Search Results (2,414)

This study examined Greek fathers’ involvement with their preschool-aged children from both fathers’ and mothers’ perspectives, focusing on how ontogenic, microsystemic, and mesosystemic factors are associated with paternal engagement within Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological framework. Participants included 106 mother–father pairs with children aged approximately 38 months. Fathers and mothers completed questionnaires assessing beliefs about the father’s role, the frequency and quality of father involvement, parenting style, meta-parenting cognitions, and co-parenting quality. Overall, both parents reported relatively high levels of paternal involvement across the different measures. Mothers tended to assign slightly higher ratings than fathers on the overall Inventory of Father Involvement (IFI) and several of its dimensions; however, statistically significant differences were limited, with attentiveness being the only IFI subscale showing a significant difference between parental reports. Mothers also reported more authoritative parenting and higher levels of meta-parenting, whereas fathers reported slightly higher coparenting quality. Correlational analyses indicated that authoritative parenting, coparenting quality, and parents’ perceptions of the father’s role were associated with different dimensions of father involvement, while demographic characteristics showed more selective associations. The findings support the conceptualization of father involvement as a multidimensional construct shaped by ontogenic, microsystemic, and mesosystemic factors. They also highlight the value of obtaining information from both mothers and fathers when assessing paternal involvement, as each parent provides complementary perspectives on family functioning. These findings have implications for research, policy, and practice by supporting interventions and family policies that promote positive coparenting, shared caregiving responsibilities, and fathers’ active participation in early childhood. Full article

Background/Objectives: Movement- and arts-based experiences are frequently promoted as developmentally appropriate contexts for supporting cognition in early childhood, but effects may differ across executive-function domains, pedagogical formats and study contexts. Methods: This PRISMA 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis was registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261363924). PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC, PSICODOC, CINAHL and SPORTDiscus were searched from inception through April 2026. One immediate-post effect per Study ID and core domain was retained. Random-effects models used restricted maximum likelihood with Hartung–Knapp adjustment. Study-level risk of bias was assessed with RoB 2 or ROBINS-I, missing-evidence risk with ROB-ME and certainty with GRADE. Intervention content, pedagogical format and embedded cognitive demands were also coded descriptively. Results: The review included 130 reports representing 125 unique studies. Fifteen Study IDs contributed 29 core effects: 10 for inhibition (n = 675), 10 for working memory (n = 697) and nine for cognitive flexibility (n = 642). Twelve core programmes were primarily structured, and three used guided-play/structured-hybrid formats; no free/unstructured-play intervention entered the meta-analysis. Mean effects favoured the intervention for inhibition (Hedges’ g = 0.52, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.90), working memory (g = 0.42, 95% CI 0.09 to 0.75) and cognitive flexibility (g = 0.60, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.98). Heterogeneity was substantial, and all 95% prediction intervals crossed the null. Estimates remained favourable after excluding Serious risk-of-bias judgments. Age-exclusion and ICC-sensitivity analyses retained positive effects; a worst-case exclusion of unadjusted class- or cluster-assigned studies reduced precision for inhibition and working memory. SMD-specific modified-precision regressions did not indicate small-study associations for inhibition (p = 0.529) or working memory (p = 0.619); cognitive flexibility was not formally tested because k = 9. ROB-ME indicated some concerns, and GRADE certainty was low for all three domains. Conclusions: Favourable average effects should not be attributed to movement or arts participation per se. Pedagogical structure and embedded cognitive demands may influence outcomes, but substantial inconsistency, unit-of-analysis uncertainty and low certainty preclude identification of a superior model. Funding: There was no external funding. Full article

