underscores the importance of considering parents’ preparenthood personal history in later family functioning. Discussion elaborates on the differing results for women and men and the implications for future research and intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 27, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001915

Adolescence is a period in which peer problems and emotional symptoms markedly increase in prevalence. However, the causal mechanisms regarding how peer problems cause emotional symptoms at a behavioral level and vice versa remain unknown. To address this gap, the present study investigated the longitudinal network of peer problems and emotional symptoms among Australian adolescents aged 12–14 years. Data were from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. The complete case samples included adolescents who participated in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children B (n = 2,694) or K (n = 3,144) Cohorts at two study follow-ups (ages 12 and 14). Peer problems and emotional symptoms were measured with the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The analytical steps were (a) in Study 1, a causal discovery algorithm, Bayesian structure learning of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), was used to identify the longitudinal network in the K Cohort; (b) the DAG discovered was evaluated with Bayesian structural equation modeling in an independent sample (the B Cohort) and compared against a DAG established through expert knowledge; and (c) in Study 2, the longitudinal network was again evaluated but considered contemporaneous effects. The empirically discovered DAG provided a better explanation of independent data than the expert DAG. Based on the discovered DAG, several plausible causal effects were identified such as that being bullied at age 12 negatively affected popularity at age 14. This study provides new insights into potential causal effects established between peer problems and emotional symptoms among Australian adolescents aged 12–14 years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 23, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001918

Children exhibit substantial variation in their early math skills, with pronounced achievement gaps by socioeconomic status (SES) observable even before formal schooling. These SES-related differences in math skills are long-standing and globally observed, prompting investigations into how SES variations in home math environment contribute to early math development. The present study employed a mixed-methods design to examine the relations among SES, key aspects of home math environment, and early math skills in a non-Western context. The sample comprised 122 Chinese parents and their preschool children (M_age = 5.25 years, 52% female) from diverse SES backgrounds. Quantitative analyses indicated that low-SES parents experienced higher math anxiety (large effect) but also placed greater value on math (small effect). Although the frequency of formal math activities did not differ by SES, high-SES parents engaged more in informal math activities and provided math talk with higher quantity and diversity (small effects). Crucially, the study identified parents’ math anxiety and the frequency of informal activities as mediators of SES-related differences in early math skills. Qualitative analyses further revealed that low-SES parents viewed math as essential for future success but defined it more narrowly, focusing mainly on formal practices of concrete skills. The implications for future research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 23, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001913

This preregistered longitudinal study examined the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on academic self-efficacy and cognitive reappraisal in early adolescence. It followed and compared two cohorts over 4 years: one prepandemic (11–14 years, 2016–2019) and one during the pandemic (2019–2022). The study analyzed annual well-being surveys merged with school enrolment data from South Australian public schools (N = 28,307, 49% female). Employing latent growth modeling and a novel cohort comparison design, the study addressed a major limitation in pandemic studies: It separated pandemic effects from normative developmental changes. Results indicate that the pandemic cohort largely followed typical, yet declining, developmental trajectories, showing resilience at a population level. Unexpectedly, the examination of multiple covariates (i.e., gender, socioeconomic status, non-English background, anxiety, peer belonging, teacher support) showed that preexisting vulnerabilities did not predict adverse pandemic effects. This research underscores the value of longitudinal data infrastructures and the importance of understanding normative youth development and resilience research in discerning the effects of pandemics or other widespread crises. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001908

Communal values (i.e., valuing care for and connection with others) are important to individual well-being and societal functioning yet show marked gender differences, with girls valuing communion more than boys do. We examined whether endorsement of gender stereotypes associating communal values more with girls than with boys relate to children’s own communal values and interests, potentially giving rise to gender differences in preferences. We tested this relation across two studies with Canadian children between the ages of 4 and 11 years (N = 379; 92 girls, 287 boys; majority White and East Asian or Pacific Islander). We assessed children’s stereotypes about communal values (Studies 1 and 2; e.g., “Who do you think cares more about always helping other people, even if it takes effort? Boys or girls?”), as well as the extent to which children themselves (a) valued communion and (b) displayed interest in communal activities (Study 2). In both studies, we found that children older than 6 consistently associated communal values with girls more than with boys. Younger children, in contrast, exhibited an ingroup bias—they associated communal values with their own gender. Study 2, which included only boys, found that endorsement of stereotypes associating communal values with girls predicted lower personal endorsement of communal values and lower interest in communal activities among boys older, but not younger, than 6. These results suggest that gender stereotypes about communal values are learned early and predict boys’ disengagement from communal domains. Implications for gender differences in values and behavior are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001916

