Findings on positivity and negativity biases in emotion perception have been challenged due to the frequent use of static, unimodal stimuli featuring young adult faces, which overlook the dynamic and diverse nature of emotional expressions. We addressed these limitations by using a stimulus database that incorporates naturalistic features of emotional expressions (dynamic, uni- and bimodal, age-varied faces). Accuracy and response times of 75 participants across three age groups (children, younger and older adults) were measured in a positive-negative emotion categorization task. Children showed a positivity bias and a reduced efficiency when integrating negative bimodal information. There were no clear biases in younger adults, while older adults benefitted from bimodal cues only when categorizing negative but not positive emotions. Overall, our findings suggest a more nuanced pattern of biases across lifespan than previously reported, potentially influenced by redundancy effects, cognitive load, and age-dependent motivational goals.
Parental psychological resources play a critical role in promoting children's psychological resilience. However, previous research has mainly examined specific resources rather than the higher-order integrative construct of psychological capital (PsyCap), particularly in early childhood contexts. Drawing on Conservation of Resources Theory, Social Learning Theory, and the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, this study examined the effects and mechanisms of parental PsyCap on preschool children's psychological resilience. Participants were 460 couples with preschool children from Hunan Province, China. Mothers and fathers reported their PsyCap, mental health, and children's psychological resilience. Results indicated that both maternal and paternal PsyCap were positively associated with children's resilience. Significant actor effects emerged between each parent's PsyCap and their own mental health, whereas for partner effects, only maternal PsyCap significantly predicted paternal mental health. Furthermore, parents' mental health mediated the associations between both maternal and paternal PsyCap and children's resilience. Notably, fathers' mental health also mediated the association between maternal PsyCap and children's resilience. These findings highlight the intergenerational transmission of psychological resources within families and provide new insights into how parental PsyCap contributes to children's resilience development.
Mental rotation (MR), a predictor of later academic success, involves mentally visualising and manipulating objects in space, and emerges early in life. While two-dimensional mental rotation (2D-MR) in preschoolers has been investigated, three-dimensional mental rotation (3D-MR) development and its link to motor skills remain unexplored during this crucial period. This study examined 3D-MR and its relation to fine and gross-motor skills in 39 younger (4.6-5.5 years; 15 males) and 29 older (5.6-6.5 years; 16 males) preschoolers. We developed an MR Block Task consisting of mirrored 3D Shepard-Metzler objects and a box with a corresponding cut-out. Children (i) identified the object that they thought would fit into the box (perception phase) and (ii) fit it into the box (action phase). Concurrently, motor skills were assessed. Results revealed age-related improvements in 3D-MR. While gross-motor skills significantly predict 3D-MR in both age groups, fine-motor skills were associated with 3D-MR in older preschoolers.
The present study aimed at examining online and offline leisure patterns and their associations with media use and indicators of Positive Youth Development (PYD) among male and female German adolescents. A sample of 752 students (mean age = 13, age range = 12-15; 54% female) completed questionnaires which included measures on the five Cs, leisure activities and media use. Descriptive analysis and analysis of variance were conducted. Results showed high combined PYD levels, with girls higher in caring and character, and boys in confidence and competence. Most adolescent leisure time was spent at home engaging in digital activities (e.g. gaming and internet use) with little engagement in political, social, or meeting friends outside. Adolescents with high levels of PYD participated more in offline activities, such as sports, and creative work and used the internet more for educational purposes, while those with lower PYD used it mainly for gaming. These findings highlight the importance of promoting structured offline activities and fostering critical, balanced engagement with digital media as pathways to support adolescents' positive development.
In 'The Dutch Approach for Transgender Adolescents; Past, Present and Future Perspectives,' clinicians and researchers from the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria (CEGD) look back at three decades of CEGD research and conclude that, on the basis of these studies, they can now have 'far more confidence' in providing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries to minors with gender dysphoria than they did in the late 1990s, when the treatment paradigm was first proposed. CEGD has indeed produced many important research papers, but none of these are the result of methodologically robust study designs. Independent researchers and methodologists who have conducted high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses have all concluded that the evidence base in this field is weak. This includes the CEGD studies. While it is unclear what effects these interventions may have on mental health outcomes, we know that they can cause infertility and are associated with other significant health risks. Therefore, it is concerning that, in 2026, leading clinicians and researchers at CEGD express more confidence in the Dutch approach, when the appropriate response to the many systematic reviews published over the past 6 years would be less confidence in its effectiveness and, consequently, greater clinical caution.
