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This study examined the course and correlates of the happy victimizer tendency--the expectation that harming others to achieve a goal will result in positive emotional outcomes for the transgressor--from 4 to 6 years of age in a community sample of Canadian children (N = 150; 50% female; Time 1 M[subscript age] = 4.53 years, SD = 0.30; 33% European background). At each time point, we conducted semistructured interviews with children to assess their emotion expectancies and reasoning in response to hypothetical acts of aggression. Caregivers (84% mothers; 91% college diploma or higher; 41% yearly household income [greater than or equal to]$125,000 CAD [approximately $90,500 USD]) provided ratings of children's inhibitory control and sympathy at study onset. Most 4-year-old children expected to feel good after victimizing others, but this tendency declined through age 6. Children higher in sympathy were less likely to happy victimize at age 4, whereas greater inhibitory control predicted faster decreases in happy victimizing over time.

Prosocial behavior is a distinguishing characteristic of human nature. Although prosocial behaviors emerge early in development, contextual factors play an important role in how these behaviors are manifested over development. A large body of research focuses on the trajectory of prosocial development across diverse cultures and investigating contexts that foster it. Against this backdrop of developmental research endeavoring to understand and enhance the cooperative side of humanity, is the catastrophic impact of profoundly negative forces on social‐emotional development for children forced to flee from violent conflict. Close to half a million Rohingya children, whose families were forced to flee genocide in Myanmar, now live in the largest refugee camp in the world. To examine the resilience of human prosociality in the face of extreme adversity, we documented initial levels of prosociality in Rohingya refugee children living in a mega‐camp (Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh) and the extent to which those levels were improved following a multifaceted intervention designed to foster prosociality. The research was a partnership between Rohingya community members with lived experience, humanitarian practitioners, and developmental researchers. A sample of 152 Rohingya children (5–12 years) participated in pre‐ and postintervention assessments of prosocial behaviors and related cognitive‐affective processes. The 10‐day collaboration‐based intervention was implemented between November 2021 and January 2022 by Rohingya researchers. Birthplace was used as a proxy measure of trauma level. Children born in Myanmar (N = 88) directly experienced relatively higher levels of trauma (genocide, forced migration) than children who were born in the camp after their families fled from Myanmar (N = 64). Children were individually tested pre‐ and postintervention with a task battery, including a helping (Origami) and two sharing tasks (Dictator Game [DG], Forced Choice sharing) measuring prosocial behavior. Assessments of related cognitive‐affective processes included measures of empathic responding and emotion perspective‐taking in story tasks (Imagine, Judgment) and executive function (EF) skills (Younger: Hearts & Flowers; Older: Dimensional Change Card Sorting). Small group intervention sessions conducted over 10 days targeted these prosocial behaviors and cognitive‐affective processes and were based on collaborative activities, emotion perspective taking and EF skills training with the same partner throughout the intervention phase. We used latent change modeling to examine initial levels (preintervention) and intervention‐related changes in these measures from pre‐ to postintervention. Prosocial responding was found across all measures (preintervention) and improvements (pre‐ to postintervention change) were apparent across most measures. Age and birthplace variables were significant predictors of initial levels and intervention‐related change. Initial levels: Regarding age, older children (9–12 years) showed higher levels than younger children (5–8 years) of sharing in the Forced Choice task but lower levels in the DG. Older children also showed higher levels of empathic responding when asked to report how they would feel and respond to another person's misfortune in the Imagine task. Regarding birthplace, prior to the intervention camp‐born children showed higher levels than Myanmar‐born children of helping in the Origami task and reported more behavioral responses indicating how they would respond to misfortune in the Imagine task. In contrast, Myanmar‐born children had higher levels of sharing in the DG and consistently chose equality over inequality in the Forced Choice sharing task, even when their partner would receive more, indicating a pattern of generosity in these children. Myanmar‐born children had lower levels than camp‐born children on EF measures. Intervention‐related change: Regarding age, older but not younger children were more likely to increase choices for equality over inequality on the Forced Choice sharing task following the intervention. Regarding birthplace and helping, camp‐born children increased behaviors that helped their partner make origami shapes themselves ("how‐to" helping), whereas Myanmar‐born children increased behavior that took over folding for their partner ("do‐for" helping). For sharing tasks, Myanmar‐born but not camp‐born children increased sharing in the DG and showed an increased pattern of generosity in Forced Choice sharing task. In the Imagine story task, children born in Myanmar were more likely than those born in camp to increase empathic responding (i.e., imagining how they would feel). Children born in Myanmar showed less improvement on EF measures than children born in the camp. