Developmental Psychology

Children who see themselves as moral tend to develop stronger social-emotional skills, and vice versa, according to new research in Cognition & Emotion that followed 500 children through the transition from kindergarten to first grade.

A new meta-analysis reveals that vulnerable narcissism is moderately linked to insecure attachment styles, particularly preoccupied and fearful types. The findings highlight how early emotional experiences may shape narcissistic traits and underscore the importance of supporting healthy childhood development.

Researchers found that when caregivers sing more often to their infants, babies become noticeably happier over time. The randomized trial used real-time mood tracking and showed that even a brief music enrichment intervention can shape emotional development in infancy.

A new study suggests that children as young as five already associate certain British accents with intelligence or lack of it. The findings highlight how early accent-based biases form—and how exposure to accent diversity at home may reduce them.

Childhood curiosity may offer modest protection against adult depression, according to a large study from China. Researchers found that this link was explained, in part, by confidence in the future—especially for women.

A recent study suggests that childhood trauma doesn’t end with the individual—it can influence the next generation. Maternal adversity was linked to children’s conduct, emotions, and cognition through economic strain, depression, relationship conflict, and parenting behavior.

Research on adolescents exposed to early trauma reveals impaired fear learning: those with childhood adversity showed less ability to distinguish safety from threat and were more prone to overgeneralize fear, highlighting a possible pathway to future mental health problems.

Groundbreaking research spanning 14 years and eight countries reveals that warm parenting during childhood strongly predicts young adults’ beliefs that the world is good, safe, and enticing—while material hardship and harsh discipline showed little effect on worldview.

New research suggests that the shift from handwriting to digital tools in early education may come at a cost. In an experiment with 5-year-olds, those who practiced writing by hand showed better letter naming, spelling, and word reading than those...

A new study suggests that the way the brain responds to mistakes could help explain how depression is passed from mothers to daughters. Researchers found that certain neural signals related to error processing were altered in mothers with depression and...

New research suggests that diverse childhood friendships—especially those across gender—can encourage kindness not just within friendships, but toward peers from other social groups.

A new cross-cultural study reveals that by 10 months of age, babies show both physiological and behavioral signs of emotional contagion.

A new study finds preschoolers’ brains respond differently when hearing a story read aloud versus hearing it from a screen, highlighting how live reading engages social brain networks more strongly than solitary screen time.

A new study finds that early life experiences can influence whether people high in psychopathy engage in criminal behavior.