The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the immediate effects of screen content on preschool children's executive function. The study used a between-subjects experimental design, i.e. 2 (educational vs. non-educational) & times;2 (realistic vs. fantastical) & times;2 (younger vs. older), with 90 preschool participants. The main results indicated that neither the main effects of educational or fantastical content on EF nor their interaction effects were statistically significant, while there were significant interaction effects between educational content and age on children's performance of EF. Specifically, watching educational screen content led to greater immediate improvements in EF among young children compared with non-educational content, whereas this effect was not significant for older children. The findings highlight the importance of considering screen content and age when evaluating the effects of screen use on preschool children's executive function and inform content designers, educators, and caregivers to make evidence-based decisions about screen use for young children.
Prevention is generally considered the backbone of successful youth care practice. Time and again pundits have pushed for prevention, the earlier the better. An inconvenient truth, however, is that the rise of youth prevention over the past decades has not lead to a decrease in mental health problems and severe stress in youths. Instead, our increasing prevention efforts have been parallelled by quite dramatic increases in mental health problems and use of professional youth care. In order to explain and resolve this paradox, I critically reflect on now-dominant interpretations of mental health trends in youths and on how we 'do' prevention in actual practice. I argue that increased prevalences of mental health problems in youths are not necessarily indicative of a mental health crisis and cannot fully be explained by increased mental health literacy among youths either. Rather, increasing mental health problems in youths signal that we are broadening our concepts of what mental health problems are, resulting in a youth prevention system that primarily focuses on screening and resolving problems, rather than promoting the development of health and resilience.
As in earlier versions of the DSM, the DSM-5-TR has distinct diagnostic criteria sets for gender dysphoria in children vs. adolescents and adults. In birth-assigned males, it has long been known that gender dysphoria in adolescents and adults has an 'early-onset' (i.e., childhood) and a 'late-onset' (i.e., adolescent/adult) form. Age of onset is reliably associated with several demographic and psychological variables, including sexual orientation, and these factors have implications regarding causal mechanisms that might underlie gender dysphoria. In recent years, it has been argued that a new late-onset form of gender dysphoria, termed 'rapid-onset,' distinct from the 'classical' late-onset form, has become prominent among adolescents, particularly birth-assigned females. This paper provides a summary of what we know about age-of-onset in contemporary samples of adolescents with gender dysphoria. It concludes with a discussion of the pros and cons of adding age-of-onset subtypes (specifiers) to the diagnostic characterization of gender dysphoria among adolescents and adults in revisions to the DSM-5-TR.
Uncertainty is increasingly pervasive in medicine, both uncertainty about empirical facts (empirical uncertainty) and uncertainty about the best way to act due to conflicting values (normative uncertainty). This paper examines normative uncertainty in transgender care for adolescents through the lens of 'moral settlements': implicit constellations of norms and values that shape decision-making and often obscure moral tensions. Growing societal scrutiny and trans advocacy challenge these settlements, surfacing normative tensions and exposing epistemic injustice. I explore what this uncertainty means for healthcare providers in clinical practice and consider how clinical ethics support, particularly moral case deliberation, can help navigate it. Rather than eliminating uncertainty, ethically responsible care requires engaging with it as an impetus for reflection, dialogue, and improvement.
School bullying, a pervasive and pressing global issue, has garnered significant research attention. Based on the stress coping model, the current study attempted to test whether peer pressure was significantly associated with adolescents' bullying perpetration and whether anger rumination mediated this association, and frustrated interpersonal needs moderated this mediation process. The sample consisted of 2286 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.46, SD = 0.93) who completed a series of questionnaires assessing peer pressure, bullying perpetration, anger rumination, and frustrated interpersonal needs. It was demonstrated that adolescents who experienced peer pressure had a higher propensity to exhibit bullying perpetration, which was mediated by anger rumination. Frustrated interpersonal needs moderated the association between peer pressure and anger rumination, as well as the relation between peer pressure and bullying perpetration. Notably, adolescents with higher levels of frustrated interpersonal needs exhibited higher levels of anger rumination and showed an increased tendency towards bullying perpetration when confronted with peer pressure, compared with adolescents with lower levels of frustrated interpersonal needs. The current study enhances understanding of the internal mechanisms underlying adolescents' peer pressure and bullying perpetration, providing a foundation for the development of specific interventions.