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that in a context of extreme adversity, Rohingya children exhibited prosociality and benefitted from a multifaceted intervention. Our research adds credence to the view that human prosociality is a fundamental characteristic of humanity that not only survives but can be enhanced in even the most adverse of childhood environments. Our multifaceted intervention, which was implemented within a collaborative social context and targeted prosocial behaviors and related cognitive‐affective processes, was designed to be easily implemented within existing psychosocial support programs in refugee contexts. As the numbers of children affected by violent conflict and forced migration rise alarmingly worldwide, there is a critical need to expand research partnerships that aim to improve developmental outcomes for these millions of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economically disadvantaged children often lack the resources to purchase popular goods and participate in their preferred social groups' activities, making it difficult to fit in. Meanwhile, children from middle socioeconomic status (SES) families may have additional influence over whether low SES children are included in such groups. We examined how a middle SES sample of 333 4- and 8-year-olds felt and reasoned about excluding a child who is economically disadvantaged (i.e., a needy child) versus a child who attends another school (i.e., a less needy child). We also examined whether children's dispositional sympathy was associated with their negatively valenced moral emotions (NVMEs) after hypothetically excluding. Older children reported feeling more NVMEs for both targets of exclusion. Furthermore, unlike 4-year-olds, 8-year-olds differentiated between the targets of exclusion by reporting more NVMEs after excluding a child who is economically disadvantaged. Lastly, children's sympathy was positively associated with their NVMEs after excluding a child who is economically disadvantaged but not a child who attends another school. We conclude that with increasing sympathy and age, children likely become more sensitive to the needs of their disadvantaged peers--an effect with meaningful implications for improving peer relationships across socioeconomic spheres.

Machiavellianism is an antisocial interpersonal style involving the use of manipulative, deceptive, and coercive behaviors in the pursuit of self-interest. Although widely studied as a "dark" personality trait in adults, relatively little is known about the developmental correlates of Machiavellian tendencies earlier in life. The present study addressed this knowledge gap by examining associations between Machiavellian behavior and three theoretically relevant social–emotional domains—prosocial emotions, emotion recognition skills, and self-control—in a community sample of 7- and 11-year-old Canadian children (N = 300, 50% female). Of particular interest was the extent to which individual differences in social–emotional capacities were uniquely associated with Machiavellian behavior after controlling for aggression, a relatively well-studied antisocial behavior in childhood. Parents reported on children's Machiavellian behavior and aggression. Social–emotional correlates were assessed via parent and child reports, behavioral tasks, and physiological assessments. Machiavellian behavior and aggression were similarly associated with lower parent-reported prosocial emotions and self-control. Machiavellian (but not aggressive) behavior was associated with lower child-reported guilt (a prosocial emotion), higher resting skin conductance levels (reflecting a general tendency for higher arousal), and better anger recognition. Semipartial correlational analyses indicated that these patterns of association with Machiavellian behaviors held independent of aggression. These findings indicate that, by middle childhood, Machiavellian behavior constitutes a distinct form of antisocial conduct that is associated with a unique social–emotional risk profile. Public Significance Statement: By middle childhood, Machiavellian behaviors such as manipulation, deception, and coercion are distinct from aggression in terms of their occurrence and associations with other domains of social–emotional functioning (e.g., prosocial emotions, emotion recognition ability, self-control). This suggests that traditional prevention and intervention programs targeting aggressive and violent tendencies may be less effective at curbing more subtle and self-serving forms of antisocial conduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the well-established protective functions of guilt across childhood, its underlying physiological mechanisms have received little attention. We used latent difference scores (LDS) to model changes in children's (N = 267; 4- and 8-year-olds, 51% girls) skin conductance (SC) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) while they imagined themselves committing antisocial acts. We then tested if their later reports of guilt, caregiver-reported aggressive behavior, and age were associated with these physiological changes. For 8-year-olds, changes in RSA leading up to and during transgressions were uniquely associated with the intensity of guilt feelings after transgressions. Eight-year-olds with higher guilt were rated lower in aggression, although children's physiology and aggression were not directly related. We discuss how fluctuations in physiology while transgressing may prepare children to mount adaptive guilt responses afterward and--more broadly--implications for understanding the mechanisms behind guilt and related behavior in early and middle childhood.

