Protective face masks were one of the central measures to counteract viral transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior research indicates that face masks impact various aspects of social cognition, such as emotion recognition and social evaluation. Whether protective masks also influence social avoidance behavior is less clear. Our project…

The errors young children make when recognising others' emotions may be systematic over-identification biases and may partially explain the challenges some have socially. These biases and associations may be differential by emotion. In a sample of 871 ethnically and racially diverse preschool-aged children (i.e. 33-68 months; 49% Hispanic/Latine,…

Early adolescents entering middle school are at a pivotal developmental phase as they become less dependent on parents/guardians and seek greater autonomy while encountering a complexity of social demands requiring them to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve academic and social success. Yet, students who receive services…

Although there is robust evidence of the benefits of attachment-based parenting interventions, limited research has examined their impact on dyadic mutuality and toddler behavior problems. Given the central question in prevention research of what works for whom, and the documented relation of maternal psychological risk to parenting and…

Globally, one in three women experiences domestic violence over their lifetimes. Yet, the factors that shape adult behavior toward domestic violence remain poorly understood. We examine the effect of exposure to political violence in early stages of life on likelihood of domestic violence in marital life. Combining household level survey with…

Background: Studies suggest that prosocial behavior, having high empathy and engaging in behaviors intended to benefit others, may predict mental health or vice versa; however, these findings have been mixed. The purpose of the current study was to examine the bidirectional relationships between prosocial behavior and dimensions of psychopathology…

Research suggests that the fear of harsh punishment from parents encourages children's antisocial lie-telling as they attempt to avoid the punishment for their transgressions. In contrast, warm and supportive parenting practices foster internalization of moral rules and norms and an ability to resist the temptation, so children have no need to lie…

Background: Previous studies have shown that when young people witness bullying, perceived social norms of their peer group affect their behavior. However, few studies have examined the specificity of norm misperception (i.e., overestimation of peer antisocial responses and the underestimation of prosocial responses relative to the objective group…

Background: Parenting is a primary mechanism through which children develop. Much is known about how parenting influences development over time; it is also critical to know what shapes specific aspects of parenting, particularly for families with higher socioeconomic risk. Objective: The current study examined how parenting stress, child behavior…

Supporting parents in foundational positive behavior support strategies for use with their child is a commonly employed method to improve child behavior in natural contexts, including the home. Parents have learned and implemented a variety of strategies with integrity; however, there is limited research regarding the maintenance of skills.…

Behavioural engagement as a predictor of academic success hinges on the interplay between effort and time. Exploring the longitudinal development of engagement is vital for understanding adaptations in learning behaviour and informing educational interventions. However, person-oriented longitudinal studies on student engagement are scarce.…

Developing conscious control and self-regulation skills in the early years is an important factor in child development, although there is limited application of cognitive strategy-based approaches with young children in both clinical and non-clinical settings. This study investigated the Conscious Control Curriculum (3Cs), an approach to teach…

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with severe conduct problems (CP) in youth. Causal theories for CU traits focus on emotion processing deficits that interfere with empathy development. However, though CU traits are consistently associated with deficits in affective empathy (i.e., emotional reactivity), the association between CU…

Academic dishonesty threatens the integrity of performance assessment, making it crucial to understand the various types and predictors of such behavior. Second-party cheating, which refers to aiding and abetting cheating behaviors, is similarly prevalent as individualistic cheating, yet has received limited research attention. We follow up on…

This systematic review and meta-analysis explores the effectiveness of teacher interventions supporting children with externalizing behaviors based on teacher and child outcomes. A systematic search was conducted using 5 electronic databases. From 5714 papers, 31 papers that included interventions delivered directly to teachers and aimed to…