Overcoming challenges to achieve success involves being able to spontaneously come up with effective strategies to address different task demands. Research has linked individual differences in such strategy generation and use to optimal development over time and greater success across many areas of life. Yet, there is surprisingly little experimental evidence that tests how we might help young children to spontaneously generate and apply effective strategies across different challenging tasks. We test this in an area important to development: delaying gratification. To do this, we developed a “strategic mindset” storybook that encouraged children, when waiting felt hard, to ask themselves strategy-eliciting questions, such as: “What can I try to be better at this?” In two experiments (N = 237), 5- to 6-year-old children who read the strategic mindset storybook with an experimenter (vs. a control storybook) waited significantly longer to receive desirable treats (Experiments 1 and 2) and to watch an appealing YouTube video (Experiment 2). Moreover, they were able to wait longer because they spontaneously generated and applied a greater number of effective waiting strategies. Going beyond classic research that taught children specific strategies to delay gratification, our results suggest that our new “metacognitive” approach can empower children’s self-regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001879

Researchers have raised concerns about parental migration’s effects on various aspects of the left-behind children’s development. However, there is limited understanding of how parental migration influences children over the life course. This study aimed to fill this gap by investigating how exposure to parental migration during childhood shapes later development in Indonesia and the Philippines, two major labor-sending countries in Southeast Asia. Adopting a life course perspective, we examine how the timing, sequence, and cumulative extent of parental migration affect children’s outcomes. We used longitudinal data from 1,023 households in 2008 (with children aged 4.56 on average) and 849 households in 2016/17 (with children aged 12.78 on average). Retrospective information on children’s exposure to parental migration during early childhood (under 3), middle childhood (4–5), and late childhood (6–10) was constructed for its impact on individuals’ school performance and psychological well-being during early adolescence (11–14). The findings indicate that the timing of children’s initial exposure to parental migration impacts certain aspects of their development. In Indonesia, paternal migration during middle or late childhood is associated with a trade-off between improved school performance and reduced prosocial behavior. For Filipino children, maternal migration during the first 3 years is linked to higher levels of internalizing problems, while migration during middle and late childhood reduces the risk of such problems. These findings underscore the importance of tailored policies and support programs that acknowledge the diverse impacts of parental migration across different developmental stages, considering distinct cultural contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001922

Numerate adults know that when two sets are equal, they should be labeled by the same number word. We explored the development of this principle—sometimes called “cardinal extension”—and how it relates to children’s other numerical abilities. Experiment 1 revealed that 2- to 5-year-old children who could accurately count large sets often inferred that two equal sets should be labeled with the same number word, unlike children who could not accurately count large sets. However, not all counters made this inference, suggesting that learning to construct and label large sets may be a necessary but not sufficient step in learning how numbers represent exact quantities. Experiment 2 found that children who extended labels to equal sets were not actually sensitive to exact equality and that they often assigned two sets the same label when they were approximately equal, but differed by just one item (violating one-to-one correspondence). These results suggest a gradual, stagelike, process in which children learn to accurately count, learn to extend labels to perceptually similar sets, and then eventually restrict cardinal extension to sets that are exactly equal. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001919

Twin studies have suggested extremely high estimates of heritability for adolescent executive function, with no substantial contributions from shared environment. However, developmental psychology research has found significant correlations between executive function outcomes and elements of the environment that would be shared in twins. It is unclear whether these seemingly contradictory findings are best explained by genetic confounding in developmental studies or limitations in twin studies, which can potentially underestimate shared environment. In this study, we use genetic and phenotypic data from 5,939 participants, 4,827 participant mothers, and 2,903 participant fathers in the Millennium cohort to examine the role of genetics in explaining common environmental associations with executive function, assessed by the spatial working memory (SWM) task and Cambridge Gambling task. Bivariate genome-wide complex trait analysis (GCTA) revealed that single-nucleotide polymorphism effects were the sole significant predictor of the association between SWM and both maternal education and prenatal smoking. maternal GCTA and trioGCTA also found no significant evidence of indirect genetic effects on SWM, indicating that genetic nurture is unlikely to explain the bivariate GCTA results. The Cambridge Gambling task showed no significant single-nucleotide polymorphism heritability, suggesting that genetic influences on hot executive function may differ significantly from those on cool executive function. This study supports the twin study claim that the working memory component of executive function is primarily a genetic trait with minimal influence from shared environment, emphasizing the importance of using genetically sensitive designs to ensure that genetic confounding does not falsely inflate estimates of environmental influences on traits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental Psychology, Jan 20, 2025, No Pagination Specified; doi:10.1037/dev0001888

Research has demonstrated that social–ecological risk and protective factors at multiple levels are associated with sexual behavior in adolescence. However, relatively little is known about how different patterns of these factors may work together in combination to influence sexual risk. In this study, we use nationally representative data from the U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to (a) uncover latent classes of adolescent social–ecological risk and protective factors, (b) examine how membership in these classes differs by demographic characteristics, and (c) examine how these classes are associated with concurrent adolescent and later young adult sexual behavior. We selected a model with seven latent classes: protected, no romantic relationship (25%), permissive peer norms (16%), poverty/single-parent home (16%), peer disconnection (16%), protected, in romantic relationship (10%), multidimensional risks (9%), and family and community disconnection (8%). In general, participants in the permissive peer norms and multidimensional risks classes were most likely to engage in sexual risk behaviors; and those in the protected, no romantic relationship, and peer disconnection classes were least likely. Findings suggest a combined impact of multiple risk factors on both adolescent and young adult sexual behaviors as well as the unique role of peer risk. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

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)