Parental mobile device use while parenting has been associated with reduced parental responsiveness and increased negative affect among children. However, it remains unclear whether it can interfere with the process of acquiring social communication skills. Thus, this study sought to experimentally examine whether maternal mobile phone use while…

Humans constantly have to coordinate their decisions with others even when their interests are conflicting (e.g., when 2 drivers have to decide who yields at an intersection). So far, however, little is known about the development of these abilities. Here, we present dyads of 5-year-olds (N = 40) with a repeated chicken game using a novel…

Utilizing data from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, we investigated mothers' talk about mental states during play with their 24-month-old children as a mechanism though which infant-mother attachment was associated with children's later…

Associations of 6-week postpartum maternal self-criticism and dependency with 4-month mother-infant self- and interactive contingencies during face-to-face play were investigated in 126 dyads. Infant and mother face, gaze, touch, and vocal quality were coded second by second from split-screen videotape. Self- and interactive contingencies were…

Explored infants' capability to request a partner's participation in social games. Nineteen infants who were 9, 12, 15, and 18 months old played games for 30 minutes in a laboratory setting with an adult partner. Children's nonverbal behavior and vocalizations after the adult discontinued play were compared with behavior during game-playing…

Explores the differences between boys and girls (5- and 7-year-olds) in their use of two kinds of strategies with interpersonal conflict: (1) active persuasion and negotiation, and (2) mitigation without disrupting social harmony between the interactors. (HOD)

Explores the role of language in peer interaction and play of deaf children, taking into consideration the effect of hearing status, familiarity, and experience in playing with deaf children. (HOD)

Examines the social behavior of 34 preschool children, observed both at home and in preschool, to determine patterning interactions among siblings and consistency in children's interactions with siblings and peers. Concludes that children's behavior at home is most affected by relative age of their siblings. (HOD)