Background: Household poverty may shape physical activity (PA), screen time, and sleep during early childhood, but longitudinal evidence among preschool-aged children remains limited. This study examined longitudinal associations between household poverty status and these movement behaviors over 1 year. Methods: Data from 66 children aged 3–4.9 years were analyzed at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Parents reported sociodemographic characteristics and screen time, with poverty defined using household income and size. ActiGraph accelerometers (GT3X+) were worn for 7 days to estimate MVPA and nighttime sleep. Mixed-effects models examined associations between poverty status and each behavior, adjusting for child age, sex, race, and BMI percentile. Poverty status was assessed at each time point and treated as a time-varying exposure, and Time × Poverty interactions were included to test whether changes differed by poverty status. Results: At baseline, children living at/below the poverty level had higher screen time than children living above the poverty level (8.3 vs. 3.2 h/day, p < 0.05), and this descriptive difference remained at follow-up (7.0 vs. 3.1 h/day; p < 0.05). In adjusted linear mixed-effects models, children living at/below the poverty level had 2.8 additional hours/day of screen time at baseline (β = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.19–4.49, p = 0.001). The Time × Poverty interaction for screen time was not statistically significant (p = 0.64), suggesting no detectable difference in changes over time by poverty status. Poverty status was not significantly associated with MVPA or nighttime sleep, and their interactions with time were also not significant. Conclusion: Screen time was the only movement behavior independently associated with household poverty in this cohort. The non-significant findings for MVPA and nighttime sleep should be interpreted cautiously because of a small poverty subgroup and limited precision. Future studies should examine factors contributing to elevated screen use and evaluate strategies to reduce screen exposure among children from low-income households. Full article

Background: Physical fitness is an important marker of health and development during early childhood. However, data describing fitness characteristics of preschool children from Central and Eastern Europe remain limited. This study examined age-related trends, sex differences, and associations with BMI-for-age z-scores (BMI SDS) in selected components of the PREFIT battery in Czech preschool children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 40 children aged 3–6 years (19 girls and 21 boys) attending a public kindergarten in the Czech Republic. Physical fitness was assessed using four selected PREFIT components: handgrip strength, standing long jump, 4 × 10 m shuttle run, and one-leg stance. Associations with age, sex, and BMI SDS were analyzed using linear regression models. Results: Physical fitness was significantly associated with age across all assessed components (all p < 0.001). Sex differences were generally small, although boys demonstrated moderately higher handgrip strength than girls. After adjustment for age and sex, higher BMI SDS was associated with lower handgrip strength, poorer standing long-jump performance, and longer shuttle-run times, whereas no significant association was observed for one-leg stance performance. Conclusions: Selected PREFIT components were successfully implemented in a real-world kindergarten setting and were sensitive to age-related differences in physical fitness. Age showed the strongest and most consistent associations with fitness performance, while BMI SDS was independently associated with selected fitness outcomes. Larger multi-site and longitudinal studies are needed to establish population-specific reference values and to clarify the role of early physical fitness in later health and development. Full article

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education has been increasingly recognized for its potential to promote early childhood development, while inclusion has become a fundamental principle of early childhood education. However, research and practice on STEAM in reverse inclusive activities remain limited. This study aimed to explore whether STEAM in reverse inclusive activities in preschools works and how it works. Participants included 6 children with special education needs and 22 typically developing children aged 4–6 years from a public preschool in China. The Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System Chinese version was used to assess children’s early childhood development in daily routines and during STEAM in reverse inclusive activities. The findings indicated that STEAM in reverse inclusive activities in preschool was effective, with both typically developing children and children with special educational needs demonstrating developmental gains. Children’s early development within the activities was facilitated by the integration of art, embodied learning, effective peer interaction, and flexible teacher support responsive to children’s inquiry problems. Overall, this study provided initial evidence regarding the implementation and effectiveness of STEAM in reverse inclusive activities and offered practical implications for promoting early childhood development. Full article

