ABSTRACT Research Findings: The present study explored young children’s beliefs about hypothetical peers’ loneliness (negative feelings due to perceptions of not spending enough time with others), aloneliness (negative feelings due to perceptions of not spending enough time alone), unsociability (enjoyment of solitude), and sociability (enjoyment of peer interactions). Participants were 117 preschool children (n = 59girls, 50.4%) between the ages of 36 and 77 months (M = 54.88, SD = 10.78) in Italy. Children were shown vignettes depicting hypothetical peers displaying social/solitary behaviors and then responded to a series of questions regarding their perceptions of peers’ behaviors. Among the results, participants (1) attributed the lowest social motivations to the alonely peer and the lowest solitary motivations to the lonely and sociable peers; (2) reported lower affiliative preference (i.e. wanting to play/be friends with) toward alonely/unsociable than lonely/sociable peers; and (3) displayed more sympathy to lonely than unsociable peers. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that young children have a rather sophisticated understanding of different aspects of their peers’ social/solitary preferences. A deeper understanding of younger children’s perceptions of peers’ social/solitary preferences provides valuable insights for future interventions to improve social dynamics and socio-emotional functioning in the peer group.

ABSTRACT Despite the known associations between low-income families and children’s adjustment outcomes, less is known about how parenting attitudes may serve as a protective factor. Following a subsample of children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 829) from 54 months of age through 5th Grade, this study investigates the buffering effects of progressive parenting attitudes on children’s academic and social skills in the context of low-income families. Research Findings: There are three sets of major findings. First, parenting attitudes demonstrated more stability than change across time. Second, low-income status is associated with children’s development, but mainly through the stability of parental sensitivity. Third, low income was not associated with low maternal sensitivity when parents endorsed more progressive parenting attitudes; similarly, when parents endorsed more progressive parenting attitudes, low parental sensitivity in low-income families was not associated with academic achievement among children. Practice or Policy: Overall, findings highlight the potential role of parenting attitudes in protecting children from the negative effects of low-income status.

ABSTRACT Although children frequently engage with digital media, their exposure to informational content such as documentaries remains limited. This exploratory study examined how preschoolers learn vocabulary and content knowledge from a child-friendly documentary presented through shared reading, video viewing, or both formats. Sixty 4- to 5-year-old children were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. Children either experienced one format twice or both formats once. The book and video contained identical language; the book used static images, whereas the video featured animations and background music. Vocabulary and knowledge were assessed before and after children were read the book or shown the video. Research Findings: Controlling for pretest scores, no significant overall group differences emerged. However, significant interactions were found: children with lower baseline vocabulary showed greater gains in the video viewing group compared to shared reading, while children with higher baseline knowledge benefited more from video viewing than from the other conditions. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight how media format interacts with individual learner characteristics and suggest that informational videos may support vocabulary and knowledge development by interacting with children’s existing language and knowledge levels. Educators may consider incorporating high-quality informational videos strategically to support vocabulary and knowledge development, especially for children whose baseline skills may shape responsiveness to different instructional formats. Policymakers and curriculum designers should attend to learner characteristics when evaluating and selecting educational media for early childhood settings.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The relationship between teachers and children in kindergarten is vital for children’s social development. Moreover, children’s characteristics have an impact on this relationship. The present study utilized data from 54 teachers and 566 kindergarten children in Finland with the aim of investigating the cross-lagged associations between teacher–child relationships and children’s social competence. Additionally, this study explored the moderation effect of children’s achievement strategies on the dynamics between the teacher–child relationship and children’s social competence. The results of cross-lagged panel analyses revealed reciprocal associations of conflict with both prosocial and antisocial behaviors and a positive predictive association of closeness to prosocial behavior. Moreover, through multigroup analyses, we found that children’s passive-avoidance behavior had a moderating effect on the positive predictive association of prosocial behavior to closeness. Our findings underline the important role of teachers in building relationships with children, while also recognizing children’s impact on kindergarten social dynamics. Practice or Policy: The results highlight policy and practice that encourage kindergarten teachers to support children’s social competences through building warm and supportive relationships with each child.

