"Research Findings:" This study examined the engagement of 494 preschool children in Sweden (M = 53.44 months, SD = 10.64) using both teacher questionnaires to measure global engagement (trait) and observations to measure momentary engagement (state). Using a person-oriented approach with cluster analysis, we identified five distinct…

Research Findings: Emotion knowledge is one facet of social and emotional learning (SEL) that emerges in early childhood. Various interventions and measures target preschoolers' emotional skills to bolster these foundational competencies prior to formal schooling. One measure of emotion knowledge specifically with preschool children is the Affect…

We examined the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) compared to a social-emotional empathy-based intervention (EBI), and a passive control group in promoting compassion among Jewish-Israeli kindergartners. Three middle-class public kindergartens were randomly assigned to the MBI (n = 26;M[subscript age] = 5.03), EBI (n =…

Research Findings: In the present study, we investigated the roles of children's social competence and immigrant background in the prediction of the quality of children's relationships with peers and teachers and school adjustment. Participants were N = 212 children (M[subscript age] = 58.32 months, SD = 10.72; n = 98 with an immigrant background)…

Today, digital games are considered important tools for learning, but using them in early childhood education and care (ECEC) has raised the question of educators' roles when children play an educational digital game. The aim of this study was to explore how ECEC educators differed in their attitudes and perceptions toward and ways of supporting…

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a wide range of psychological problems among parents and posed significant challenges to their mental health. However, there is a lack of research exploring the antecedents and consequences of parents' psychological distress during the pandemic. This study investigated the familial and individual antecedents and…

The Social-Emotional Prevention Program (SEP) is a multi-focused intervention combining universal and indicated intervention strategies delivered face-to-face and through the use of technology. The study's objectives were to assess comparatively SEP effectiveness as a function of preschoolers' baseline risk of externalizing problems and to…

Research Findings: Research with older children and adults reliably demonstrates that individuals raised in poverty tend to evaluate concerns related to moral concerns (i.e., related to harm, welfare, and justice) differently than do wealthier individuals. However, little work has examined these patterns in young children. Children (N=214, Mage =…