Grandparents play an important yet understudied role in early caregiving, particularly in Chinese families where grandparental involvement in childrearing is culturally normative. However, prior research has yielded inconsistent findings regarding the developmental effects of grandparental involvement, in part due to limited attention to the multidimensional nature of this concept. Drawing on four-wave longitudinal data from 129 Chinese families with preschoolers (Mage = 48.97 months, SDage = 6.00, 48.8% girls), the present study examined whether the quantity (i.e., frequency and breadth) and quality (i.e., grandparenting behaviors and intergenerational coparenting) of grandparental involvement predicted children's social development. Latent growth curve and structural equation modeling revealed that the quality of grandparental involvement was significantly associated with growth in children's social skills and problem behaviors. In contrast, quantity had no direct associations with child social outcomes but moderated the effects of quality: High-quality caregiving was more beneficial under conditions of lower frequency or broader grandparental engagement. These findings underscore the importance of distinguishing between structural and relational aspects of grandparental involvement and examining their interactive effects. Relevant interventions and policies should focus on promoting emotionally supportive grandparental practices and on designing culturally responsive programs that help families manage the complexities of frequent grandparental involvement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Models of intergenerational transmission of depression implicate lower sensitive parenting as a key mechanism linking maternal depressive symptoms and offspring outcomes. A well-developed literature demonstrates consistent, modest, negative associations between maternal depressive symptoms and sensitive parenting. However, this literature relies primarily on methods ill-suited to examine developmental timing or account for confounding with time-varying exposures. To address these limitations, we implemented marginal structural models, an approach developed to test timing effects and address confounding for time-varying exposures. Specifically, we used prospective longitudinal data from a sample of families from low-income, rural U.S. contexts (Family Life Project; N = 1,275; 59% White, 41% Black; 31% living below the federal poverty level) to test chronicity and timing effects of maternal depressive symptoms during infancy on sensitive parenting at 35 postnatal months. Unadjusted models suggested that, compared with stable lower postnatal symptoms, chronically higher (d = -.29, p = .001), early only (d = -.21, p = .009), and later only (d = -.26, p = .004) symptoms were all associated with less sensitive parenting, consistent with the existing literature. However, these differences were attenuated (ds ≤ -.14) and nonsignificant (ps ≥ .396) after adjusting for confounding. Results suggest the statistical association between maternal depression and sensitive parenting may be explained by confounding and highlight the importance of considering additional intervention targets that co-occur with maternal depression and may drive reductions in sensitive parenting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

A large body of research implicates adults' attachment security, largely formed in their early experiences, as a key factor shaping their future romantic and parenting relationships. Family system theories suggest that the interparental relationship is key for other relationships within the family, including those in individual mother- and father-child dyads. Few studies, however, have elucidated how the legacy of parents' attachment security unfolds through family relationships to child outcomes. We test a developmental longitudinal cascade, conceptualized as a sequential mediation model, from parents' attachment security, assessed as their secure base script knowledge when children were infants, to their self-reported interparental relationship quality at toddler age, to their observed relationships with their children at age 3 years, and, ultimately, to children's developmental outcomes at age 4.5 years (self-regulation and moral self). We leverage multimethod data (interviews, reports, observations) from a study of 200 community families in the U.S. Midwest (mothers, fathers, and children). We adopt recent perspectives that emphasize positive socialization processes and successful outcomes rather than detrimental pathways conferring risks. In analyses that controlled for the continuity of interparental and parent-child relationships, we supported several mediational paths. Results for mother-child dyads supported the entire hypothesized longitudinal sequence from mothers' attachment security to the mother-child relationship to children's positive developmental outcomes. For father-child dyads, that key cascade was not supported. However, several shorter alternative indirect paths were found in both dyads. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Adults generate causally structured situation models during comprehension and use them to predict upcoming referents. In an eye-tracked comprehension task, 36-month-olds (N = 115) did the same, using story-provided information to predict which character could plausibly be mentioned next. In critical sentences, such as "She asked the goose with the boots to play with her," children treated "the goose" as unambiguous even in a story with two geese, looking toward the target animal before disambiguating information arrived if one goose was described as having left the scene earlier in the story. Success in this task implies predictive use of a situation model to infer reference to a still-present character. Individual differences in language skills predicted inference generation, and exploratory analyses suggested children with language delay did not generate these inferences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between resting electroencephalography brain characteristics and cognitive abilities, particularly in the context of aging, remains unclear. In this study, we analyzed dynamic