In putatively meritocratic societies, doing well in school is a pivotal precondition for accessing further and higher education, which, in turn, has a pervasive, long-term influence on adulthood development. Yet, doing well in school may also predict "real-life success" outside formal education settings and independent of the educational…

Developmental science suggests that the consequences of mental health problems for life-course outcomes may depend on the timing of their onset. This study investigated the extent to which mental health predicted educational attainment at ages 17, 20, and 25 and whether gender moderated the links between mental health and educational attainment.…

Receptive vocabulary development was examined in 313 children (151 girls; 78% White) as a function of infant attention and maternal education (66% of mothers held a college degree or higher). Attention was measured at 10 months using a dynamic puppet task and receptive vocabulary was measured at 3-, 4-, 6-, and 9 years of age using the Peabody…

Educational attainment is typically examined as a static status. As adult learners have become the new trend in higher education, the changes in educational attainment in adulthood warrant more attention. Using data from the Chicago Longitudinal study (CLS), an ongoing panel investigation of 1,539 children, predictors of educational growth…

Adolescents are tasked with navigating competing priorities, including whether to marry, have children, pursue a job/career, go to college, and contribute to society. The developmental task of building expectations for the future is especially complex for Cambodian adolescents living within a society that strongly prioritizes family obligations…

Mind-mindedness (MM) refers to caregivers' proclivity to treat a child as having an active and autonomous mental life. It has been shown to be a powerful predictor of many developmental outcomes and to mitigate the impact of risk conditions. However, longitudinal studies on MM reporting changes over time and individual differences among mothers…

This study examined how family context at age 18 (parent-adolescent conflict, parental support, parent education) predicted between-person variation in subjective well-being (SWB; depressive symptoms and self-esteem) trajectories from age 18 to 50 years. Timing of leaving home, getting married, and becoming a parent were explored as life…

Whereas previous research has examined the role that parenting and home environments play in explaining the relation between family socioeconomic status and children's language development in the United States, relatively little is known about the associations between these constructs in other cultures. This study tested an integrated model of…

Children's work habits at school include being a hard worker, turning in work on time, following classroom rules, and putting forward one's best effort. Models on youth character, noncognitive skills, and social-emotional learning suggest that self-management skills like work habits are critical for individuals' subsequent academic success. Using…

This study is a conceptual replication of a widely cited study by Moffitt et al. (2011) which found that attention and behavior problems in childhood (a composite of impulsive hyperactive, inattentive, and impulsive-aggressive behaviors labeled "self-control") predicted adult financial status, health, and criminal activity. Using data…

Twin studies have documented that parenting behavior is partly heritable, but it is unclear how parents' genetics shape their caregiving. Using tools of molecular genetics, the present study investigated this process by testing hypotheses about associations between a genome-wide polygenic score for educational attainment and parental caregiving in…

This study examined developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Grades 1 to 9 (ages 7 to 15) in a large Finnish sample (N = 2,518). In addition, early predictors of the profiles were analyzed with respect to kindergarten cognitive skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automized naming [RAN], number…

Adolescence and young adulthood are characterized by substantial sociodemographic, family, social, and personality changes that may influence loneliness. Although loneliness is a public health challenge, we know little about how loneliness develops during these periods. Our study addresses this lacuna by using 4-wave longitudinal data from 3,116…

Hispanic adolescents have high expectations for their own educational attainment, but educational attainment outcomes for Hispanic young adults are relatively low on average. Limited scholarship links Hispanic adolescents' educational expectations with attainment in adulthood. Using a longitudinal within-group approach, the authors examined…

Why do many preterm children show delays in development? An integrated model of biological risk, children's capacities, and maternal stimulation was investigated in relation to cognitive functioning at toddler age. Participants were 200 Dutch children (gestational age = 32-41 weeks); 51% boys, 96% Dutch nationality, 71.5% highly educated mothers.…