Advanced Theory of Mind involves the ability to understand complex mental states that develop over time. Despite the growing social understanding research, the literature indicates a continued need to explore the increasing capacity for mentalization with age in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, variations in Strange Story Task (SST) use across studies may contribute to inconsistencies in ToM performance and correlations. To address this, we investigated (a) the age-based differences in mentalization through SST in ASD, and the impact of the number of mental state stories on performance (b) the correlation between performance on SST and verbal ability, with the number of mental state stories utilized as a moderator. Results show that SST with 8 mental state stories demonstrated a noticeable increase in performance with age particularly in children and adolescents, while the other number of stories exhibited modest to trivial changes. The results reveal a moderate link between SST and verbal ability in ASD. Moreover, findings underscore inconsistencies in SST use, potentially offering guidance for future application of this task.
This study investigated how classroom ethnic diversity, students' ethnicity, and classroom moral disengagement (MD) interact to predict students' bullying involvement. The sample consisted of 6391 students (50.2% boys, 87.6% ethnic majority students, mean age 13.43 years) from 329 classrooms. Using a multilevel modelling approach, we found that individual and classroom-level MD were strong predictors of bullying perpetration and victimization. Higher ethnic diversity was associated with increased bullying perpetration among ethnic minority/mixed students, but not among ethnic majority students. In addition, the positive association between ethnic diversity and bullying perpetration among minority/mixed students was present only in classrooms characterized by high MD, while in classrooms with low MD, ethnic diversity was unrelated to bullying perpetration for both groups. For victimization, classroom MD was more strongly associated with higher victimization in ethnically diverse classrooms than in more homogeneous classrooms, although the association remained significant across both contexts. The study contributes to the limited body of research investigating the moderating role of classroom climate variables in the relationship between classroom ethnic diversity and bullying and highlights the relevance of MD in shaping peer dynamics in ethnically diverse classrooms. Practical implications include the potential of interventions targeting MD to foster inclusive, low-conflict classroom environments.
Emotion regulation (ER), empathy, and self-efficacy are key components of adolescent development. While these constructs have often been examined separately, their associations have received limited attention, particularly in non-Western contexts. This study examines the relationships among two types of ER (i.e., cognitive reappraisal [CR] and expressive suppression [ES]), empathy, and self-efficacy within the socio-cultural context of Algerian adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 459 adolescent students. Participants completed the Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Children, the Basic Empathy Scale, and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents. Pearson correlation analyses indicated significant positive associations among CR, empathy, and self-efficacy. Moreover, ES was significantly associated with self-efficacy but not empathy. Mediation analysis indicated that empathy significantly mediated the relationship between CR and self-efficacy, while the direct effect of CR on self-efficacy remained significant. However, empathy was not a significant mediator in the association between ES and self-efficacy. Overall, the results highlight interconnected patterns among two types of ER, empathy, and self-efficacy during adolescence. This study contributes to a clearer understanding of how these psychological constructs relatewithin the specific socio-cultural context of Algerian adolescents and adds to the broader literature on adolescent psychological development.
This study examined the association between children's high sensitivity (HSC) and pro-environmental behaviors (PEB), with connectedness to nature (CN) as a mediator. Consistent with the Environmental Sensitivity framework, it was hypothesized that higher levels of HSC would be associated with greater engagement in PEB through stronger emotional connectedness to nature. Mediation analyses indicated that HSC was positively associated with CN, which, in turn, significantly predicted affective, verbal, and behavioral dimensions of PEB. CN partially mediated the relationship between HSC and overall PEB, accounting for 37.3% of the total effect. Notably, CN fully mediated the association between HSC and behavioral commitment, as the direct effect was not statistically significant. These findings align with prior research in adult samples, suggesting that heightened responsiveness to environmental stimuli enhances emotional connectedness to nature and promotes sustainable behaviors. Despite limitations, including the cross-sectional design and reliance on self-report measures, the findings underscore the role of CN in fostering PEB among highly sensitive children. Future research should examine additional mediating mechanisms and interventions to strengthen CN and support environmental responsibility in childhood.
Gender has been conceptualized as a stable individual trait in developmental psychology. Consequently, little is known about potential gender identity changes in adolescence and early adulthood. This study explored 1) whether and how frequent changes in gender identity occur and 2) what these changes look like. Using eight-wave longitudinal data, Dutch youth (N=933; Mage=18.72, SD=3.73) reported their gender identity repeatedly. Results showed that approximately one out of 20 youth changed their gender identity at least once, with several changing multiple times during the study. Whereas some youth changed between binary options (i.e., boy/man or girl/woman), others (also) considered nonbinary identities – either by identifying as such or through various self-descriptions. Youth also used other ways to communicate potential gender-expansiveness, including self-describe, ‘prefer not to say’ and missing data patterns. Our findings highlight gender identity as dynamic and contextual construct that continues to change beyond childhood and should be recognized as such.