We assessed the extent to which feelings of sympathy and aggressive behaviors codeveloped from 6 to 12 years of age in a representative sample of Swiss children (N = 1,273). Caregivers and teachers reported children's sympathy and overt aggression in 3-year intervals. Second-order latent curve models indicated general mean-level declines in sympathy and overt aggression over time, although the decline in sympathy was relatively small. Importantly, both trajectories were characterized by significant interindividual variability. A bivariate second-order latent curve model revealed a small-moderate negative correlation between the latent slopes of sympathy and overt aggression, suggesting an inverse codevelopmental relationship between the constructs from middle childhood to early adolescence. In terms of predictive effects, an autoregressive cross-lagged model indicated a lack of bidirectional relations between sympathy and overt aggression, underscoring the primacy of the variables' rank-order stability. We discuss the codevelopment and developmental relations of sympathy and aggression, their potential conjoint social-emotional mechanisms, and the practical implications thereof.

Empathy, sympathy, and emotion regulation are core components of social–emotional development. Regulating vicariously induced negative emotions is thought to support feeling empathy and sympathy for others in need, but empirical evidence for such effects is mixed. Moreover, despite the longstanding conceptual distinction between empathy and sympathy, most researchers refer to and measure these constructs interchangeably. This meta-analysis examined associations between emotion regulation and empathy and/or sympathy in childhood and adolescence, as well as potential methodological, study, and sample moderators. Analyses were conducted on 58 studies (75 effect sizes; N = 25,831). There was a significant and positive overall association between emotion regulation and empathy/sympathy (r =.19, p <.001); however, most scales assessing empathy were conflated with other constructs. Accounting for conflation, emotion regulation was related to sympathy (r =.24, p <.001) but not empathy (r =.04, p =.38). Moreover, the association between emotion regulation and empathy/sympathy was not significant when baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and RSA reactivity were examined as proxies of emotion regulation. Results were largely similar across sample characteristics (e.g., age group, sex, and culture). Conceptual implications for differentiating empathy and sympathy are discussed, as well as methodological considerations to maximize the quality and clarity of research on emotion regulation, empathy, and sympathy. Public Significance Statement: Empathy, sympathy, and emotion regulation are regarded as interrelated cornerstones of social–emotional development. This meta-analysis shows that higher emotion regulation is associated with more sympathy for others in need but not with more empathic sharing of others' emotions. It provides substantial empirical support for differentiating empathy from sympathy to better understand and promote social–emotional capacities in children and adolescents. Overall, the results imply that the two pillars of social–emotional development (emotion regulation and sympathy) are interrelated, and emotion regulation might be a key factor to promote sympathy (instead of empathy) in childhood and adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether the development of happy victimizing (HV) from early to middle childhood predicted prosocial and aggressive behaviors 3 years later. Participants included 150 children (50% female, Mage at study onset = 4.53 years) and their parents at four annual time points. At each time point, semi‐structured interviews were conducted to assess children's emotional expectations after committing hypothetical transgressions. Child and parent reports of children's prosocial behaviors and aggression were provided at the beginning and end of the study. Children who experienced faster declines in HV reported higher prosocial behaviors 3 years later, controlling for initial levels of prosocial behaviors. Children who exhibited increases or lesser declines in HV reported higher aggression at the study end. The development of HV was not related significantly to parent reports of prosocial behaviors and aggression in middle childhood. Findings confirm theorizing on the normative developmental trajectory of HV and suggest that deviations in HV across early childhood may partially explain later behavioral adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental warmth and child emotion regulation have each been implicated in the development of child pro‐social behaviours; however, their interactive benefits remain unclear. In this multi‐method, multi‐cohort longitudinal study, we examined the effect of parental warmth on child pro‐social behaviours at different levels of child emotion regulation. We collected data from 6‐ and 10‐year‐olds in Canada (NT1 = 233; Mage = 8.41; SD = 2.08) and their parents. Parental warmth, child emotion regulation, and child pro‐social behaviours were assessed via parent report. Children's baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; an indicator of cardiac regulatory capacity) was assessed