In this brief essay, I comment on the constellation of papers published in the current issue. I argue that it represents the new beginning of the new era for the journal, driven by several considerations. Among these, three are key. First, the collection of articles in this issue is explicitly concerned with the multivariate and multidisciplinary…

In this article, I reflect on how ways of reporting research as well as reviewing and commenting on submitted manuscripts could take new directions to promote progress in the discipline of developmental science. I argue for (a) attitudinal openness toward migratory impulses in relation to Stokes's quadrant model of science, (b) the…

China has been undergoing great social change due to its new focus on urbanization and globalization. Such change has had a tremendous adverse impact on the living conditions of millions of young children, simultaneously generating new interest in children's creativity development. The intersection of these two issues has important…

The etiological forces of development have been a central question for the developmental sciences (however defined) since their crystallization as a distinct branch of scientific inquiry. Although the history of these sciences contains examples of extreme positions capitalizing on either the predominance of the genome (i.e., the accumulation of…

We continue to increase our understanding of the experiences and settings that contribute to positive developmental outcomes in childhood, and those that confer greater risk. Although the mechanisms by which the risk and protective factors affect developmental outcomes need to be further elucidated through research, converging findings from the…

Childhood and adolescence sexual abuse can have long-lasting and devastating effects on personal and interpersonal growth and development. Sexually abused children tend to exhibit higher rates of poor school performance, aggressive behavior, PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder), or depressive symptomatology, as well as social and relational…

The article reviews recent classroom research developed in South America related to child and adolescent development. We review work about three themes: ethnicity, school climate and violence, and the learning process. The few studies found on ethnicity and classroom experiences told a story of invisibility, if not exclusion and discrimination.…

Early research on child development in Africa was dominated by expatriates and was primarily addressed to the topics of testing the cross-cultural validity of theories developed "in the West," and the search for universals. After a brief review of the outcome of that research, we propose two additional types of motivation that seem…

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to millions of HIV-affected children. These children are likely to experience multiple developmental delays. In this chapter, I present data highlighting compromised neurobehavioral, mental health, and scholastic outcomes for children affected by HIV. Furthermore, I discuss biomedical factors (e.g., disease severity and…

Western conceptions of child development and the models of early education they engender predominantly shape services for young children in the first eight years of life all over Africa. This chapter brings a reconceptualist perspective to the critique of Kenya's continuing failure to ground early childhood programs and services in local…

We reflect on ways in which research presented in earlier chapters responds to challenges of generating an African child development field and identify additional issues calling for the field's attention. The chapters collectively display a variety of African contexts and reflexive evidence of the authors' African cultural roots.…

Nearly 5.5 million children in the United States grow up in the shadows of undocumented status. We review the ecological domains of influence in children's and adolescents' lives and briefly consider health, cognitive, socioemotional, educational, and labor market outcomes ripe for study. We also reflect upon the ethical policy…

The field of developmental psychology has produced abundant theory and research about the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of children; however, to date there has been limited use of this wealth of knowledge by developers creating games for children. This chapter provides an overview of key theoretical observations and…

Dialogical Self Theory, co-regulation, and foundational movement analysis are used to present a description of the development of the dialogical self during the first five months of life using observations of two mother-infant dyads. Susan and her mother illustrate normative emergence of the dialogical self. Susan's I-positions emerge through…

From the moment children say "mine!" by two years of age, objects of possession change progressively from being experienced as primarily unalienable property (i.e., something that is absolute or nonnegotiable), to being alienable (i.e., something that is negotiable in reciprocal exchanges). As possession begins to be experienced as alienable, the…