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The goal of this study was to evaluate the measurement invariance of an adapted assessment of motivations for social withdrawal ("Social Preference Scale--Revised"; SPS-R) across cultural contexts and explore associations with loneliness. Participants were a large sample of university students (N = 4,397; M[subscript age] = 20.08 years, SD = 2.96; 66% females) from 10 countries (Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, and the United States). With this cross-cultural focus, we illustrate the "multiple-group factor analysis alignment method," an approach developed to assess measurement invariance when there are several groups. Results indicated approximate measurement invariance across the 10 country groups. Additional analyses indicated that overall, shyness, avoidance, and unsociability are three related, but distinct factors, with some notable country differences evident (e.g., in China, India, and Turkey). Shyness and avoidance were related positively to loneliness in all countries, but the strength of the association between shyness and loneliness differed in Italy and India relative to the other countries. Results also indicated that unsociability was related positively to loneliness in the United States only. Theoretical and assessment implications are discussed.

Why do some children feel happy about violating ethical norms whereas others feel guilty? This study examined whether children's attention to two types of competing cues during hypothetical transgressions related to their subsequent emotions. Eye tracking was used to test whether attending to other-oriented cues (i.e., a victim's face) versus self-serving cues (e.g., a stolen good) related to kind and selfish emotions. Participants were 4-, 6-, and 8-year-olds (N = 224; M[subscript age] = 6.85 years; 51% girls), whose first language was primarily English (80%), and whose primary caregivers mainly reported backgrounds from Asia (40%) or Europe (39%). Overall, almost all children spend more time attending to selfish than other-oriented cues. Latent difference score modeling revealed that higher scores on attentional orientation (i.e., more other-oriented attention compared with self-serving attention or smaller gaps between the two) was significantly related to more kind, but not selfish emotions. This relation remained across age groups. Furthermore, with age, children attended somewhat less to self-serving cues. These findings highlight attention's importance in developing kind emotions.

In order to comfort others, children need to exhibit Theory of Mind (ToM) skills. The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of ToM in association with children's spontaneous comforting behaviour in a laboratory task. Forty-seven children between 26 and 57 months of age completed three ToM tasks: diverse desires, diverse beliefs and belief-emotion. To evaluate comforting, we used a previously evaluated procedure in which an experimenter drops a tower of blocks and pretends to be upset. The results showed a significant positive relationship between children's understanding of their own and others' desires and comforting. However, no relationships were found between comforting and understanding of one's own and others' beliefs or belief-emotion. The relationship between the different ToM tasks and age was also assessed, but it was non-significant. The implications of these findings for understanding the onset of spontaneous prosocial behaviour are discussed. [Translation from English by Mercè Rius.]

Children's happiness at school has been mainly investigated from a quantitative perspective, largely overlooking what children understand by happiness and whether their conceptualizations are shaped by culture. Hence, in the present study, using a quantification of qualitative data, we investigated whether English (n = 421, M = 10.63 years, 223 girls) and Spanish (n = 223, M = 11.13 years, 112 girls) children reported different conceptualizations of happiness at school. Results showed that English children defined happiness at school as experiencing autonomy, non-violence, and having a positive relationship with teachers. On the other hand, Spanish children mentioned more harmony and having leisure time, as compared to English children. Finally, compared to boys, girls mentioned more in their definitions emotional support, having a positive relationship with teachers, and experiencing competence. The obtained findings are discussed in light of previous well-being literature taking into account the role of culture and the school context in both countries.

The dynamic interplay of parental educational aspirations and children's academic self-concept was examined from late childhood through mid-adolescence within a transactional socialization framework. Parental and child data were gained from a representative Swiss sample within 3-year intervals (N[subscript T1] = 1118; 51% females; 28% migration background; M[subscript age] T1 = 9.26, M[subscript age] T2 = 12.14, M[subscript age] T3 = 15.32). Results from a random intercept cross-lagged panel model revealed positive associations between the two constructs at the between- and within-person level. Findings showed general and time-specific associations between children and parents and reciprocal spill-over effects, whereby higher than usual aspirations predicted higher than usual academic self-concept over time and vice versa, highlighting transactional processes in the context of educational transitions.

