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#childdevelopment — Public Fediverse posts

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  1. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 🧠📈 A #study of over 11,000 British #twins tracked cognitive test scores from age 4 to 21.

    Only 1% of children scoring in the top tier at age 7 still scored high at 16, while just 8% of average-scoring #kids climbed into the top range. Genetic and family-education factors predicted stability most strongly, suggesting early gifted labels are an unreliable guide to #adult ability.

    👉 psypost.org/early-giftedness-r

    #childdevelopment #science #psychology #intelligence #education #brain #development #learning #research

  2. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 🧠📈 A #study of over 11,000 British #twins tracked cognitive test scores from age 4 to 21.

    Only 1% of children scoring in the top tier at age 7 still scored high at 16, while just 8% of average-scoring #kids climbed into the top range. Genetic and family-education factors predicted stability most strongly, suggesting early gifted labels are an unreliable guide to #adult ability.

    👉 psypost.org/early-giftedness-r

    #childdevelopment #science #psychology #intelligence #education #brain #development #learning #research

  3. Apple has removed a Milan billboard featuring a toddler holding an iPhone after Italian authorities criticized it for promoting 'electronic babysitting.' This highlights the need for tech companies to consider societal perceptions in their advertising strategies.

    #Apple #Advertising #ChildDevelopment #TechMarketing #DigitalParenting #iPhone

    thedailytechfeed.com/apple-rem

  4. PsyPost: Study links short-form video addiction to a decline in teenagers’ academic coping skills. “A recent study of high school students reveals that addictive use of short-form video apps predicts a decline in a student’s ability to handle everyday academic stress.”

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/13/psypost-study-links-short-form-video-addiction-to-a-decline-in-teenagers-academic-coping-skills/
  5. PsyPost: Study links short-form video addiction to a decline in teenagers’ academic coping skills. “A recent study of high school students reveals that addictive use of short-form video apps predicts a decline in a student’s ability to handle everyday academic stress.”

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/13/psypost-study-links-short-form-video-addiction-to-a-decline-in-teenagers-academic-coping-skills/
  6. DATE: August 13, 2026 at 02:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Why do some children develop ADHD after stressful events while others do not?

    URL: psypost.org/why-do-some-childr

    Children exposed to stressful life events may face a greater risk of developing ADHD symptoms, but a new study suggests that vulnerability depends partly on family mental health, genetic risk, and brain development. These findings were published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

    ADHD is commonly associated with difficulties involving attention, impulsive behavior, and activity levels. Researchers have long known that both inherited factors and environmental experiences contribute to ADHD. Stressful events during childhood, including violence, serious accidents, or other major disruptions, may interfere with emotional development and brain systems involved in attention and self-control.

    Yet exposure to stress is not a straightforward explanation for ADHD. Some children show substantial difficulties after stressful experiences, while others appear relatively resilient. The new study aimed to identify the factors that might explain these differences.

    Led by Seung Yun Choi of Seoul National University, the research team examined data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. The initial group included 6,303 children, 46.8 percent of whom were female, aged approximately 9.9 years at the beginning of the study. The children were assessed again after one year and two years.

    The researchers considered several types of information, including ADHD symptoms, stressful life events, parental mental health difficulties, genetic measures, and connections between brain regions. Choi and colleagues then utilized a machine-learning approach, an advanced form of data analysis, to examine the complex relationships between these factors.

    The results revealed that stressful experiences were associated with increased ADHD symptoms at both follow-up points. However, the size of this association varied considerably between children. At the one-year follow-up, children considered most vulnerable had higher levels of parental depression and parental ADHD. They also differed from lower-risk children on a genetic measure related to smoking behavior.

    By the two-year follow-up, parental mental health problems remained important, and a higher genetic risk score for ADHD also became a significant factor. The researchers also identified differences in the physical connections between parts of the brain involved in planning, attention, and behavioral control.

    The contrast between the groups was substantial. At one year, the estimated effect of stressful events was more than twice as large in the highest-risk group as in the lowest-risk group. A similar pattern was observed after two years.

    The authors emphasized that their findings “underscore the importance of integrating environmental, genetic, and neural variables to identify children vulnerable or resilient to developing ADHD symptoms following early-life stress.”

    The findings do not mean that genes determine whether a child will develop ADHD, nor that family mental health difficulties inevitably lead to symptoms. Instead, they suggest that children may differ in how strongly they respond to stressful environments. Family support, early assistance, and treatment for parental mental health problems could therefore be important parts of prevention.

    The study has several limitations. For instance, the definition of stressful life events the authors utilized is based on the level of exposure, which may not adequately capture the subjective intensity of these experiences.

    The study, “Individual differences in effects of stressful life events on childhood ADHD: genetic, neural, and familial contributions,” was authored by Seung Yun Choi, Jinwoo Lee, Junghoon Park, Eunji Lee, Bo-Gyeom Kim, Gakyung Kim, Yoonjung Yoonie Joo, and Jiook Cha.

