Children showing poor executive functioning may not fully benefit from learning experiences at home and school and may lag behind in literacy skills. This hypothesis was tested in a sample of 276 kindergarten children. Executive functions and literacy skills were tested at about 61?months and again a year later. In line with earlier studies,…

Working memory and inductive reasoning ability each appear related to children's achievement in math and reading. Dynamic measures of reasoning, based on an assessment procedure including feedback, may provide additional predictive value. The aim of this study was to investigate whether working memory and dynamic measures of analogical…

Until now, a successful application of the mental rotation paradigm was restricted to children 5?years or older. By contrast, recent findings suggest that even infants can perform mental rotation. Unlike the methods used in infant studies (looking time), our new research paradigm allows for the measurement and interpretation of reaction times.…

Starting on positive trajectories at school entry is important for children's later academic success. Using partial least squares, we sought to specify interrelations among all theory-based components of social-emotional learning (SEL), and their ability to predict later classroom adjustment and academic readiness in a modelling context.…

Two recent advances in the study of fearful temperament (behavioural inhibition) include the validation of dysregulated fear as a temperamental construct that more specifically predicts later social withdrawal and anxiety, and the use of conceptual and statistical models that place parenting as a mechanism of development from temperament to these…

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…

This research examined two questions: effects of deception on children's understanding of second-order false belief, and possible effects of number of siblings on second-order performance. Kindergarten children responded to 3 second-order problems that varied in the presence and the nature of deception. Performance was better on the problems…

This research examined children's performance on second-order false belief tasks as a function of the content area for the belief and the method of assessing understanding. A total of 70 kindergarten and first-grade children responded to four second-order stories. On two stories, the task was to judge a belief about a belief, and on two, the…

Research suggests a central role of executive functions for children's cognitive and social development during preschool years, especially in promoting school readiness. Interventions aiming to improve executive functions are therefore being called for. The present study examined the effect of a small group intervention implemented in…

To aid in understanding preschoolers' self-regulation and refinement of measurement, we examined properties of a field-based assessment battery of preschooler's self-regulation, the Preschool Self-regulation Assessment (PSRA). The PSRA, which includes seven age-appropriate tasks that tap children's executive control, was…

The presence and quality of friendships are posited to have developmental significance, yet little is known about the extent to which children without friends versus low-quality friendships compare on socioemotional adjustment. The current study utilized data from a subsample of 567 children (289 boys) participating in the NICHD Study of Early…

Deficits in executive function, and in particular, reduced capacity to inhibit a dominant action, are a risk factor for externalizing problems (EP). Inhibitory control (IC) develops in the later preschool and early childhood periods, such that IC might not regulate EP in toddlers and younger preschoolers. Aggression was observed during peer play…

Social skills are necessary for developing successful relationships and promoting learning. "Interpersonal skills" (IPS) are needed for maintaining friendships while "learning-related skills" (LRS) are required for positive classroom behaviours. In this study, we investigated the construct validity of LRS and IPS within two existing assessments:…

The purpose of this experiment is to test whether shift flexibility in kindergarten children is a joint function of rule-usage and inhibition of attention. Sixty-six children were given either a distraction or facilitation condition in a computerized version of the dimensional change card sort task. In the distraction condition, the background of…

To test divergent theoretical predictions as to the impact of having a younger or older, same-sex sibling or opposite-sex sibling on other gender constancy, Israeli kindergarten children in two-child families responded to a gender constancy task in which a male and female picture target engaged in counter-stereotypic toy play and adopted…