Developmental Psychology

Hoch, Justine; Hospodar, Christina; Koch da Costa Aguiar Alves, Gabriela; Adolph, Karen

doi: 10.1037/dev0001745pmid: 38647471

Independent locomotion is associated with a range of positive developmental outcomes, but unlike cognitive, linguistic, and social skills, acquiring motor skills requires infants to generate their own input for learning. We tested factors that shape infants’ spontaneous locomotion by observing forty 12- to 22-month-olds (19 girls, 21 boys) during free play. Infants were recruited from the New York City area, and caregivers reported that 25 infants were White, six were Asian, four were Black, and five had multiple races; four were Hispanic or Latino. All infants played in four conditions: two environmental conditions (gross-motor toys, fine-motor toys) crossed with two social conditions (alone, together with a caregiver). Infants moved more in the gross-motor toy conditions than in the fine-motor toy conditions. However, the effect of playing with a caregiver differed by toy condition. In the gross-motor toy conditions, playing with a caregiver did not affect how much infants moved, but in the fine-motor toy conditions, playing with a caregiver further depressed infant locomotion. Infants with more walking experience moved more with gross-motor toys but not with fine-motor toys. Differences in the amount of locomotion between conditions were related to how infants used toys and the interactions between infants and caregivers.

Waugh, Mali A.; DeMasi, Aaron; Maia, Michele Gonçalves; Evans, Taylor N.; Karasik, Lana B.; Berger, Sarah E.

doi: 10.1037/dev0001713pmid: 38358669

Learning to descend stairs requires motor and cognitive capacities on the part of infants and opportunities for practice and assurance of safety offered by caregivers. The American Academy of Pediatrics prescribes the age strategy to teach toddlers to safely descend stairs but without much consideration for individual differences in infants’ skills or caregivers’ techniques. The purpose of this study was to observe the natural ways in which caregivers teach infants to descend stairs at home and the extent to which infants abide. Of particular interest was to examine the dynamic nature of caregivers’ teaching and infants’ learning over the session with attention to individual differences. Dyads (N = 59) were videorecorded on Zoom for 10 min interacting on stairs at home in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Italy, and Spain. Infants (n = 30 girls, 29 boys; 13-month-olds ± 1 week) were novice walkers (M = 2.04 months walking experience). Caregivers used a variety of teaching strategies and focused on “backing” and “scooting.” Infants were more likely to heed caregivers’ guidance when caregivers provided hands-on support and verbal encouragement suggesting infants were engaged and responsive to caregivers’ overtures. Infants’ walking experience predicted change in descent strategy over the session. Although infants did not show evidence of learning over the session, consistent caregiver instruction suggested caregivers were persistent, if not effective, teachers. Teaching and learning motor skills in a potentially risky task creates a unique opportunity for interaction, allowing infants and caregivers to learn from one another.

Chen, Xi; McElwain, Nancy L.; Pomerantz, Eva M.; Wang, Mengjiao

doi: 10.1037/dev0001723pmid: 38421784

This study examines the moment-to-moment within-person associations between maternal and child behaviors during a challenging puzzle task and compares these associations between mother–child dyads from the United States (n = 99, 52 boys, Mchild age = 56.05 months, SD = 6.44) and China (n = 101, 46 boys, Mchild age = 57.41 months, SD = 6.58). Maternal autonomy support and intrusive control and child agency and defeat were rated in 15-s intervals by native and bicultural coders. Country was examined as a moderator of the moment-to-moment within-person associations between maternal and child behaviors. The results showed that for both U.S. and Chinese dyads, increases in maternal intrusive control predicted subsequent decreases in child agency, and increases in child defeat predicted subsequent increases in maternal autonomy support. Furthermore, increases in maternal autonomy support predicted subsequent increases in child defeat, but for the Chinese dyads only.