Objective: To analyze associations between 24-hour movement behaviors (and guideline adherence) and anthropometric and body composition indicators in Ecuadorian preschoolers using data from the International Study of Movement Behaviors in the Early Years (SUNRISE) pilot study. Methods: This secondary analysis utilized data from the primary study conducted in 108 children aged 3–4 years (57.4% girls; 50.9% urban). Anthropometry (weight, height, and body mass index [BMI]) was assessed using standardized protocols during the pilot study, whereas body composition indicators (fat-free mass [FFM], fat mass [FM], and body fat percentage) were estimated using a validated anthropometric prediction equation. Movement behaviors were assessed via triaxial accelerometry (ActiGraph GT3X+ or GT3X-BT, Pensacola, FL, USA) over seven days, complemented by parent-reported questionnaires. Exploratory unadjusted correlation analyses were performed using Spearman’s rho (ρ) for continuous/ordinal variables, and Pearson’s correlations (r), mathematically equivalent to point-biserial correlations (r_pb), for dichotomous–continuous associations. Results: In exploratory unadjusted analyses, device-measured longer sleep duration showed small-to-moderate inverse associations with weight (ρ = −0.33, p = 0.001), BMI (ρ = −0.28, p = 0.006), and FFM (ρ = −0.37, p < 0.001). Higher moderate-to-vigorous physical activity showed moderate positive associations with height (ρ = 0.32, p = 0.002), weight (ρ = 0.40, p < 0.001), and FFM (ρ = 0.44, p < 0.001). In complementary multivariable models, the associations between device-measured sleep or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and the pre-specified anthropometric and body composition outcomes were attenuated after adjustment for age, sex, area of residence, and, where applicable, height, and were generally not statistically significant. Conclusions: In this exploratory secondary analysis of the SUNRISE Pilot Study Ecuador, unadjusted analyses identified associations between specific 24-hour movement behaviors, particularly sleep duration and MVPA, and anthropometric and body composition indicators. However, these associations were attenuated after covariate adjustment. The findings should therefore be interpreted as hypothesis-generating and require confirmation in larger longitudinal studies. Full article

This paper concerns a three-cycle design research that explores the feasibility of designing a learning environment that could support preschoolers to (a) build basic ecological knowledge and (b) develop familiarity with the concept of sustainability and other socio-environmental concepts that might contribute to their socio-environmental awareness. We focus on the third research cycle, emphasizing the implementation of the learning environment and the resulting ‘design theory’ for combining biology and sustainability education at young ages. Grounded in constructivism, our design utilizes approaches like ‘problem-posing,’ ‘possible futures,’ and ‘problem seekers–problem solvers–action takers’ as design principles. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the pre-/post-interviews with the 30 participating preschoolers indicated improvements in their ecological understanding as well as in their familiarity with sustainability-related concepts. Moreover, the iterative design process led to the articulation of the ‘Concept-As-a-Tool’ (CAT) strategy, a design theory that conceptualizes sustainability as a decision-making tool connecting ecological knowledge and socio-environmental action-oriented thinking in early childhood education. The findings provide initial support for this design theory within the context of the present study. Full article

The bioecological model emphasizes parent–child interactions as proximal processes associated with children’s development over time, whereas family systems theory highlights the distinct yet interdependent roles of mothers and fathers. However, few longitudinal studies have simultaneously examined the associations of mothers’ and fathers’ parenting styles with preschool children’s social problem-solving skills. This study recruited 275 co-residing mother–father Chinese families and employed a three-wave longitudinal design to investigate the longitudinal associations between fathers’ and mothers’ parenting styles and preschool children’s social problem-solving skills, while considering primary-caregiver status. After accounting for prior levels, mothers’ authoritative parenting at Time 2 was positively associated with children’s social problem-solving skills at Time 3, whereas mothers’ authoritarian parenting at Time 1 was negatively associated with social problem-solving skills at Time 2. Fathers’ authoritative parenting showed no significant longitudinal association. However, the interaction between authoritarian parenting at Time 1 and whether the father was identified as the primary caregiver was significantly associated with children’s social problem-solving skills at Time 2. These findings indicate limited and interval-specific longitudinal associations between parenting styles and children’s social problem-solving skills and the possible relevance of primary-caregiver status. Full article