ABSTRACT Access to high quality outdoor environments (OE)s has important implications for children’s developmental outcomes. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings provide an optimal opportunity for children to have access to OEs. The purpose of this study was to provide a description of OEs in ECEC settings and explore how characteristics of the activities that educators and children engaged in, indicators of structural quality, and temperature were related to quality in OEs. A total of 161 educators and 66 OEs across three age groups (i.e. 29 infant and toddlers, and 43 preschoolers) from 56 centers were observed in this study. Research Findings: Using multilevel modeling, we found a significant relationship between environments where educators were engaged in unstructured activities, specific indicators of structural quality (i.e. higher education, greater years of experience, increased salary, lower ratios), and lower temperature with higher quality of the OE. There were no differences in the quality of the OE based on whether educators were engaged in structured activities, educators had outdoor training, children were engaged in risky play, and the center’s for-profit status. Practice or Policy: Staff/child ratios, educator education, experience and pay are promising pathways to improving OE quality and should be examined in future research.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Each year, hundreds of U.S. preschoolers are expelled or excluded from early education settings, oftentimes for behaviors deemed developmentally normative. This study examined how families (N = 218) perceived program responses to unwanted behaviors – voices often neglected during discussions around preschool exclusion. Analyses revealed that over 50% of said families reported being called for early pick-up. For children retained following behavior warnings, families reported that programs adapted classroom routines and referred children for special education. In contrast, for children ultimately excluded following warnings, programs implied to families that their child was not a “good fit” for the program and/or pressured families to withdraw their child. Practice or Policy: Results highlight differential ways in which families perceive programs responding to children who are retained and those who are excluded following behavioral warnings. Our findings may provide insights for infant and early childhood mental health consultants regarding potential warning signs of program policies, how programs communicate with families about responding to behaviors, and/or how to better support teachers. Future work should include both family and program reports to understand the scope of the exclusion experience, and could also be incorporated into teacher training, providing teachers with skills on how to modify classroom routines and supports.

ABSTRACT This study examines equitable access and experiences in Head Start programs by race and language status. Using data (N = 1754) from the 2014 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), we constructed 26 equity indicators spanning dimensions of access (e.g. teacher-child match, diversity, and support services) and experiences (e.g. classroom quality, curriculum, teacher-family alignment). Research Findings: Multilevel analyses revealed systematic disparities: Black children experienced lower classroom quality across all measured domains despite more positive pedagogical exposure, while Latine children faced significant teacher-child racial mismatches and more punitive discipline approaches but benefited from stronger program-level supports. Both racial groups had limited access to special education services. Dual-language learners experienced more positive learning practices and stronger teacher-family alignment despite significantly lower teacher-child racial and language matching rates. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight the multifaceted nature of educational equity and suggest the need for differentiated approaches to promoting equity across diverse populations. Our results underscore the importance of disaggregating quality data by race and language status to identify and address specific equity gaps in early childhood education. Implications for policy and practices are discussed.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Family engagement in caregiving activities is critical to early child development. This study extends previous research to Vietnam to explore the extent to which different family members’ engagement in caregiving activities – naming, counting, or drawing with child, playing with child, reading books to child, singing songs to child, taking child outside the home, and telling stories to child – is associated with child development and how associations vary by child characteristics and location. The analysis employs household fixed-effect regression and secondary data from the Vietnamese Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2020–2021. Findings reveal that all family members’ naming, counting, or drawing with children is positively associated with child development. Moreover, fathers’ engagement in telling stories is positively associated with child development. Furthermore, engagement from other adult family members in reading books and storytelling shows benefits. In contrast, no engagement in naming or counting and storytelling is linked to poor outcomes. We also found that associations between caregiving activities and child outcomes may vary by child gender and family wealth, but not by geographical location. Practice or Policy: Different family members can contribute to child development, and policies need to empower them through accessible resources and training, particularly for low-income households.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Few measures have been developed to assess young children’s socioemotional competence in non-western cultures. The present study adapted and validated the Chinese Inventory of Children’s Socioemotional Competence (CICSEC-N) – an indigenously developed and culturally relevant measure of socioemotional competence of Chinese kindergarten children aged 3 to 6 years – so that it could be used with nursery children aged 2 years. To establish content, construct, and convergent validities of the measure, the original items were first adapted by researchers and practitioners to align with the developmental status of 2-year-olds. The adapted measure was then tested using exploratory structural equation modeling based on cross-sectional questionnaire data provided by the parents and teachers of 300 nursery children (mean age = 28.8 months) from Hong Kong, China. Results confirmed a 24-item, four-factor structure. Moreover, higher socioemotional competence, indicated by the four factors, was associated positively with school liking and classroom engagement and negatively with behavioral problems at school. Practice or Policy: The CICSEC-N provided researchers and practitioners with a reliable, valid, and cost-effective measure of Chinese young children’s socioemotional competence, facilitating the assessment of child adjustment and the evaluation of social and emotional learning programs in nurseries.

ABSTRACT As the primary observers, facilitators, and promoters of teaching activities, teachers’ professional competence is the core element for ensuring the improvement of teacher‒child interaction quality in the classroom. To examine the specific effects of in-service teacher training programs on teachers’ professional development and teacher‒child interaction quality, this study conducted a meta-analysis of 37 empirical studies (including 224 effect sizes). Research Findings: The results revealed that in-service teacher training programs had a significant moderate-to-high effect on improving teacher‒child interaction quality (g = 0.582, SE = 0.051, p < .001). Further analysis of 13 studies (involving 2665 teachers) that provided data on both teacher professional development and classroom interaction quality revealed a moderate effect at the teacher level (g = 0.463, SE = 0.0791, p < .001). Notably, the improvement in teachers’ professional competencies (instructional beliefs, teacher‒child interaction knowledge, and interaction skills) accounted for 66% of the variance in classroom interaction quality effect sizes (R2 = 0.66). Practice or Policy: These findings demonstrate that in-service teacher training can effectively enhance classroom teacher – child interaction quality by improving teachers’ professional competencies.