The Power of Early Intervention: Promoting Mental Health and Well-Being in Very Young Children and Their Families

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2025 | Viewed by 310

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
Interests: parenting behaviors; mothers’ adverse childhood experiences; patterns of insecure attachment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The mental health needs of infants and very young children are often misunderstood. Because infants and very young children come as a dyad with a caregiver, diagnostic assessment procedures and therapeutic interventions must consider the caregiver–child relationship as important context.

This Special Issue will highlight this unique context by presenting innovative research and applications that foster infant and early childhood mental health through well-established and emerging interventions.

We welcome the submission of empirical studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and theoretical papers that foster an understanding of the mental health needs of infants and very young children. Papers that include multidisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives are particularly encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Kimberly Renk
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • infant and early childhood mental health
  • parent-child relationships
  • attachment
  • dyadic therapy
  • circle of security
  • child-parent psychotherapy
  • infant-toddler court programs
  • home visiting

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Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.
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