Background/Objectives: Undernutrition remains a public health concern among preschool children in Malaysia. Although oral nutritional supplementation (ONS) globally has been recommended to improve nutritional status, evidence from community-based randomised controlled trials among underweight Malaysian preschool children remains limited. This study evaluated the effectiveness of ONS on growth, dietary intake, appetite, and common illnesses among underweight preschool children in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. Methods: A multi-centre, community-based, cluster-randomised controlled trial was conducted among underweight preschool children aged 4–6 years from 16 government-subsidised preschools. Participants were assigned to receive ONS plus nutrition education (ONS + NE) or nutrition education alone (NE only) for 90 days. Anthropometric measurements, dietary intake, appetite, attainment of catch-up growth, and parent-reported common illnesses were assessed. Between-group differences were analysed using analysis of covariance adjusted for baseline values. Results: Ninety-six underweight preschool children were randomised to ONS plus nutrition education (ONS + NE, n = 56) or nutrition education alone (NE only, n = 40). Compared with the NE group, children receiving ONS + NE demonstrated significantly greater improvements in weight-for-age z-scores at day 60 and day 90 (p < 0.05). The ONS + NE group also achieved significantly higher catch-up growth attainment at day 60 (116.6 ± 38.5% vs. 99.1 ± 17.4%; p = 0.029) and day 90 (114.6 ± 37.2% vs. 95.5 ± 23.8%; p = 0.021). In addition, significantly higher energy, macronutrients, selected micronutrient intakes, and appetite scores were observed in the ONS + NE group (all p < 0.05). Conclusions: ONS combined with nutrition education improved weight-related growth, dietary adequacy, catch-up growth energy achievement, and appetite among underweight preschool children. ONS may serve as an effective community-based strategy for nutritional rehabilitation in this population. Trial registration: ISRCTN15093638. Full article

Background: Child sexual abuse is a major public health concern, particularly for children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. This study examined the effect of a body safety training (BST) program on the self-protection skills of preschool children from low-income families. Methods: This one-group pretest–posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted with 32 children aged 4–6 years attending a public kindergarten located in a low-income neighborhood in Türkiye. The children participated in a seven-session BST program. Data were collected via the What If Situations Test (WIST), with assessments conducted before and after the intervention. Differences between the pretest and posttest scores were analyzed via the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and effect sizes (r) were calculated. Results: Statistically significant improvements were observed in the WIST subscales of appropriate touching recognition, inappropriate touching recognition, Saying skill, Doing skill, Telling skill, and Reporting skill, as well as in the Personal Safety Questionnaire scores (all p < 0.05). A significant increase with a large effect size was observed in the WIST total skill scores following the intervention (Z = −4.756, p < 0.001, r = 0.84; mean change = 6.34, 95% CI: 4.63–8.13). Conclusions: Participation in the BST Program was associated with significant improvements in the self-protection skills of preschool children from low-income families. These findings suggest that structured body safety education may be a promising approach for supporting personal safety skills among socioeconomically disadvantaged preschool children. Full article

Background: Sensorimotor (mu) rhythms reflect the functional state of sensorimotor cortical networks and are of increasing interest for understanding typical and atypical neurodevelopment. However, the developmental trajectories of mu rhythm modulation in preschool and early school-age children remain poorly characterized. Objectives: We studied age-related changes in alpha (8–13 Hz) and beta (13–30 Hz) sensorimotor rhythms in children aged 3 to 10 years using a mixed longitudinal design and investigated their relationship with language development. Methods: EEG was recorded twice (interval ~1 year) in 44 typically developing children during three conditions: passive hand movement (PHM), video hand movement observation (VHM), and a control condition (video fractal movement, VFM). Language was assessed with the Preschool Language Scales—Fifth Edition (PLS-5) in a subset of 32 of the 44 participants at the first time point. Modulation indices (log10(experimental/control)) were computed, and repeated-measures ANOVAs and Spearman correlations were performed. Results: PHM elicited desynchronization in both alpha and beta bands, while VHM induced alpha synchronization only. Alpha desynchronization showed contralateral lateralization during right- and left-hand movements, without age-related changes. Beta desynchronization showed no lateralization. Beta desynchronization during PHM correlated negatively with Auditory Comprehension and Total Language scores (ρ up to −0.62, FDR-corrected p < 0.05), indicating that more pronounced desynchronization of sensorimotor rhythms relates to better language abilities. Conclusions: These findings support the involvement of sensorimotor networks in auditory language comprehension and suggest that beta mu rhythm may serve as a sensitive marker of individual differences in language development, though replication in larger samples is warranted. Full article