Morales, Santiago; Bowers, Maureen E.; Shuffrey, Lauren; Ziegler, Katherine; Troller-Renfree, Sonya; Hernandez, Alexis; Leach, Stephanie C.; McGrath, Monica; Ola, Cindy; Leve, Leslie D.; Nozadi, Sara S.; Swingler, Margaret M.; Lai, Jin-Shei; Schweitzer, Julie B.;

Weisbecker, Rachel L.; DiLalla, Lisabeth Fisher

doi: 10.1037/dev0001737pmid: 38546572

Parenting behaviors have long been recognized as crucial to children’s healthy development. However, examinations of the etiology of these behaviors are less prevalent. The current study investigated the driving forces behind parental warmth and discipline, particularly whether they are related more to traits within the parent or reactions to characteristics of the child. To explore this question, three robust factors of child temperament—effortful control, negative affectivity, and surgency/extraversion—and five parent personality traits were examined in association with parent behaviors through differential parenting within 185 four-year-old twin pairs (370 children; 56% girls; 90% White; predominantly middle class). Genetic analyses showed that parents tend to treat both children similarly in terms of parental warmth, but they treat children less similarly in terms of discipline, regardless of child zygosity. Multilevel linear regressions showed that within twin pairs, the child with higher effortful control received less discipline from parents than their cotwin. Analyses also showed that parent agreeableness was significantly related to parent warmth above and beyond other personality traits and child temperament. This study clarified the direction of effects and genetic contributions to parenting behaviors, supporting previous literature that discipline acts in reaction to the child, whereas warmth is more driven by parent personality. This research suggests the importance of focusing on child temperament and parent personality as they relate to parenting behaviors, allowing clinicians and parents to more effectively correct maladaptive parenting behaviors and encourage healthy and adaptive parenting behaviors, thus promoting positive outcomes for children.

Russotti, Justin; Platts, Cory R.; Sturge-Apple, Melissa L.; Davies, Patrick T.; Thompson, Morgan J.

doi: 10.1037/dev0001743pmid: 38647472

There is a well-documented interdependency between destructive interparental conflict (IPC) and parenting difficulties (i.e., spillover effect), yet little is known about the mechanisms that “carry” spillover between IPC and parenting. Guided by a cascade model framework, the current study used a longitudinal, multimethod, multi-informant design to examine a process model of spillover that tested whether parental executive functioning (working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control) served as a mediator of the prospective associations between IPC and subsequent changes in parenting over a 2-year period. Mothers and fathers were separated into differentiated models and multiple domains of parenting were examined (i.e., authoritarian discipline and scaffolding behavior). Participants included 231 families (both mothers and fathers of preschoolers). Race was reported as White (62%), Black (21%), Mixed (8%), Asian (3%), or Other (6%) and 14% considered their ethnicity to be Hispanic/Latino. Median household income was $65,000. Results indicated that for fathers, IPC indirectly predicted domain-general parenting difficulties (increased authoritarian parenting and decreased scaffolding) via deficits in paternal cognitive flexibility (but not inhibitory control or working memory). In mothers, IPC directly predicted domain-specific parenting difficulties (decreased scaffolding only) that did not operate via maternal executive functions. Notably, these effects occurred over and above the influence of parental socioeconomic status. This study constitutes a first step toward documenting parental executive functioning as a mechanism underlying the spillover of IPC to the parent–child relationship. Family interventions intended to interrupt IPC spillover should emphasize father involvement and consider targeting parental executive functions as change mechanisms.

Kwan, Karen Man Wa; Shi, Sylvia Yun; MacMullin, Laura N.; Nabbijohn, A. Natisha; Peragine, Diana E.; VanderLaan, Doug P.; Wong, Wang Ivy

doi: 10.1037/dev0001698pmid: 38483482

Children show less positivity toward gender-nonconforming (GN) than gender-conforming (GC) peers. Yet, little is known about children’s reasoning about peers of varying gender expressions, including age-, gender-, and culture-related influences. We investigated how children aged 4- to 5- and 8- to 9-years-old in Hong Kong and Canada (N = 678) reason about their moral judgments of GC and GN peers. After viewing vignettes describing GC and GN boys and girls, we asked children whether each target peer’s behavior was right or wrong and why they thought so. We coded children’s reasoning using a new coding scheme developed via inductive content analysis. Overall, children’s most commonly used reasoning styles were global standard, personal choice, gender stereotypes, “don’t know,” and others’ welfare. Children used more gender stereotype-related reasoning when they were older and from Hong Kong, appraising the GN boy, or when they perceived the target’s behavior as wrong. In contrast, children reasoned based on personal choice more when they were from Canada or when they perceived the target’s behavior as right. These findings inform how age-, gender-, and culture-related factors are associated with children’s reasoning about the acceptability or appropriateness of varying kinds of childhood gendered behavior. They provide insights regarding children’s appraisals of different gender expressions by illuminating not only how they view GC and GN peers but also, from their own perspectives, why they do so. These insights have implications for strategies aimed at decreasing gender-related biases and increasing children’s acceptance of gender diversity.

