Maternal touch plays a pivotal role in children's socioemotional development, yet its relationship with empathy as well as the potential roles of attachment and parenting styles in the relationship remain understudied. This longitudinal study employed a two-wave design with a six-month interval, collecting data from mothers of children aged 3-6 years at both timepoints. Measures included maternal touch, attachment security, parenting styles, child empathy, and demographic variables. Results revealed that maternal touch at Time 1 positively predicted child empathy at Time 2 (six months later). Notably, attachment security mediated the relationship between maternal touch and cognitive empathy. Additionally, permissive parenting moderated the association between maternal touch and emotional empathy, specifically weakening its strength. These findings provide new insights into how tactile parent-child interactions, in conjunction with caregiving contexts, shape the developmental trajectory of empathy in early childhood.
This study examined how four play areas (pretend, block, sand, and art) and their overall quality influence children's emotional well-being and divergent thinking (DT). A sample of 107 children (52% boys; mean age = 5.5 years) was assessed. Play area quality was measured using ECERS-R, while well-being and DT were evaluated through fifteen minutes of solitary play with puppets and blocks, analyzing emotional expressions (positivity ratio) and object substitution incidents (DT). Results indicated that the quality of the block-and-pretend areas positively impacted well-being, with only the block area linked to DT skills. Conversely, the art area showed negative associations with both. No significant correlation was found between overall quality and children's outcomes. Findings suggest that the dynamic, challenge-based nature of the block-and-pretend areas best supports emotional and cognitive development, underscoring their importance in early childhood environments.
This study explores how kindergarten principals' transformational leadership (KPTL) shapes teachers' work engagement (TWE) and children's approaches to learning (CAL) in Chinese kindergartens. While leadership's overall influence is acknowledged, the mechanisms connecting KPTL to educational outcomes remain underexplored in China's cultural and governance context. Based on field theory, data were collected from 161 teachers and 805 parents Hubei Province, China. Descriptive, regression, and mediation analyses revealed that KPTL significantly predicts both TWE and CAL, with TWE partially mediating their relationship. These findings demonstrate a ripple effect, wherein principals' leadership cascades through teachers' engagement to enhance children's learning approaches. The study advances understanding of early childhood leadership by offering context-specific empirical evidence and illustrating how transformational leadership bridges macro-level policy intentions with micro-level classroom practices. The results provide theoretical insights and practical implications for strengthening leadership effectiveness within China's evolving educational governance system.
This study investigated the impact of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library worldwide on children's emergent literacy skills aged three to five years. The Imagination Library delivers age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five in the United States, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Caregivers responded to questions relating to the child's emergent literacy skills prior to receiving any books (baseline; N = 18,488), six months later (Survey 2; N = 8,441), and around six months after completion of survey 2 (Survey 3; N = 4,842). Data from caregivers with children who participated in the Imagination Library (N = 4,842) were compared to data from caregivers that had just enrolled in the programme but had not yet received any books (N = 16,477). Caregivers reported that children in the Imagination Library were more likely to demonstrate key emergent literacy skills including alphabet knowledge and receptive and expressive vocabulary compared to children in the comparison group.
This study presents the first application of the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP) to Japanese father-infant dyads to examine attachment classifications and their correlates. We analyzed fifty-four fathers and their 12-18-month-old infants. As a result, secure attachment represented the largest proportion, and within insecure categories, ambivalent attachment was more prevalent than avoidant attachment. Two behavioural patterns rarely reported in previous father-child SSP studies were also observed: infants calling for their mothers during episodes and infants ceasing intense crying at reunion without proximity seeking. Logistic regression analyses revealed no significant associations between attachment security and paternal sensitivity, quantity of parenting, or pleasure in parenting. However, testing differences among attachment types indicated that fathers of disorganized infants exhibited a larger discrepancy between sensitivity and pleasure in parenting than fathers of other groups, suggesting a potential mismatch between caregiving attitudes and behaviours.
