Scientific literature indicates that theory of mind (ToM) is less strongly associated with peer acceptance (PA) in the case of boys and the case of negative nominations. This study hypothesizes that these two effects of ToM on PA could be an epiphenomenon of counterfactual reasoning (CFR). Fifty-three 3-5-year-olds participated in this study. The…

An insight regarding few of the experiences during video games playing activity is still fuzzy. This paper presents an extensive empirical study that analyzes the experiences of 100 participants (i.e. 25 children, younger adults, older adults, and elders each) during brain games play. This concludes a number of significant correlations among the…

The present study examined mothers' emotional availability (EA) during daytime free play and bedtime as a mediator of linkages between maternal nighttime sleep and infant-mother attachment. Participants included 153 mothers (85% White) with infants (53% female). When infants were 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, maternal sleep was assessed using…

Infants can help and share in the second year of life. However, there is limited knowledge as to variability in these behaviors as a function of target (e.g., caregiver vs. unfamiliar adult) and the influence of caregiver support on infant prosocial behavior. Infants (N = 268, 124 female) at 1-2 years of age (M = 1.47, SD = 0.27) and again at 2-3…

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 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…

There is evidence that parents could influence the development of their children's effortful control in infancy through social interaction. Playful interactions in infancy often involve scaffolding - i.e. the parental provision of support and modelling for problem solving and learning during play. However, previous research has found little…

Purpose: This study examined the extent to which fundamental motor skill competence (FMSC; locomotor and object control skill competence) and perceived physical competence (PPC) predicted physical activity levels and sedentary behaviors during free-play time at preschool. Method: A total of 72 children (girls n = 33, boys n = 39; M[subscript age]…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the associations between child characteristics (i.e. gender, age, enjoying outdoor) and familial characteristics (i.e. parent education and income), and Turkish children's biophilia (innate tendency to connect with nature). In addition, the current study also attempted to examine the association…

This study explores the developmental change of mother-child interactions in order to investigate which aspects of maternal behavior affect children's speech production. To this end, the interactions between 79 German-speaking mothers and their two- or five-year-old children were observed at two time points (12 months apart) and in two interactive…

This study aimed to explore the association between graphomotor tests--VMI, ROCF, SWT--and the measures of a child's participation. Seventy-five typically developing children aged 4 to 9 years were individually evaluated using the graphomotor tests and their parents completed a participation questionnaire. After controlling for child's age, the…

Piaget (1962) asserted that children stop engaging in pretend play when they enter the concrete operational stage because they become able to accommodate reality and no longer need to assimilate it to their wishes. Consistent also with the views of Vygotsky, discussion of pretend play in developmental psychology is typically confined to early…

Background: Maternal responsiveness has been shown to predict child language outcomes in clinical samples of children with language delay and non-representative samples of typically developing children. An effective and timely measure of maternal responsiveness for use at the population level has not yet been established. Aims: To determine…

Sharing is an important indicator of internalised prosocial values. We examined predictors of sharing of 302 preschoolers with their younger siblings in a one-year longitudinal study. Sharing was observed during different home visits, once with father and once with mother. We examined the following predictors: both children's externalising…

The extent to which early social communication behaviors predict later communication and intellectual outcomes was investigated via retrospective video analysis. Joint attention, imitation, and complex object play behaviors were coded from edited home videos featuring scenes of 29 children with ASD at 9-12 and/or 15-18 months. A quantitative…