Benozio, Avi; House, Bailey R.; Tomasello, Michael

doi: 10.1037/dev0001734pmid: 38661662

A foundational mechanism underlying human cooperation is reciprocity. In the context of repeated interactions with others, it is not always clear the degree to which in-kind responses reflect responsiveness to partners’ prior behaviors (“reactive” responses), an interest unrelated to the partner (“nonreactive” responses), or any combination of the two. To disentangle these two types of responses, we presented children with sequential, one-shot, and costly interactions between themselves and either egalitarian or selfish peers. Study 1 tested direct, generalized, and normative reciprocal scenarios (N = 144 seven-year-old German children; 50% girls and 50% boys), finding that “nonreactive” responses were dominant for boys and manifested in the form of “selfish” resource distribution. Among girls, “reactive” responses were dominant and manifested in the form of in-kind resource distribution. Study 2 addressed even younger German children (N = 144; 4- to 8-year-old German children; 50% girls and 50% boys), exposing the same phenomenon among 4-year-olds, but not among 5.5-year-olds. Study 3 addressed 7-year-old Israeli children (N = 95; 49% girls and 51% boys), and replicated the basic phenomenon, with an additional cultural variation. The early emergence of gender differences in reciprocity and implications are discussed in cultural, socio-developmental, and evolutionary accounts.

Yang, Rui; Waters, Theodore E. A.; Gu, Yufei; Way, Niobe; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Chen, Xinyin; Zhang, Guangzhen; Deng, Huihua

doi: 10.1037/dev0001748pmid: 38661664

A growing body of literature shows that adherence to some aspects of Western masculinity norms, including the suppression of emotional vulnerability, avoidance of seeking support from others, and exaggerated physical toughness, is associated with poorer psychological and social outcomes. While existing research suggests that parental gender beliefs and caregiving behaviors might influence the development of children’s gendered behaviors, little is known about the developmental origins of individual differences in adherence to masculinity norms. The current study aims to address this gap and presents a longitudinal investigation of how parental gender beliefs and maternal sensitivity during infancy contribute to children’s adherence to masculinity norms during middle childhood. Data were drawn from a mixed-method 9-year longitudinal study of 374 urban Chinese families (48.40% with daughters). Parental gender beliefs were assessed at 24 months, maternal sensitivity was assessed with mother–child interaction observations at 14 and 24 months, and children’s self-reported adherence to masculinity norms were assessed at age 10 years. Results indicate that while parental gender beliefs had no associations with children’s adherence to masculinity norms, maternal sensitivity predicted children’s adherence to masculinity norms (β = −.18, p = .008) above and beyond parental gender beliefs and parental education level; moreover, there was a significant interaction of sex on the effect of maternal sensitivity on children’s adherence to masculinity (β = −.23, p = .025), and the association was significant only for boys.

Tang, Daijiazi; Meltzoff, Andrew N.; Cheryan, Sapna; Fan, Weihua; Master, Allison

doi: 10.1037/dev0001733pmid: 38695824

Gender stereotypes about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are salient for children and adolescents and contribute to achievement-related disparities and inequalities in STEM participation. However, few studies have used a longitudinal design to examine changes in gender stereotypes across a range of STEM fields. In a large, preregistered study, we examined the developmental trajectories of two gender stereotypes (involving interest and ability) in four STEM fields across three time points within a calendar year, starting in Grades 2–8. The diverse sample included 803 students ages 7–15 years old at the start of the study (50% girls; 8.5% Asian, 6.0% Black, 25.5% Hispanic/Latinx, 43.7% White, and 16.3% other). Multilevel growth modeling was used to examine developmental trajectories in students’ stereotypes for four STEM fields (math, science, computer science, and engineering) while considering both gender and grade level. We found that different STEM disciplines displayed different developmental patterns: Math ability and science interest stereotypes more strongly favored girls over the year among elementary school participants, whereas computer science stereotypes less strongly favored boys over time, and engineering stereotypes (which largely favored boys) were stable across time. The results highlight that the development of stereotypes is not the same for all STEM fields as well as the need to understand the complexity and specificity of developmental change across fields and types of stereotypes.