as a correlate of emotion regulation. Child pro‐social behaviours were assessed concurrently and 1 year later. Results showed that higher parental warmth was related to higher concurrent prosocial behaviours and greater increases in prosocial behaviours over 1 year. These effects were strengthened for children with higher emotion regulation whether measured by parent report or RSA. We discuss implications for understanding pro‐social development in middle childhood from a strengths‐based perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion recognition and emotion regulation have been implicated as promising correlates of sympathy. However, their relative and joint contributions to sympathy in different periods of childhood remain unclear. Moreover, researchers have not explored the relative importance of recognizing and regulating distinct distress‐related emotions, such as sadness and anger, for sympathy. The objective of the current paper was to gain a deeper understanding of which underlying emotion‐related factors are most implicated in sympathy and when in childhood they are most predictive. With an ethnically diverse sample of 4‐ and 8‐yearolds (N = 300, n = 150 in each age group; 50% female), this study tested sadness and anger recognition and regulation, and interactions thereof, as predictors of sympathy. Better sadness and anger regulation independently predicted higher levels of sympathy in 4‐ and 8‐year‐olds, albeit sadness regulation was a more robust predictor of sympathy in 4‐year‐olds. Better sadness recognition was associated with higher sympathy in 8‐year‐olds who also had better sadness regulation. Results underscore the importance of emotion regulation for sympathy, particularly in early childhood. The findings also tentatively suggest that the correlates of sympathy may become more nuanced in middle childhood, with emotion‐specific recognition and regulation capacities employed in concert. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital natives (i.e., those who have grown up in the digital age) are likely to receive emotional support through digital means, such as texting and video calling. However, virtually all studies assessing the benefits of emotional support have focused on in-person support; the relative efficacy of digital support remains unclear. This study assessed a sample of young adults’ negative emotions, digital and in-person support for those emotions, and success in regulating them 3 times per day for 14 days (N = 164; 6,530 collective measurement occasions). Participants’ social surroundings at the time of each negative emotion and trait levels of social avoidance were also considered. Digital support was expected to be received more often and perceived as more effective for regulating negative emotions when participants were alone and higher in social avoidance. However, with the exception of those higher in social avoidance receiving less digital (and in-person) support, digital support was received and perceived as effective regardless of these factors, and its perceived effectiveness was on par with that of in-person support. For digital natives, digital support may be just as effective as the “real thing” and its benefits may not be restricted to isolated or socially avoidant users. Findings are discussed in relation to the emotional consequences and social constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. If transcending the time and space limitations of in-person support with digital support is the new norm, the good news is that it seems to be working. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mothers (n = 155) and their adolescent children (n = 146; aged 12–13 at pre‐COVID wave [Time 1, September 2019 to March 2020]) repeated measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and details about the impacts of the pandemic and social distancing at Time 2 (May‐June 2020). Average slopes of mother and adolescent depression increased but anxiety symptoms decreased from Time 1 to Time 2. Adolescent decreases in anxiety symptoms were driven by males, whereas depression increase was driven by females. Adolescents' depression slopes were steeper for those who reported more negative changes. Implications are discussed relative to findings from other regions and later phases of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although peer victimization is widely considered to be detrimental to children's well‐being, knowing what it feels like to be harmed is also thought to contribute to children's sense of concern for others. However, research has yet to establish a clear link between peer victimization and sympathy during childhood. Across two samples of Canadian 4‐ and 8‐year‐olds (total N = 504), we examined whether children's emotion regulation capacities (ER) moderated the victimization–sympathy link. Study 1 (n = 300; 33% European origin; 73% of caregivers held bachelor's degree or higher) examined the interactive effects of victimization and child‐ and caregiver‐reported ER on children's self‐reported sympathy assessed concurrently and 1 year later. Concurrently, victimization was positively associated with sympathy for children higher in self‐reported ER and for boys higher in caregiver‐reported ER. Longitudinally, victimization positively predicted changes in sympathy