Abstract This 1‐year longitudinal study applied a random intercept cross‐lagged panel model (RI‐CLPM) to examine how optimism influences depression through negative cognitive bias and loneliness among Chinese college students, disentangling within‐person processes from stable between‐person differences. 886 college students completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Optimism Scale, Negative Cognitive Bias Questionnaire and UCLA Loneliness Scale at three time points over 1 year. (1) All four variables (optimism, negative cognitive bias, loneliness, depression) were significantly correlated across three time points (p < .001). (2) RI‐CLPM revealed: within‐person surges in optimism predicted lower negative cognitive bias ( β = −.28, p < .001) and loneliness ( β = −.35, p < .001) at the next wave; these reductions predicted lower depression ( β = .36 and .41, p < .001). Mediation was partial through negative cognitive bias (indirect β = −0.11, 95% CI [−0.18, −0.05]) but complete through loneliness (indirect β = −0.15, 95% CI [−0.23, −0.08]). Optimism at T1 negatively predicted negative cognitive bias and loneliness at T2, which positively predicted depression at T3. After accounting for between‐person variability, within‐person increases in optimism predicted subsequent decreases in depression through two concurrent pathways: negative cognitive bias and loneliness.
There is growing interest in the effects of reading on empathy and prosocial behaviour but not enough is known about the associations among these variables in children. In a study undertaken at a single time point, we examined children's leisure reading and self-reported prosocial behaviour, and whether the relation between them was mediated by affective or cognitive empathy or by theory of mind. We tested 113 English-speaking children aged 8-10 years from a UK primary school. Analyses showed that reading and prosocial behaviour are related, and that the relation was partly explained by variance shared with empathy, particularly affective rather than cognitive empathy. Future work focusing on causal aspects of these relations should provide further guidance on the practical implications of these results.
Abstract Children with more exposure to socioeconomic deprivation have lower language and literacy. Minority ethnic children often experience more deprivation but are under‐represented in the research literature. We examined socioeconomic deprivation (during pregnancy), home learning environment (2 years), and language and literacy at school entry (4–5 years) and primary school (6–7 years) in a diverse UK cohort ( N = 7064). Using latent structural equation modelling, we identified a persistent negative effect of deprivation on school language and literacy. Despite higher deprivation, being read to less often and fewer learning resources during preschool, children of Pakistani ethnicity had school language and literacy largely on par with White British children and children of other ethnicities. Deprivation effects were not mediated by home learning environment; literacy in primary school was partially mediated by school‐entry language and literacy. There may be additional factors within minority ethnic families that help mitigate impacts of socioeconomic deprivation, and standard home learning environment measures may not fully capture experiences of Pakistani ethnicity children.
Abstract Conflicting claims exist in the literature on the direction of the effects between reading and mathematics. This study used the random intercept cross‐lagged panel model (RI‐CLPM) in a larger sample to assess directional associations across grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 using longitudinal data of the National Assessment Program of Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). The population data comprised all 87,610 New South Wales school students in grade 3 of 2012. The RI‐CLPMs showed large positive directional effects from reading to subsequent mathematics in primary school and the start of secondary school (grades 3 to 5 and 5 to 7). Also, between grades 3 and 5, the models showed large positive directional effects in the opposite direction, mathematics to subsequent reading. The longitudinal studies reviewed show heterogeneity. image
Abstract Shared reading research has traditionally focused on developmental outcomes yet rarely positions children as co‐constructors of knowledge about their own literacy practices. Grounded in a child‐rights informed and ecological developmental framework, this study positions children as citizen scientists to examine how shared reading is experienced within the relational context of home life. Using a participatory action research approach, 109 children aged 7–11 participated in 21 CoNavigator sessions. CoNavigator is a tactile, dialogic methodology that embeds participants directly in both data generation and primary analysis. In peer‐led groups, children collaboratively constructed three‐dimensional conceptual maps in response to the prompt ‘shared reading at home’, collectively defining what shared reading is, what it ought to be and what should change to support it. Children generated, organized, negotiated and interpreted their own data in real time, functioning as analytic collaborators rather than research subjects. While recognizing shared reading as developmentally valuable, children emphasized autonomy, emotional safety and attentive co‐presence as central to sustained engagement. They reconceptualized ‘sharing’ to include post‐reading dialogue and relational proximity rather than solely simultaneous co‐reading. Experiences framed as overly corrective or compulsory were associated with disengagement, and the findings challenge outcome‐driven models of home literacy support.
