Background: International literature has underlined the complex interplay between genetic and environmental variables in shaping children's emotional-behavioral functioning. Objective: This study aimed to explore the dynamic relationship between children's Dopamine Transporter (DAT1) genotype and methylation, and maternal and paternal affective…

The present study examined individual differences in the development of sustained attention across toddlerhood, as well as how these individual differences related to the development of language and sleep. Toddlers (N = 314; 54% male) were assessed at 30, 36, and 42 months using multiple measures of attention, a standardized language assessment,…

This study aimed to examine the effect of attachment security in 17-month-olds on their peer play interactions and behavioural problems at ages 4 and 6 years, respectively, in Korea. By employing structural equation modelling, we analyzed the data of 183 children and their mothers, which were extracted from the Panel Study on Korean Children…

In this study, we explored how free play and scaffolding practices in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) related to children's externalising problems both in ECEC and later in school. Furthermore, we aimed to reduce the knowledge gap of whether these relations depended on children's differences in emotional temperament. We used structural…

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is associated with children's internalizing and externalizing problems. IPV is thought to impair mothers' ability to scaffold young children's emotion regulation through coregulated interactions. Mother-child language style matching (LSM) is an index of coregulation that has yet to be examined in…

Play and playfulness have a key role in children's development. Not enough is known about the playfulness of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its relationship to children's behavioural problems, as well as the role of caregiver behaviours during play in this relationship. The present study examines the moderating role of teachers'…

The current study aimed to substantiate and extend our understanding regarding the existence and developmental pathways of 3 distinct temperament profiles--exuberant, inhibited, and average approach--in a sample of 3.5-year-old children (n = 121). The interactions between temperamental styles and specific types of effortful control, inhibitory…

Research Findings: This article describes the development and evaluation of the Behavior and Emotion Expression Observation System (BEEOS), a direct observation tool to characterize preschoolers' social and emotion behaviors during semistructured activities in the classroom. The BEEOS was used to observe 148 Head Start preschoolers, and…

A transactional model examining the longitudinal association between vagal regulation (as indexed by vagal withdrawal) and maternal sensitivity from age 2.5 to age 5.5 was assessed. The sample included 356 children (171 male, 185 female) and their mothers who participated in a laboratory visit at age 2.5, 4.5, and 5.5. Cardiac vagal tone was…

This paper aims to describe the quality of play as offered by early childhood educators working with four-year-olds within an educational childcare service. It also aims to identify the correlation between the quality of play support and a child's cognitive, language and socio-emotional development. Finally, it focuses on the factors associated…

In an experimental design, we examined the effects of middle-term training in social information processing (SIP) and in Theory of Mind (ToM) on preschoolers' social cognition and social adjustment. 48 preschoolers took part in a pre-test and post-test session involving cognitive, socio-cognitive and social adjustment (direct and indirect)…

Coparenting is associated with child behavior in families with heterosexual parents, but less is known about coparenting among lesbian- and gay-parent families. Associations were studied among self-reported divisions of labor, coparenting observations, and child adjustment ("M[subscript age]" = 3 years) among 104 adoptive families headed…

This study examined how ADHD symptoms in mothers of children with ADHD relate to their behavior during parent-child interactions and to their children's disruptive behavior. Findings indicated that mothers' retrospective self-ratings of ADHD symptoms were related to their present negativity during parent-led play. Mothers' self-ratings of current…

The present study included observational and self-report measures to examine associations among parental stress, parental behaviour, child behaviour, and children's theory of mind and emotion understanding. Eighty-three parents and their 3- to 5-year-old children participated. Parents completed measures of parental stress, parenting (laxness,…