Role-play (i.e., pretending in which children imagine and act out the part of another individual) was assessed with child interviews and parent questionnaires about invisible friends, personified objects, and pretend identities in a sample of 208 young children. Children who engaged in role-play did not differ from other children in age or…

The present investigation explored (1) fathers' contributions to children's theory of mind (ToM) development, (2) the similarity between maternal and paternal mind-mindedness (MM) in relation to children's ToM, and (3) the relative predictive strength of two concurrently administered measures of MM (an online and an interview assessment) in…

This study examined (1) the relation between perceived friendship instability and depressive symptoms, (2) the directionality of this link, and (3) whether the relation between friendship instability and depressive symptoms would differ according to specific friendship status (best and secondary friendships) and contexts (school, non-school, and…

In two studies, fifth- and sixth-grade children's descriptive accounts of sibling jealousy were related to their implicit theories about relationships. Children's jealousy accounts were collected via structured interviews; their implicit theories were assessed by questionnaire. In both studies, children reported experiencing mild to moderate…

Similarity in close friends' beliefs about personal jurisdiction was examined using questionnaires and interviews with 162 early (M[subscript age] = 11.82) and middle (M[subscript age] = 15.68) adolescents who were matched with reciprocally nominated close friends. Using the framework of social domain theory, beliefs about personal jurisdiction…

This study used a social exchange framework to examine the features of non-romantic other-sex (OS) friendships compared with same-sex (SS) friendships and romantic relationships. High school seniors (N = 141) completed open-ended interviews about the benefits and costs of having OS friendships, SS friendships, and romantic relationships in…

Mothers (N = 67) taught their preschool children crafts while varying emotional expressions (delight, irritation). Mothers' typical expressive styles were assessed by questionnaire. After three weeks, children's memory was assessed with a free-recall interview followed by re-enactment of craft-making with an interviewer. Children of mothers high…

The goals of the present research were to develop a modified version of an existing self-assessment questionnaire designed to measure parents' emotional style and to examine how the aspects of child regulation may moderate the relation between the emotional styles and social outcomes in childhood. Participants in Study 1 were 140 mothers and…