This research aims to examine the predictive effect of gender, culture, and shyness on reticence and solitary play behaviour. Fifty children at two U.S. nursery schools and 55 children at a Turkish nursery school were included in the study, with a total of 105 children aged 36-72 months (61 boys, 44 girls). Parent questionnaires were used to…

This longitudinal study explores the associations between children's executive functions at the beginning of preschool and their learning behaviors, namely competence motivation and attentional persistence, at the end of preschool. Participants were 218 Portuguese children (M[subscript age]= 40.4 months, SD= 4.2; 52% boys) and their preschool…

Pretend play is an important, universal activity of early childhood, but research to date contains multiple inconsistencies in definitions and measurement of pretend play. To begin to resolve this issue, we conducted a first study of the multiple different behaviors of pretend play in the preschool years (3-5 years), and investigated their…

Research Findings: The amount of time and type of program that children experience in early childhood settings may be associated with children's kindergarten-entry skills, or kindergarten readiness. Taking a person-centered perspective, in the present study, we examined the extent to which reliable and unique profiles of early childhood…

Risky play provides multiple benefits for children's development. This study compared teachers' perceptions of risky play in one kindergarten in Norway and one in China, including the concept of risky play, the roles of teachers, the protective strategies adopted, and the factors limiting the practice of risky play. The aim of the article is to…

Research Findings: Children's capacities for complex socio-moral reasoning carries across domains; similarly, children's aggressive behaviors changes as a function of context. However, with a few exceptions, little research has considered children's socio-moral reasoning and aggressive subtypes in concert. The goals of the current study were to…

In this research, the playfulness of 4- and 5-years-old 181 children, 100 boys and 81 girls, attending a kindergarten in Turkey, was examined. The research was designed according to relational-correlational survey/research model, one of the quantitative research methods; the data were collected using Personal Information Form and Children's…

The purpose of this study is to examine the bidirectional relationship between children's language development and challenging behaviors as well as the moderating roles of gender and race/ethnicity. We conducted a number of structural equation modeling analyses with a national representative sample (N = 2,462) of Head Start children from the 2014…

Research findings on the prevalence and characteristics of behavioral problems of children with hearing loss (HL) are not consistent. The aim of this study was to compare the behavioral problems of children with HL, with typical development (TD) and with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); and to determine the factors affecting behavioral problems in…

Physical abuse is one subtype of child abuse and it has been a worldwide public health issue for its detrimental effects on child development, profiles, predictors, and its relation with behavior problems need further exploration, particularly in Chinese children. This study attempts to explore profiles and predictors of physical abuse and to…

Playing is essential for the development of higher psychological functions. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that playing constitutes an essential step in children's socio-cognitive development by describing playtime as the indicator of the gradual overcoming of self-centred thinking, with a view to acquiring new social adjustment…

The twofold aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between toddlers' physical and social spontaneity, as well as to investigate the interaction effects of gender, geographical background, and mother's occupational status on preschoolers' playfulness. Participants were 650 preschool children (353 boys, 297 girls), attending…

Outdoor time is a positive correlate of physical activity in preschoolers; however, children remain highly sedentary even outdoors. This cross-sectional study thus aimed (1) to measure the physical activity levels of 30 preschool-aged children attending a centre-based childcare centre in a remote region located in Northwestern Québec (Canada) and…

This study described infant/toddler teachers' (N = 106) perceptions of stress intensity and exhaustion (emotional, physical, mental) intensity. We examined the associations between stress and exhaustion and teachers' reports of stress sources and coping strategy use. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), teachers from Early Head Start…

Educators recognize children's social competence as an indicator of school readiness. Children's social competence may be promoted prior to kindergarten through parents' discipline. We assessed parent discipline as a predictor of 37 low-income pre-schoolers' social skills over four months. Parents answered open-ended questions about how they would…