from 4 to 5 years of age for children higher in self‐reported ER. No longitudinal interaction effects emerged for caregiver‐reported ER or in older children. Using the same caregiver‐reported ER measure, Study 2 (n = 204; 30% European origin; 65% of caregivers held bachelor's degree or higher) replicated this pattern in a different cross‐sectional sample of 4‐ and 8‐year‐olds. These results provide initial support for the hypothesis that victimization experiences may facilitate other‐oriented concern in children who can effectively regulate their emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the course and correlates of the happy victimizer tendency-the expectation that harming others to achieve a goal will result in positive emotional outcomes for the transgressor-from 4 to 6 years of age in a community sample of Canadian children (N = 150 ; 50% female ; Time 1 Mage = 4.53 years, SD = .30; 33% European background). At each time point. we conducted semistructured interviews with children to assess their emotion expectancies and reasoning in response to hypothetical acts of aggression. Caregivers (84% mothers; 91% college diploma or higher; 41% yearly household income ≥$125,000 CAD [approximately $90,500 USD]) provided ratings of children's inhibitory control and sympathy at study onset. Most 4-year-old children expected to feel good after victimizing others, but this tendency declined through age 6. Children higher in sympathy were less likely to happy victimize at age 4, whereas greater inhibitory control predicted faster decreases in happy victimizing over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggression coincides with emotional underarousal in childhood, but we still lack an understanding of how underarousal contributes to aggression. With an ethnically diverse sample of 8-year-olds (N = 150), we tested whether physiological underarousal and lower fear recognition were indirectly associated with heightened aggression through dampened guilt feelings. Caregivers rated children's aggressive behavior. We assessed children's skin conductance (SC) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) while they imagined transgressing norms and measured their fear recognition with a facial morph task. Children reported guilt or lack thereof after hypothetically transgressing. The interaction of decreasing SC and increasing RSA (i.e., physiological underarousal) and poor fear recognition were indirectly associated with higher aggression through their associations with lower guilt. Emotional underarousal may contribute to aggression by disrupting the normative development of guilt. We discuss strategies to improve social-emotional acuity and reduce aggression in children with blunted physiological arousal and fear recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to understand if specific types of guilt were associated with distinct bystander roles. Specifically, we tested if differences in children's endorsement of ethical vs. sanction-oriented guilt predicted differences in defending and outsider behaviours. Participants were 574 primary Italian school students from 4th and 5th grade. Measures included self-reported guilt feelings and peer reports of defender and outsider behaviours. Results showed that defenders and outsiders were characterized by different types of guilt. Ethical guilt and a marked lack of happy victimizing (i.e., feeling happy after transgressing) characterized defenders, whereas the link between outsider behaviours and ethical guilt was weaker. Also, outsider males tended to endorse externally dependent feelings of sanction-oriented guilt. Overall, defenders appear to feel and act in others' defence, whereas the emotions and behaviours of outsiders may be more focused on their own defence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proactive and reactive aggression subtypes are distinguishable as early as the preschool years. However, their early physiological and social–emotional correlates have not been examined simultaneously. We tested whether children's skin conductance level, anger regulation, and trust in others were differentially related to their proactive and reactive aggression. Four‐year‐olds and their primary caregivers were recruited from a large Canadian city (N = 150). Controlling for reactive aggression, higher trust was associated with lower proactive aggression, but only for children with low anger regulation or skin conductance level. Controlling for proactive aggression, lower anger regulation was related to higher reactive aggression, and higher trust was related to higher reactive aggression for children with high skin conductance level. Findings highlight the unique and collective relations of physiology, emotion regulation, and trust to different forms of aggression in early childhood. Statement of contributionWhat is already known on this subjectProactive and reactive aggression subtypes are distinguishable as early as the preschool years.Unique physiological and social–emotional correlates of each subtype have been studied in middle and late childhood.Trust is a critical milestone for positive social interactions in early childhood and has been linked to aggression.What the present study addsPhysiological and social–emotional correlates are uniquely linked to subtypes of aggression