Prior research has documented SES-related gaps in children's mathematics achievement and early numeracy, but the family processes linking family socioeconomic status (SES) to mathematical process skills remain unclear. Drawing on the family investment model and cultural capital theory, this study examined whether parents' mathematics education beliefs and parent-child mathematics activities mediated the association between family SES and young children's mathematical process skills. Parents of 280 preschool children completed questionnaires on family SES, mathematics education beliefs, and parent-child mathematics activities, and children's mathematical process skills were directly assessed. Structural equation modelling showed that, controlling for child age and gender, family SES was positively associated with mathematical process skills. Parents' mathematics education beliefs and parent-child mathematics activities each mediated this association and also formed a sequential mediation path, while the direct effect of family SES was not significant. These findings highlight key family processes through which SES-related differences may be transmitted.
Mathematics is a fundamental domain in early childhood education and a strong predictor of future academic success. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study examined the interplay of individual and environmental factors influencing sleep and mathematical learning in 275 urban and 247 rural preschoolers and their parents. Results indicated that: (1) rural preschoolers demonstrated significantly lower sleep quality, executive function, and mathematical ability than their urban peers; (2) for urban children, sleep quality influenced mathematical ability solely through the mediation of executive function. In contrast, for rural children, sleep quality exhibited both a direct effect on mathematical ability and an indirect effect mediated by executive function. These findings elucidate the sociocultural mechanisms underlying divergent developmental pathways in children's sleep and mathematical abilities. To narrow the rural-urban gap, we recommend rural practices emphasize collaborative physiological-cognitive support, such as improving sleep hygiene and nutrition, to strengthen biological foundations for cognitive growth.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) offer new opportunities to support dialogic interaction by modelling scaffolding, generating developmentally appropriate prompts, and supporting bilingual learning. This study investigated the effects of an AI-assisted dialogic reading (AI-DR) intervention on Chinese pre-schoolers' expressive vocabulary in both Mandarin and English, as well as their behavioural, emotional, and cognitive engagement during home-based shared reading. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test control group design, 108 preschool children participated in either an AI-DR or traditional DR intervention over 15 weeks. The analysis of data revealed that AI-DR significantly enhanced Chinese pre-schoolers' bilingual expressive vocabulary. Further, behavioural and cognitive dimensions of engagement improved after the AI-DR intervention. The findings suggest that AI-DR offers a promising approach to supporting early bilingual development in home contexts.
This study investigates the relation between parenting styles and children's play behaviour in Taiwan and the United States. Using purposive sampling, 107 parent-child dyads were recruited from university-affiliated preschools (64 in Taiwan, 43 in the U.S.). Children's play behaviour was assessed via the Play Observation Scale (POS) over a three-month period, while parental discipline styles were measured using the Parenting Style Dimensions Questionnaire (PSD). Results revealed that American parents were more likely to adopt an authoritative style, while Taiwanese parents showed a stronger tendency towards authoritarian parenting. Additionally, American children engaged in more group play than their Taiwanese counterparts. While authoritative parenting showed no significant association with children's play, authoritarian parenting was moderately and negatively correlated with group play. Further, parental warmth/acceptance and punitive/irrational strategies emerged as significant predictors of children's group play behaviour. These findings highlight the culturally contingent associations between parenting styles and children's social play, underscoring the importance of parental warmth and disciplinary strategies in shaping early peer interactions.
This study examined child- and teacher-level social factors associated with preschool children's school adjustment within the Turkish early childhood education context. Participants were 294 preschool children (M = 67.88 months, SD = 10.57; 51.7% girls) and their teachers (n = 19) from Ankara, T & uuml;rkiye. Teachers reported on children's prosocial behaviour and their own prosocial behaviour and aggression, while peer relational experiences were assessed via sociometric interviews. Using multilevel modelling to account for children nested within classrooms, results indicated that children's prosocial behaviour was positively associated with school adjustment, whereas peer rejection and teacher aggression were negatively associated. The teacher's prosocial behaviour was not a significant predictor of children's school adjustment. These findings underscore the salience of negative social experiences in shaping school adjustment and highlight the importance of emotionally supportive classroom environments in Turkish early childhood settings.