microstates, power spectrum, and functional connectivity in electroencephalography resting-state data collected from 123 younger individuals (17-32 years) and 99 older adults (60-81 years) experiencing normal aging, under both eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions. We also examined correlations between these brain features and cognitive abilities, including working memory, processing speed, and inhibition. Our results revealed age-related differences in the balance between microstates C' and D, as well as in power across the delta, theta, and alpha bands, and in intra- and interhemispheric connectivity patterns. Older adults also exhibited an anterior shift and decreased asymmetry in power. Notably, significant associations emerged between these brain features and cognitive abilities, particularly in forward and backward working memory, with the effects being more pronounced in the older group. Our findings indicate a decline in overall resting-state electroencephalography brain activity with age, along with a shift in the balance between attentional and default mode networks, emphasizing the strong connection between these neural changes and cognitive abilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

It has been well established that higher math anxiety is associated with lower math performance. Thus, it is important to understand what individual-level factors might play a role in the math anxiety-performance relation to inform intervention efforts. Grounded in the expectancy-value theory and control-value theory with converging support from the broaden-and-build theory, we conceptualized math interest and confidence as stable positive attitudes and hypothesized that they would buffer the negative relation between math anxiety and both concurrent and later performance. Regression analyses were conducted in two samples of elementary school children (n1 = 310; n2 = 3,007) spanning kindergarten through third grade. We examined the interaction effects of math anxiety and math interest, as well as math anxiety and math confidence, on children's math performance. Additionally, we explored age-related differences in these interactions. Results suggest that positive math attitudes did not reduce the negative relation between math anxiety and performance. Rather, there was some weak evidence that there is a stronger negative relation between math anxiety and performance among children with higher levels of math interest. Similarly, there was a stronger negative relation between math anxiety and performance among children with higher levels of math confidence, a finding that was stable across multiple analyses. There were no age-related differences in these interactions. These findings provide a nuanced understanding of the complex interplay between math attitudes, anxiety, and performance in elementary school, underscoring the need for targeted interventions to specifically address math anxiety. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Loneliness and problematic social media use (PSMU) are two modern epidemics worldwide, which are often comorbid and prevalent among young adults. The design of everyday interventions calls for scientific endeavors that address how they may reciprocally influence each other on microtimescales and identify modifiable mechanisms. Using a 30-day daily diary design, this study examined the link between loneliness and PSMU among 209 Chinese young adults (M = 20.95 years old, 51.2% female), with psychological distress symptoms (PD) tested as a mediator and mindfulness and self-compassion explored as buffers. Results of dynamic structural equation modeling analyses indicated reciprocal positive associations between loneliness and PSMU across days at within-person level. PD mediated such associations, with a stronger indirect effect from PSMU to loneliness (vs. reverse) through PD. At between-person level, mindfulness and self-compassion attenuated the cross-day indirect effect from PSMU to loneliness (rather than reverse) via PD by buffering the same-day positive association of PSMU with PD. Between-person mindfulness and self-compassion also alleviated the same-day positive association between loneliness and PD, but no significant conditional indirect effects emerged for the cross-day pathway from loneliness to PSMU through PD. At within-person level, although self-compassion (rather than mindfulness) buffered the same-day positive association of PSMU (or loneliness) with PD, no conditional cross-day indirect effects emerged. These findings provide insights into how and why young adults' daily loneliness and PSMU perpetuate each other. Improving young adults' mindfulness and self-compassion skills and reducing their PD could help diminish vicious cycles of daily loneliness and PSMU. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Preschoolers often fail tasks that require that they select between a necessary and a merely possible outcome. Prior work has interpreted these failures as evidence that children hold a minimal representation of possibility or as reflecting performance factors. However, all previous paradigms have operationalized children's modal understanding as a discrete choice or outcome, making it difficult to distinguish between these accounts. We introduce a continuous measure of search behavior to assess how modal status regulates exploration. American 3- and 4-year-olds (48% female, 52% male) searched for an object dropped into one of two boxes after passing through a set of either transparent (yielding a single necessary location) or opaque tubes (yielding two possible locations). In Experiment 1, both age groups spent relatively less time searching the first location they approached and switched more often when the outcomes were merely possible than when the outcome was necessary. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern in a touchscreen version. Experiment 3 demonstrated the same effect while controlling for object tracking by equating inferential demands across conditions. Across experiments, children's search behavior was aligned with modal status, indicating that representations of necessity and possibility guide exploration before children reliably succeed on discrete choice modal reasoning tasks. These results suggest children's early sensitivity to modal concepts is expressed in their continuous search behavior, shaping real-time decision making. Our findings inform theories of modal reasoning in early childhood, suggesting that modal representations may be more readily expressed through graded patterns of exploration rather than discrete choices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Although developmental theories have long conceptualized fairness in resource distribution contexts as a component of morality, this view has been challenged recently. Based on findings from two studies, Yucel et al. (2022) concluded that children-and perhaps adults-do not perceive fairness as a moral norm. Using social domain theory as a framework, this article considers (mis)conceptions in Yucel et al.'s definitions and measurement of morality and empirically reevaluates their claims regarding children's and adults' perceptions of fairness. Study 1 used an online survey to examine university students' (N = 306; 18-24 years) judgments and justifications in response to hypothetical scenarios involving straightforward moral and nonmoral norm violations. Participants' reasoning about harm and resource inequality centered on concerns for others' welfare and fairness. Judgments of harm and resource inequality were also less dependent on the existence of norms/expectations than were conventional violations (nonmoral transgressions). Study 2 used interviews to examine whether children (N = 50; 4-8 years) also treat resource inequality as a moral concern. Children judged unequal resource distribution, like harm, as more norm-independent than conventions and provided justifications focused on fairness. In Study 3, a partial reanalysis of data from Yucel et al.'s Study 1 suggested that their failure to detect a significant difference in norm independence judgments of resource inequality and conventional transgressions was likely due to insufficient statistical power. Together these findings suggest that children and adults do perceive distributional fairness as a moral norm as conceptualized within social domain theory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Reports an error in "COVID-19 pandemic stress and child adjustment: Examining the moderating role of mothers' and fathers' pandemic conversational style" by Jennifer G. Bohanek, Cory R. Platts, Madeline M. Patrick, Nanxi Xu, Tara Lottes, Evan Reichard, Chase O'Neal, Amanda Bennett, Anna Blue, Halley Felty and Ashley M. Groh (Developmental Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, Jul 10, 2025, np; see record 2026-37653-001). In the article, the demographic information in the abstract is incorrect. It should read, "Drawing from a predominantly middle-class sample of 56 families comprising mothers (Mage = 35.25 years, 80.4% White/European American), fathers (N = 45, Mage = 37.16, 87.2% White/ European American), and their child (Mage = 4.59 years, 58.9% male), mothers and fathers separately discussed their child's biggest challenge and most positive pandemic experience." The demographic information in the Participants paragraph in the Method section is also incorrect. It should read "Mothers were primarily White/European American (80.4%), 8.9% Asian, 1.8% Black/African American, 3.6% Latinx, and 5.4% mixed/another race/ethnicity. Fathers were primarily White/European American (87.2%), 8.5% Asian, and 4.3% Latinx." (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2026-37653-001.) The COVID-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges for families, especially those with young children. While the negative impacts of these challenges on children's adjustment have been well-documented, less work has examined protective factors that may buffer children. We examined the moderating role of parent-child conversations on the relation between pandemic stress and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Drawing from a predominantly middle-class sample of 56 families comprising mothers (Mage = 35.25 years, 77% White/non-Hispanic), fathers (N = 45, Mage = 37.16, 84% White/non-Hispanic), and their child (Mage = 4.59 years, 58.9% male), mothers and fathers separately discussed their child's biggest challenge and most positive pandemic experience. Conversations were coded for frequency of internal states' language and parental level of elaboration. Results indicate that mothers', but not fathers', highly elaborative style when discussing their child's biggest challenge and most positive pandemic experiences mitigated the association between families' COVID-19 pandemic stress and children's externalizing problems. These findings have implications for future parenting and intervention work, and highlight the importance of considering parent gender, conversational style, and conversational valence in understanding the mechanistic role parent-child conversations play in buffering children from pandemic stressors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a worldwide crisis in which most families sheltered in place for long periods of time. We know that children, preschool through adolescence, generally suffered negative consequences of the shutdown, but we know less about the ways in which families communicated with each other during the pandemic or how this might be related to child outcome. The studies presented in this special issue examine this question from multiple theoretical perspectives and employing multiple methodologies. Both what was talked about and how it was talked about were studied. Individual difference factors, including family structure and resources, parental stress and depression, and child age, were considered. Across studies, findings converge on the role that open and elaborative parent-child communication plays in positive child and adolescent mental health outcome. Implications and lessons learned are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