already at age 4.Trust is differentially linked to aggression subtypes as a function of anger regulation and skin conductance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition to motherhood triggers changes in human brain structure that may facilitate mother-infant bonding. Although much research on maternal cortical responses to infant faces has focused on the postpartum period, no previous study has examined whether longitudinal functional changes in the maternal cortex during pregnancy and postpartum are associated with mother-infant bonding. Using electroencephalography, prenatal to postnatal changes in cortical sensitivity (P1, P2, late positive potential, N170 event-related potentials) to infant and adult faces were examined in relation to reported mother-infant bonding in 40 mothers (Mage  = 30.5 years). Prenatal to postnatal increases in P1 and P2 responses to infant faces predicted stronger bonding. Findings suggest that cortical changes in attention allocation rather than in face-specific encoding enhance bonding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research investigating the link between the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and prosociality in childhood has yielded inconsistent findings. This relation has mainly been conceptualized as linear, however, the broader physiological literature suggests that children's physiological arousal and task performance may be related in an inverted U‐shaped fashion—with peak performance at moderate levels of arousal. Therefore, we tested whether resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)—a dispositional indicator of PNS activity—was quadratically related to child‐ and caregiver‐reported sympathy and prosocial behaviors in an ethnically diverse sample of 4‐ and 8‐year‐olds (N = 300). We found a quadratic inverted U‐shaped association between resting RSA and child‐reported sympathy and prosocial behavior in 8‐year‐olds, whereas no consistent findings emerged for 4‐year‐olds. Therefore, moderate resting RSA in middle childhood may facilitate sympathy and prosocial behaviors. Dispositional over‐ or under‐arousal of the PNS may impair children's ability to attend and respond to the distress of others by middle childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helping children recognize the distress of their victims and feel sympathy may facilitate the optimal socialization of ethical guilt. With a sample of 150 eight‐year‐olds, we tested the main and interactive relations of distress recognition and sympathy to ethical guilt after hypothetically stealing and pushing. Better fear recognition and higher sympathy were uniquely associated with higher ethical guilt. The link between fear recognition and ethical guilt was stronger in children with higher sympathy. Beyond their unique contributions, distress recognition and sympathy may work in concert to facilitate ethical guilt after harming others. Statement of contributionWhat is already known on this subjectChildren are thought to express more guilt if they recognize their victims' distress and feel sympathy for them.However, there is little evidence for the direct roles of distress recognition and sympathy in children's guilt, and none for their joint contribution.What the present study addsThe link between fear recognition and guilt was stronger in children with higher sympathy. Sympathy may help children harness and translate the awareness afforded by distress recognition into feelings of accountability and regret.This study was the first to clarify the main and additive roles of sympathy and distress recognition in children's anticipation of guilt after harming others.Promoting distress recognition and sympathy may represent a viable two‐step approach to inducing guilt in children after they violate others' welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the relations between anticipation of sadness for excluded peers, sympathy, and prosocial behavior in a sample of 127 Italian preschoolers (Mage = 4.84 years, SD = 0.85). Children attributed emotions to hypothetical excluded peers who exhibited withdrawn versus aggressive behavior, and these attributions were coded for the presence and intensity of sadness. Teachers rated children's sympathy and prosocial behavior via questionnaire. In general, children attributed more sadness to the withdrawn excluded peer than the aggressive excluded peer. A path analysis revealed that those who anticipated higher levels of sadness for the withdrawn excluded peer were rated higher in sympathy and, in turn, higher in prosocial behavior. Attributing high levels of sadness to withdrawn excluded peers—who portray relatively heightened need—may be an early social-emotional characteristic of children who are more sympathetic and more likely to channel other-oriented concerns into prosocial actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although low resting heart rate has been linked to frequent aggressive conduct in childhood, little is known about the interaction of this biological risk with social emotions that protect against aggression across development. With a sample of 5-, 8-, and 12-year-olds (N5110), we tested whether the negative link between resting heart rate and physical aggression was offset by high guilt and sympathy. Caregivers reported their