    URL: psypost.org/why-do-some-childr

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    Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

    -------------------------------------------------

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ADHD #ChildDevelopment #StressAndADHD #FamilyMentalHealth #Genetics #NeuralDevelopment #BrainConnections #AdolescentBrainCognition #MentalHealthAwareness #EarlyIntervention

  7. DATE: August 13, 2026 at 02:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Why do some children develop ADHD after stressful events while others do not?

    URL: psypost.org/why-do-some-childr

    Children exposed to stressful life events may face a greater risk of developing ADHD symptoms, but a new study suggests that vulnerability depends partly on family mental health, genetic risk, and brain development. These findings were published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

    ADHD is commonly associated with difficulties involving attention, impulsive behavior, and activity levels. Researchers have long known that both inherited factors and environmental experiences contribute to ADHD. Stressful events during childhood, including violence, serious accidents, or other major disruptions, may interfere with emotional development and brain systems involved in attention and self-control.

    Yet exposure to stress is not a straightforward explanation for ADHD. Some children show substantial difficulties after stressful experiences, while others appear relatively resilient. The new study aimed to identify the factors that might explain these differences.

    Led by Seung Yun Choi of Seoul National University, the research team examined data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. The initial group included 6,303 children, 46.8 percent of whom were female, aged approximately 9.9 years at the beginning of the study. The children were assessed again after one year and two years.

    The researchers considered several types of information, including ADHD symptoms, stressful life events, parental mental health difficulties, genetic measures, and connections between brain regions. Choi and colleagues then utilized a machine-learning approach, an advanced form of data analysis, to examine the complex relationships between these factors.

    The results revealed that stressful experiences were associated with increased ADHD symptoms at both follow-up points. However, the size of this association varied considerably between children. At the one-year follow-up, children considered most vulnerable had higher levels of parental depression and parental ADHD. They also differed from lower-risk children on a genetic measure related to smoking behavior.

    By the two-year follow-up, parental mental health problems remained important, and a higher genetic risk score for ADHD also became a significant factor. The researchers also identified differences in the physical connections between parts of the brain involved in planning, attention, and behavioral control.

    The contrast between the groups was substantial. At one year, the estimated effect of stressful events was more than twice as large in the highest-risk group as in the lowest-risk group. A similar pattern was observed after two years.

    The authors emphasized that their findings “underscore the importance of integrating environmental, genetic, and neural variables to identify children vulnerable or resilient to developing ADHD symptoms following early-life stress.”

    The findings do not mean that genes determine whether a child will develop ADHD, nor that family mental health difficulties inevitably lead to symptoms. Instead, they suggest that children may differ in how strongly they respond to stressful environments. Family support, early assistance, and treatment for parental mental health problems could therefore be important parts of prevention.

    The study has several limitations. For instance, the definition of stressful life events the authors utilized is based on the level of exposure, which may not adequately capture the subjective intensity of these experiences.

    The study, “Individual differences in effects of stressful life events on childhood ADHD: genetic, neural, and familial contributions,” was authored by Seung Yun Choi, Jinwoo Lee, Junghoon Park, Eunji Lee, Bo-Gyeom Kim, Gakyung Kim, Yoonjung Yoonie Joo, and Jiook Cha.

    URL: psypost.org/why-do-some-childr

    -------------------------------------------------

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    Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

    -------------------------------------------------

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ADHD #ChildDevelopment #StressAndADHD #FamilyMentalHealth #Genetics #NeuralDevelopment #BrainConnections #AdolescentBrainCognition #MentalHealthAwareness #EarlyIntervention

  8. A study of cognitive abilities of over 11,000 children and young adults, measured at ages 7, 12, 16, and 21, found that only 16% of the high-scorers at age 7 were in that same group at age 16. Cognitive scores tended to decrease over time. Changes were associated more with genetics than with environmental factors.

    Summary: psypost.org/early-giftedness-r

    Original paper: icajournal.scholasticahq.com/a

    #Science #Cognition #Intelligence #Gifted #ChildDevelopment

  9. A study of cognitive abilities of over 11,000 children and young adults, measured at ages 7, 12, 16, and 21, found that only 16% of the high-scorers at age 7 were in that same group at age 16. Cognitive scores tended to decrease over time. Changes were associated more with genetics than with environmental factors.

    Summary: psypost.org/early-giftedness-r

    Original paper: icajournal.scholasticahq.com/a

    #Science #Cognition #Intelligence #Gifted #ChildDevelopment

  10. DATE: August 12, 2026 at 12:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Mentally engaging parenting linked to better working memory development

    URL: psypost.org/mentally-engaging-

    Children from wealthier families tend to start school with a better ability to hold and use information in their minds, but engaging kids in activities like reading or puzzles is associated with bridging this gap. A large study tracking students from kindergarten through fifth grade found that mentally engaging parenting practices are linked to protected cognitive development in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The research was published in Learning and Individual Differences.