In March of 2020, the lives of billions of people changed. The COVID-19 pandemic was unique as it was an extended event-without a clear end-that involved lockdowns, quarantines, and restrictions, but it was also a time when many parents and children spent large amounts of time together at home sheltering in place. In this special issue, we bring together research from diverse populations across the globe centered on family conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic. The research presented here showcases the breadth of research methods dedicated to family communication, spans developmental periods ranging from early childhood through adolescence, incorporates different constellations of family members, was collected at multiple time points across the pandemic, and examines the mechanistic role that familial conversations may have for child and family well-being. This work has important implications and applications for future widespread societal challenges and, taken together, provides compelling evidence that one way forward may be to focus efforts on resource-efficient and easy-to-implement interventions that target changes in family communication patterns prior to, during, and/or after significant life events. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

This longitudinal study followed 153 children from ages 3 (Mage = 3.41, SDage = 0.26, 53% girls, 47% boys) to 7 years (Mage = 7.92, SDage = 0.28, 54% girls, 46% boys) representative of the diverse demographics (30% Hispanic/Latino, 13% Black/African American, 11% mixed race/other, 3% Asian) of Austin, Texas, to examine the relative degree to which preschoolers' causal stance, causal reasoning skills, and home science environment predict scientific literacy through early elementary school. Together, these three predictors explained up to one third of the variance in scientific literacy across time, with causal reasoning emerging as the single most powerful and consistent predictor in multiple regression analyses. The predictive strength of causal reasoning skill increased as children aged from 3 to 5 years old and remained significant even after accounting for general cognitive ability. Causal stance and the home science environment also contributed significantly at select time points, though their effects were weaker and less consistent. Though dominance analyses generally supported the relative importance of causal reasoning, pairwise comparisons did not consistently indicate statistical differentiation from the other predictors, thereby underscoring the complementary contributions of cognitive, motivational, and environmental factors. Overall, findings suggest that although all three factors matter, early causal reasoning skills may provide a particularly strong foundation for the development of scientific literacy, highlighting the value of fostering these skills in early childhood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Reports an error in "Longitudinal associations between parental depressive symptoms and child behavior: A random intercept cross-lagged panel model" by Zhiyang Feng, Asko Tolvanen, Minna Torppa, Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen, Kenneth Eklund and Eija Pakarinen (Developmental Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, Feb 19, 2026, np; see record 2027-32339-001). In the original article, the first paragraph of The RI-CLPM Model Examining the Longitudinal Associations Between Parental Depressive Symptoms and Child Behavior section, the sentence "All the models fit the data well (Tables 5-9)" contains an incorrect table citation. The correct citation is "(Tables 5, 8, and 9)." In addition, all figures and tables should appear in the Statistical Analyses and Results sections in accordance with how they are referenced in the text. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2027-32339-001). In the present study, longitudinal associations between parental depressive symptoms and child behavior (externalizing and internalizing problems and adaptive skills) were examined using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. The participants were 200 Finnish children (106 boys, 94 girls) and their parents. Both fathers and mothers reported their depressive symptoms and rated child behavior of their children at the ages of 4, 6, and 9. In the combined models including effects from both parents, the results showed that at the between-person level, maternal depressive symptoms were significantly correlated with child behavior, while paternal depressive symptoms were significantly correlated with maternal depressive symptoms yet not with child behavior. Significant within-person-level predictive panels from child internalizing behavior at child ages of 4 and 6 to maternal depressive symptoms at child ages of 6 and 9, and from paternal depressive symptoms at child age of 6 to child externalizing behavior and adaptive skills at child age of 9 emerged in the model identifying the unique effects of maternal and paternal depressive symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Far transfer-the application of learning across distant domains-remains elusive in intervention research, and even when it is found, its mechanisms remain unclear or unexplored. This study analyzes data from the model of reading engagement, a sustained content literacy intervention implemented in Grades 1-3 that demonstrated positive treatment effects on both near-transfer reading and far-transfer math outcomes in a prior study. Here, we extend the original analysis to examine the potential mechanisms of the far transfer effects previously observed on math. Latent mediation analysis shows that approximately 50% of the treatment effect on Grade 4 math is explained by Grade 3 reading, leaving the remainder attributable to other factors. The indirect effects on math are driven by broad standardized reading measures rather than narrower content-specific reading comprehension or background knowledge, suggesting that interventions targeting broad, cross-disciplinary skills may be most effective for supporting far transfer. Results are robust to high levels of unobserved confounding, alternative mediators representing reading engagement and social-emotional learning, and alternative model specifications. We conclude with a discussion of how the appropriate methodological choices for assessing transfer depend on intervention characteristics and substantive research questions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).