Using a sample of 3,742 Ghanaian children (M = 6.1, SD = 1.2) in Kindergarten 1 through Primary 1 across the Greater Accra and Central regions, this cross sectional study examined the influence of household and student characteristics on early grade learning. Regression analyses showed that caregiver engagement, specifically reading and homework support, was positively associated with academic performance, whereas limited home resources were negatively associated. Moderated mediation analyses revealed a significant mediation effect of caregiver engagement on the relationship between home resources and academic performance in two-parent and mother-only households, but not in father-only or neither-parent households. However, the strength of this mediated effect did not differ across family structures. Age and grade predicted learning outcomes, highlighting the importance of developmentally appropriate support and school entry practices. The findings of the study emphasize the need for inclusive, context-sensitive interventions targeting home learning environments.
Prior theories highlight child-level factors in the link between parenting and children's social-emotional competence, although this has been understudied empirically. This three-wave study focused on differential contributions of temperament components and the effect of social mastery motivation in this association and further tested the sequential mediation among 519 Chinese mothers (Mage = 36.06) of preschool children (Mage = 4.49; 50.70% boys). Mothers reported their parenting and children's temperament (i.e. surgency, negative affectivity, effortful control) at T1, children's social mastery motivation at T2, and social-emotional competence at T3, with each assessment point spaced three months apart. Results indicated that surgency did not mediate the association between parenting and social-emotional competence, whereas negative affectivity and effortful control did. Additionally, effortful control and social mastery motivation sequentially mediated the association between authoritative parenting and children's social-emotional competence, but not for authoritarian parenting. These findings inform targeted parenting interventions to enhance social-emotional development through child characteristics.
This study uses latent profile analysis to examine how individual patterns of play (social, solitary, reticent, and rough-and-tumble), language (vocabulary and pragmatic language), and attention are associated, and how relevant covariates predict profile membership. Participants were 485 Norwegian children aged 36-57 months (M = 46). Five profiles emerged: (1) more social play - high language - high attention; (2) moderate social play - low language - high attention; (3) more rough-and-tumble play - average language - low attention; (4) more solitary play - low language - average attention; and (5) more reticent play - low language - low attention. Profile 1 included a higher proportion of monolingual children and those from families with higher parental education. Profiles 1 and 2 included more girls, whereas Profiles 3 and 4 included more boys. These findings suggest that play behaviour interacts with aspects of child development, indicating a need for tailored strategies to foster social play, which may support more inclusive educational practices.
Using data from the 2022 survey of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study analyzed 708 children aged 3-5 years to evaluate the effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) on children's cognitive ability and the mediating role of cognitive stimulation. Parents reported family SES, completed the HOME inventory, and assessed children's cognitive ability using the Early Childhood Human Capacity Index. The Bootstrap method was employed to test the mediating role of cognitive stimulation. The results revealed that family SES positively predicted cognitive ability, with cognitive stimulation serving as a partial mediator. Among its dimensions, parental guidance in learning and language environment had significant mediating effects, with language environment showing a stronger role. In contrast, learning materials and diversity of experience were not significant mediators. This study provides strong evidence for narrowing the gap in cognitive development among children and promoting educational equity through family intervention.
The transition from kindergarten to primary school is a critical period in children's formal education. This study examined the role of SES in children's readiness for primary school, considering parental involvement as a potential mediator. Participants included 460 boys and 407 girls, with a mean age of 6.21 years (SD = 0.56). Measures included the Parental Involvement in the Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School Questionnaire and the Children's School Readiness Assessment Scale. Results showed that SES was positively related to school readiness, and parental involvement partially mediated this link. Parental involvement also independently promoted school readiness and buffered the disadvantages of low SES. Moreover, this study developed and validated two new measurement tools across urban and rural contexts, which may be applied internationally to support children's school transition.
