Many previous studies indicate that children are highly sensitive to the immoral behavior of others, preferring prosocial over antisocial characters. Accordingly, children avoid transgressors from a very early age. A special kind of transgressor is the moral hypocrite, who not only acts immorally but also acts in contrast to what they preach.…

Overparenting is an emerging topic in parenting research and has gained increasing attention in media. Most studies have focused on adolescents and young adults in Western countries, while it remains unclear whether overparenting is related to young children's outcomes in non-Western contexts. The present study aimed to examine the mechanism by…

Though early childhood educators have a long history of emphasizing learning through play to foster the development of the whole child, including social-emotional competencies, the proliferation of formal social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula first seen in kindergarten to 12th grade has expanded to prekindergarten. This report presents initial…

This report presents the results of a study conducted by RAND researchers that investigated the implementation and effects of the Positive Emotional Development and Learning Skills (PEDALS) program in prekindergarten classrooms in Western and Central New York and Southeast Michigan. PEDALS is a social-emotional learning (SEL) program that combines…

Adverse experiences in early childhood may directly and indirectly impact children's development, including their preparedness to learn in their preschool and kindergarten classes. However, like many other developmental processes, these skills can be supported through positive experiences and resources in a child's environment. This work uses the…

Background: Play is an essential component of children's development. Children with intellectual disability tend to have poor socioemotional abilities and impaired play. This study examined the effects of a medical/therapeutic clowning play intervention on the playfulness of children with intellectual disability. Method: Two medical clowns…

Motor difficulties are present in 50-73% of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and are associated with social difficulties. This review aims to synthesize the literature regarding psychomotor therapist use of psychomotor intervention for 3- to 6-year preschool children with ASD. A systematic search of electronic of six databases and…

The aim of this study was to find out if educational activities about friendship can lead to children's well-being, socialization and adaptation in the preschool setting according to parents' perceptions. It is generally accepted that there are strong links between subjective feelings of well-being and companionship (family solidarity and…

Motor skills develop rapidly during early childhood and are considered important for optimal child development. However, little is known about the relationship of motor skills with indicators of cognitive and socio-emotional development in typically developing preschoolers. In view of this, the present study examined the association of gross motor…

Most children first enter social groups of peers in preschool. In this context, children use movement as a social tool, resulting in distinctive proximity patterns in space and synchrony with others over time. However, the social implications of children's movements with peers in space and time are difficult to determine due to the difficulty of…

School readiness assessments in South Africa still predominantly focus on the assessment of cognitive skills. The Emotional Social Screening Tool for School Readiness (E3SR) was developed to bridge the perceived gap in assessing emotional-social skills as a domain of school readiness. An emerging body of research reports exists on the psychometric…

Young children often endorse stereotypes--such as "girls are bad at math." We explore one mechanism through which these beliefs may be transmitted: via pragmatic inference. Specifically, we ask whether preschoolers and adults can learn about an unmentioned social group from what is said about another group, and if this inferential…

Research suggests that 10%-20% of preschoolers have emotional and behavioral problems that would place them at-risk for development of emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Preschool children who exhibit early onset of antisocial and externalizing problem behaviors require early social-behavioral interventions focused on social skills. A…

Children's peer-related social skills in early childhood set the stage for school readiness, social competence, and lifelong well-being. Preschoolers spend most of their classroom time in free choice, offering substantial opportunities for learning experiences that facilitate peer interactions that support social development. Yet, little is known…

Executive function (EF) is essential for developing social competence (SC) in early childhood. However, previous research has primarily taken a general perspective of SC and overlooked its components. Furthermore, although EF and SC are known to influence each other across childhood, the mechanisms of this interaction remain unclear. Therefore,…