Executive function is important for children’s self-regulation and school readiness, and the home parenting environment is a key proximal context for its development. However, less is known about whether the overall home parenting environment is associated with children’s initial executive function and subsequent change. This study examined these associations among 265 children aged 5–6 years in Yancheng, China, using three-wave data collected at six-month intervals. At each wave, mothers rated children’s executive function using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function–Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) and reported on the home parenting environment. Baseline language ability was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R). Multivariate latent growth modeling was conducted, controlling for child sex and baseline language ability. Executive function increased significantly over one year, with individual differences in initial level and growth rate. The home parenting environment showed no significant mean-level change, although its initial level differed across families. Higher initial levels of the home parenting environment were associated with higher initial executive function, β = 0.446, p < 0.001, and faster executive function growth, β = 0.409, p = 0.004. These findings highlight the potential role of a supportive home parenting environment in children’s executive function development. Full article

Handwriting is a fundamental fine motor skill in early childhood development, yet between 10% and 30% of school-age children experience significant difficulties in its acquisition. Existing automated assessment approaches predominantly classify whether the correct character was produced, rather than evaluating the morphological quality of the stroke itself—the level at which handwriting difficulties are believed to manifest. This article addresses this gap by presenting the design, implementation, and technical evaluation of an interactive social robot shaped like a capybara, developed to support Spanish-language handwriting learning in preschool children through stroke-level, rather than character-level, assessment. The system integrates a Raspberry Pi 5, a 15.6-inch touchscreen, and a stroke morphological comparison algorithm implemented with the Open Source Computer Vision Library. The evaluation engine performs preprocessing, region-of-interest masking, and pixel-level coverage analysis based on the standard recall formulation, translated into 1-to-5-star multimodal feedback. A controlled technical evaluation of 360 trials, conducted by four trained adult evaluators, yielded an overall recognition rate of 82.78% (95% CI: 78.54–86.33%) and a mean response time of 0.68 s, well below the threshold identified in the literature as critical for sustaining engagement in preschool children. Recognition was statistically equivalent across character categories (p = 0.547) but differed markedly across stroke-quality levels (p < 0.001), evidencing the formative sensitivity of the algorithm. Exploratory observations in two Peruvian preschools indicated operational stability and children’s spontaneous engagement with the system. These results position the prototype as a technically validated, replicable foundation—based on general-purpose embedded hardware—for future pedagogically oriented research on child–robot interaction in handwriting instruction. Full article

Parental emotional intelligence (EI) has been associated with children’s socio-emotional development, yet less is known about how parental EI is associated with naturally occurring configurations of parenting practices. This cross-sectional study investigated two complementary statistical indirect associations connecting parental EI to preschoolers’ social competence using a sample of 13,398 Chinese families: a variable-centered pathway via positive and negative parenting practices, and a person-centered pathway via distinct parenting profiles. Exploratory latent profile analysis yielded four sample-specific parenting configurations: high-positive/low-negative (27.49%), near-average (55.19%), low-positive/elevated-negative (9.16%), and mixed slightly positive/high-negative (8.16%). Parental EI exhibited a positive concurrent association with children’s overall social competence. Positive and negative parenting statistically accounted for part of this bivariate association at the variable level, while parenting profile membership provided complementary person-centered information about differences in child social competence. Family climate was incorporated as an auxiliary contextual correlate and was not framed as a core predictor, mediator, or moderator within the focal model. Given the cross-sectional single-wave design and caregiver-reported data for all key constructs, all observed patterns should only be interpreted as correlational associations, rather than empirical support for causal mediation. Full article

Drawing on interviews with ten preschool principals who recruit, mentor, and evaluate preschool teachers, this study examines how playfulness is conceptualized as a professional competence within early childhood education and care (ECEC) practice. In Swedish ECEC, play and teaching are conceptualized as intertwined processes, and co-play is positioned as a central pedagogical approach that requires both personal dispositions and ongoing professional development. The study highlights the importance of integrating playfulness into ECEC teacher education in order to strengthen future teachers’ capacity to co-play with children and engage in play-based teaching practices on children’s terms. The findings also suggest that professional playfulness emerges as a multifaceted and context-dependent competence, shaped by institutional conditions as well as individual orientations towards play and teaching. By foregrounding leadership perspectives, the study contributes to ongoing discussions on the role of play in ECEC and emphasizes the need for deliberate efforts to support the development of professional playfulness in both practice and teacher education. Full article