The present article provides a practical guide for modelling and interpreting several basic applications of the latent change scores (LCS) model, a useful and flexible approach for the analysis of change. The article is addressed to students, researchers and practitioners who are familiar with structural equation modelling but new to LCS. We first provided a gentle introduction to the LCS model using non‐technical language and minimal mathematical formalism. We illustrated the basic ideas behind this approach, introducing LCS in its simplest form. We show how this model can be straightforwardly extended to more complex applications, including the dual change score (DCS) model and some of its variants (i.e., the proportional change and the constant change models). We illustrated how the univariate LCS model can be used to determine the growth trajectory of a variable across multiple waves of assessment. Next, we focused on the bivariate case, which allows for the modelling of the dynamic relations between two variables. For each model, we provided easy‐to‐follow examples of applications based on Schwartz's theory of basic personal values. The examples are accompanied by annotated syntax and output showing how they can be implemented with the Mplus software and how results can be interpreted. [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.

The study analyzed the factorial and concurrent validity of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) using an exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) approach. Participants were 368 Italian children aged 3 to 6 (M = 4.60, SD = 0.98). The three-factor ESEM solution fit the data better than the classical confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model and the measurement invariance of the scale was confirmed across sex and age (3-4 vs. 5-6 years) groups. The concurrent validity of the STRS was investigated within the ESEM approach using children's social behaviors as validity criteria. Findings supported the goodness of ESEM over CFA and attested to the validity of the STRS to understanding the teacher--child relationship quality in young children.

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.

This study examined the role of children's trust beliefs and trustworthiness in the development of prosocial behavior using data from four waves of a longitudinal study in a large, ethnically-diverse sample of children in Switzerland (mean age = 8.11 years at Time 1, N = 1,028). Prosocial behavior directed towards peers was measured at all assessment points by teacher reports. Children's trust beliefs and their trustworthiness with peers were assessed and calculated by a social relations analysis at the first assessment point using children's reports of the extent to which classmates kept promises. In addition, teacher reports of children's trustworthiness were assessed at all four assessment points. Latent growth curve modeling yielded a decrease in prosocial behavior over time. Peer- and teacher-reported trustworthiness predicted higher initial levels of prosocial behavior, and peer-reported trustworthiness predicted less steep decreases in prosocial behavior over time. Autoregressive cross-lagged analysis also revealed bidirectional longitudinal associations between teacher-reported trustworthiness and prosocial behavior. We discuss the implications of the findings for research on the role of trust in the development of children's prosocial behavior.

This study examined the role of sympathy, guilt, and moral reasoning in helping, cooperation, and sharing in a 6-year, three-wave longitudinal study involving 175 children (M[subscript age] 6.10, 9.18, and 12.18 years). Primary caregivers reported on children's helping and cooperation; sharing was assessed behaviorally. Child sympathy was assessed by self- and teacher reports, and self-attributed feelings of guilt-sadness and moral reasoning were assessed by children's responses to transgression vignettes. Sympathy predicted helping, cooperation, and sharing. Guilt-sadness and moral reasoning interacted with sympathy in predicting helping and cooperation; both sympathy and guilt-sadness were associated with the development of sharing. The findings are discussed in relation to the emergence of differential motivational pathways to helping, cooperation, and sharing.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a pilot school-based intervention called CEPIDEA, designed to promote prosocial behavior in early adolescence. The study took place in a middle school located in a small city near Rome. The intervention group included 151 students (52.3% males; M[subscript age] = 12.4), and the control group 173 students (50.3% females; M[subscript age] = 13.0). Both groups were assessed at three time points, each 6 months apart. A Latent Growth Curve analysis revealed that the intervention group, compared to the control group, showed an increase of helping behavior along with a decrease of physical and verbal aggression across time. Current results also showed that the increase of helping behavior mediated the decline of verbal aggression in adolescents who had attended the intervention. Participants of CEPIDEA also attained higher grades than the control group at the end of middle school. Overall, findings suggest that promoting prosocial behavior may serve to counteract aggressive conduct and enhance academic achievement during adolescence.