children's physical aggression and sympathy. Children's electrocardiogram data were collected while they viewed a nondescript video, after which they reported their guilt-or lack thereof-in response to vignettes depicting social transgressions. Lower resting heart rate was significantly associated with higher physical aggression in 5-year-olds who reported low-but not medium and high-levels of guilt, and in 8-year-olds with low-but not medium and high-ratings of sympathy. Neither guilt nor sympathy moderated the resting heart rate–physical aggression link in 12-year-olds. We discuss how social emotions may help children with low resting heart rates navigate social conflicts and avoid aggressive physical confrontations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the relative and joint prioritization of age- and valence-related face characteristics in adults' cortical face processing remains elusive because these two characteristics have not been manipulated in a single study of neural face processing. We used electroencephalography to investigate adults' P1, N170, P2 and LPP responses to infant and adult faces with happy and sad facial expressions. Viewing infant vs adult faces was associated with significantly larger P1, N170, P2 and LPP responses, with hemisphere and/or participant gender moderating this effect in select cases. Sad faces were associated with significantly larger N170 responses than happy faces. Sad infant faces were associated with significantly larger N170 responses in the right hemisphere than all other combinations of face age and face valence characteristics. We discuss the relative and joint neural prioritization of infant face characteristics and negative facial affect, and their biological value as distinct caregiving and social cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empathy has been identified as a core component of social and emotional functioning across development. Various prevention and intervention programs have utilized components of empathy-related responding to promote the development of children’s and adolescents’ social-emotional functioning and impede their aggression in school contexts. In this article, we assess the effectiveness of select school-based empathy interventions and the extent to which they align with developmental theory and research. First, we review current conceptualizations of empathy-related responding, identify its components, outline its normative development, and describe the need for developmentally tailored interventions. We then identify and assess the effectiveness and developmental sensitivity of 19 school-based programs with strong empirical support that target empathy-related responding across childhood and adolescence. Although the majority of these programs showed some degree of developmental differentiation between grades, none considered developmental differences within grades. Commencing interventions earlier in development and targeting higher numbers of empathy-related constructs were, in part, associated with larger effects. We discuss how future research can bridge the gap between basic developmental research and the design of developmentally tailored interventions to promote empathy-related responding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACT. This study examined links between inhibitory control, moral emotions (sympathy and guilt), and reparative behavior in an ethnically diverse sample of 4- and 8-year-olds (N = 162). Caregivers reported their children's reparative behavior, inhibitory control, and moral emotions through a questionnaire, and children reported their guilt feelings in response to a series of vignettes depicting moral transgressions. A hypothesized meditation model was tested with inhibitory control relating to reparative behavior through sympathy and guilt. In support of this model, results revealed that high levels of inhibitory control were associated with high levels of reparative behavior through high levels of sympathy and guilt. However, the mediation of inhibitory control to reparation through guilt was significant for 4-year-olds only. Results are discussed in relation to the temperamental, regulatory, and affective-moral precursors of reparative behavior in early and middle childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how adolescents feel and think about contexts of moral conflict and social exclusion. We asked twelve-year-old adolescents how they would feel about intentionally harming another peer, omitting a prosocial duty, and excluding another peer. We then asked them to explain the reasoning behind their feelings and report on levels of sympathy. In all contexts, adolescents anticipated a variety of negative emotions for reasons of fairness and empathy. However, more feelings of guilt were reported in contexts of intentional harm than in other contexts. Adolescents with high levels of sympathy reported more guilt, for reasons of fairness and empathy, than adolescents with low levels of sympathy. These findings provide a window into adolescents' emotions and reasoning regarding moral and social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temperamental inhibitory control is a foundational capacity for children's social, emotional, and behavioral development. Even though temperament is suggested to