This article investigates children's everyday manifestations of grief and grieving situations. Medical and psychological approaches to grief and grieving usually focus on the death of loved ones. It is argued that everyday grief and grieving in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is present in social situations where loneliness and…

The present study validates a new procedure that combines continuous measures of proximity (Ubisense) and vocalization (LENA) into measures of peer social interaction. The data were collected from 4 boys and 5 girls (ages 2-3 at the outset) on 8 separate days (3-4 hours per day) over the course of an academic year. Teacher reports of friendship…

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…

Language serves as a mechanism through which children are able to interact and communicate with others. Thus, when children do not develop language at a typical pace, there may be cause for concern. The purpose of the current study was to examine the language production of children displaying various forms of social withdrawal (reticent,…

The purpose of this research is to explore the social competence and temperament of 4-6 age group children attending pre-school education institutions, to identify whether their social competence levels vary by gender, and to show the relationship between the sub-dimensions of social competence and those of temperament. The study group consists of…

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to examine teachers' beliefs about and responses to children's withdrawn behaviors (reticence and solitary-passive behavior) and aggressive behaviors (relational and physical aggression) on the playground across grades (preschool through 2nd grade) and by gender. Participants included 171 female…

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between communication skills, social competence and emotion regulation skills of preschool children. Children attending public primary schools who were 53 to 80 months old from the middle socio-economic class were chosen randomly from Istanbul City center districts for this study. They were…

This article examines how the preschool child is enabled to withdraw from the peer group and create a private, individual space within the institutional collective. The question under consideration is, "What factors are necessary to enable a child to create and maintain a withdrawal space in the preschool?" Data were collected through…

Researchers from different disciplines (e.g., physiological, psychological, philosophical) have investigated motivation using multiple approaches. For example, in physiology (the scientific study of the normal function in living systems such as biology), researchers may use "electrical and chemical stimulation of the brain, the recording of…

Research Findings: A growing number of young children encounter group learning environment for the first time when entering preschool at age 3, yet their parents and teachers have no means to discern whether they are ready for this challenge. To address this uncertainty, this study developed and validated the Chinese Preschool Readiness Scale…

One-quarter of the Head Start population has a mother who participated in the program as a child. This study uses experimental Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) data on 3- and 4-year-olds (N = 2,849) to describe multigenerational Head Start families and their program experiences. In sharp contrast to full-sample HSIS findings, Head Start has large,…

The purpose of this research, which was carried out for the first time in Greece, is to focus on the early detection of preschool children's "internalizing problems," according to their teachers' perceptions. The participants, 77 preschool teachers of 77 half-day and all-day preschool classes from the thirteen regions of Greece,…

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between gender and the temperamental characteristics of children between the ages of five and six, as well as to assess their behavioural problems. The sample included 128 children selected by simple random sampling from 5-6 year old children, receiving preschool education in the city centre of…

The present study examined the longitudinal relations between psychopathology and social competence in a sample of 115 Chinese children during the transition to preschool initiated in their third year of life. Social competence was assessed by maternal reports at three months after preschool entry (T1) and at the end of the first (T2) and second…

The goal of this study was to develop and validate an interview assessment of "preference for solitary activities" for use with young children. We also tested the postulation that negative peer experiences would heighten preference for solitude, particularly among young shy children. Participants were N?=?193 children (87 boys, 106…