The purpose of the research was to collect primary school pupils' perceptions of, and their views on learning about, poverty and development, in order to better understand the factors that influence and impact on their knowledge, understanding and perspectives. The main research questions were: (1) How do young people conceptualise and make sense…

Fetal exposure to prenatal maternal stress can have lifelong consequences, with different types of maternal stress associated with different areas of child development. Fewer studies have focused on motor skills, even though they are strongly predictive of later development across a range of domains. Research on mechanisms of transmission has…

In this article, the authors provide an overview of the consequences of war, terrorism, and disaster on children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Next, they discuss the "resiliency promoting" strategies that adults who work with children may employ prior to and after a catastrophic event. The article concludes with…

Children around the world are being exposed to traumatic events at a troubling rate. In large, nationally representative studies of children in the United States, researchers have reported that 71% of children have been exposed to at least one potentially traumatic event in the past year, and almost 70% of children have experienced multiple…

This article introduces the special section on child and adolescent mental health research in the context of Hurricane Katrina. We outline the purpose and intent of the special section and present an integrative perspective based on broad contextual theories of human development with which to think about the impact of disasters like Katrina. The…

Seven months after Hurricane Katrina, 183 five- to eight-year-old children were surveyed about their own intrusive thoughts and tested on their level of cognitive functioning (knowledge about the mind and the mind's operations). Basic developmental research suggests that children who lack sufficient knowledge about the mind should have…

Toddler toy play evolves in a predictable manner and provides a valid, nonverbal measure of cognitive function unbiased by social behaviors. Research on prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) indicates that exposure to stress in utero results in developmental deficits. We hypothesized that children exposed to high objective PNMS from a natural disaster…

We are delighted to welcome you to the International Psychological Applications Conference and Trends (InPACT) 2016, taking place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 30 of April to 2 of May, 2016. Psychology, nowadays, offers a large range of scientific fields where it can be applied. The goal of understanding individuals and groups (mental functions and…