have a biological basis, the physiological indicators of inhibitory control remain unclear amid mixed empirical results. In this study, we leveraged a multicohort longitudinal design to examine resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as a physiological correlate of inhibitory control across the early and middle childhood years. Data were collected annually across four time points from cohorts of 4- (n = 150, Mage = 4.53; SD = 0.30; 49.7% female) and 8- (n = 150; Mage = 8.53; SD = 0.29; 49.7% female) year-old children and their caregivers. There were weak, albeit significant, associations between resting RSA and caregiver-reported inhibitory control in middle childhood but not in early childhood. A stronger association was found for older children when latent trait assessments of RSA and inhibitory control were derived from commonalities across the four annual assessments. We conclude that using repeated measures to extract latent trait scores increases power to detect potential physiological indicators of temperament. Public Significance Statement: In the current study we examined resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as a biological correlate of temperamental inhibitory control with a multicohort, 4-year longitudinal design across early and middle childhood. The analyses examining associations between resting RSA and inhibitory control across the latent trait models (derived from four repeated measures) showed significant associations between resting RSA and inhibitory control in middle childhood but not in early childhood. Results indicated that the biological correlates of temperamental inhibitory control might become more crystalized in middle childhood and showed that the use of repeated measures to extract latent trait scores would increases power to detect potential physiological indicators of temperamental inhibitory control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Refugee children are often exposed to adversities that present a threat to their healthy development. Promoting refugee children's social-emotional capacities may be an opportune, strengths-based avenue to nurture their resilience, coping strategies, and mental health outcomes amid these risks. Furthermore, supporting caregivers' and service providers' capacities to provide strengths-based care may result in more sustainable, caring environments for refugee children. However, culturally adapted initiatives that aim to promote social-emotional capacities and mental health in refugee children, caregivers, and service providers are limited., Objective: In this pilot study, we aimed to assess the feasibility and efficacy of a brief, 3-week social-emotional training program for refugee caregivers of children aged between 2 and 12 years and service providers who support refugees. This study had 3 central objectives. First, we examined whether refugee caregivers' and service providers' knowledge of core social-emotional concepts increased from pre- to posttraining, whether these increases were maintained 2 months later, and whether caregivers and service providers reported a high use of training-based strategies after the training. Second, we assessed if refugee caregivers reported any improvements in their children's social-emotional capacities and mental health from pre- to posttraining and 2 months later. Finally, we evaluated whether caregivers and service providers experienced any improvements in their own mental health symptoms from pre- to posttraining and 2 months later., Methods: A total of 50 Middle Eastern refugee caregivers of children (n=26) aged between 2 and 12 years and service providers (n=24) were recruited using convenience sampling and participated in a 3-week training program. Training sessions were delivered via a web-based learning management system and involved a combination of asynchronous (video-based) and synchronous (web-based live group) sessions. The training was evaluated using an uncontrolled pre-, post-, and 2-month follow-up design. Caregivers and service providers reported their understanding of social-emotional concepts and mental health at pre-, post-, and 2 months after training and reported their use of training strategies after training. Caregivers reported their children's social-emotional capacities and mental health through a presurvey, a series of postsurveys (after each module session and 1 week after the training), and a 2-month follow-up survey. The participants also reported their demographic information., Results: Caregivers' and service providers' knowledge of social-emotional concepts increased significantly from pre- to posttraining, and the service providers' knowledge increase was sustained at the 2-month follow-up. Both caregivers and service providers reported high levels of strategy use. Furthermore, 2 markers of children's social-emotional development (ie, emotion regulation and sadness over wrongdoing) improved after training., Conclusions: The findings highlight the potential of strengths-based, culturally adapted social-emotional initiatives to support refugee caregivers' and service providers' abilities to provide high-quality social-emotional care to refugee children., (©Redab Al-Janaideh, Ruth Speidel, Tyler Colasante, Tina Malti. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 05.05.2023.)