    Working memory is the mental capacity to temporarily hold and manipulate information. It acts as a mental workspace for tasks like reasoning, planning, and understanding language. In a classroom, a child uses working memory to remember multi-step instructions or to solve mental math problems. This cognitive skill is strongly linked to how well children learn when they enter formal schooling.

    During early childhood, this mental capacity grows rapidly. A family’s socioeconomic status, which encompasses household income, parental education, and job prestige, is closely tied to this early cognitive development. Children raised in families with fewer resources often face chronic stress and have less access to educational materials. These factors are frequently associated with slower cognitive growth compared to peers from wealthier backgrounds.

    Past research has shown mixed results about whether these early cognitive gaps widen, remain the same, or shrink as children progress through school. Researchers Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong wanted to map exactly how working memory changes across childhood. They also examined whether specific parenting behaviors could alter the statistical relationship between a family’s socioeconomic background and a child’s cognitive growth.

    The team analyzed data from a large study of 15,437 children in the United States. The information came from a national education database that followed a representative group of students from their kindergarten year in 2010 through the fifth grade. To measure working memory, the original survey administrators used a backward digit span task. Children listened to a sequence of numbers and had to repeat them back in reverse order.

    The number sequences grew longer as the children succeeded, testing the limits of their mental capacity. This test was given to the students multiple times between kindergarten and the fifth grade. During the kindergarten year, parents answered survey questions about their household income, education levels, and occupations.

    Parents also reported on three dimensions of their parenting behavior. They answered questions about cognitive stimulation, which included how often they read, sang, or did arts and crafts with their children. The survey also asked about parental warmth, such as how often parents expressed affection or felt close to their child. Finally, parents reported on negative discipline, specifically whether they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week.

    Using all these data points, the researchers built statistical models to track cognitive growth over time. Overall, working memory increased steadily for most children as they progressed through elementary school. The growth happened fastest in the early years and began to level off as the children approached the fifth grade.

    A family’s socioeconomic status was linked to exactly how this growth happened. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds started kindergarten with better working memory scores than their less wealthy peers. However, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds actually showed a faster initial rate of cognitive growth during the early school years.

    This early burst of growth allowed disadvantaged children to narrow the cognitive gap slightly. The researchers suspect that entering a structured school environment provides an initial boost to children who lacked resources at home. Yet, their working memory growth started to plateau much earlier than that of their wealthier peers. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds experienced a steadier, more prolonged period of working memory development.

    Because of this longer growth period, the cognitive gap remained evident by the end of fifth grade. Over time, cumulative disadvantages like limited access to enriching extracurricular activities can continue to restrict cognitive development. Wealthier children keep benefiting from sustained access to enriched resources, allowing their mental capacities to grow for a longer period.

    The researchers then looked at how parenting behaviors altered these trends. They found that cognitive stimulation was associated with a buffering effect against the negative impacts of a lower socioeconomic background. Children whose parents frequently engaged them in reading, puzzles, and nature activities tended to start kindergarten with higher working memory scores.

    These engaging activities were also linked to changes in the trajectory of the children’s cognitive growth. Children receiving high levels of cognitive stimulation experienced a delayed plateau in their working memory development. This means their cognitive skills continued growing for a longer time, following a pattern more similar to the growth of children from wealthier families.

    Other parenting behaviors did not alter the relationship between family wealth and cognitive growth. The results were not statistically significant for parental warmth modifying the socioeconomic disparities in working memory. The researchers noted that most parents in the survey reported very high levels of warmth, which might have made it difficult to detect any subtle statistical variations.

    Spanking also failed to change the trajectory of socioeconomic disparities. While spanking was generally linked to poorer working memory across all groups, it did not uniquely associate with a change in the cognitive gap tied to socioeconomic status. Physical discipline appeared to be negatively linked to cognitive development regardless of a family’s income or education level.

    There are a few limitations to the study design. All data on parenting behaviors were reported by the parents themselves. People often answer surveys in ways that make them look better, which can introduce bias into the results. Future projects could use direct observations of parent-child interactions to get more objective measurements.

    Additionally, the researchers only used data on family income and parenting behaviors from the children’s kindergarten year. Families experience financial changes, and parenting styles evolve as children grow. By only looking at a single point in time, the study cannot account for how shifting family dynamics over the next five years might have shaped the students’ development.

    The measurement of physical discipline was also quite narrow. The survey asked parents if they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week. This short timeframe makes it hard to capture chronic patterns of harsh discipline. A longer assessment period would be needed to see how consistent physical discipline associates with cognitive growth over years.

    The backward digit span task only assesses one specific type of cognitive processing. Working memory has multiple components, including the ability to remember spatial information. Using a wider variety of cognitive tests would provide a more complete picture of a child’s mental capabilities.

    Finally, the data came exclusively from a sample of children in the United States. Educational systems and cultural parenting norms vary widely around the world. The ways that wealth and parenting interact to shape cognitive growth might look different in other countries.

    The study, “Development of working memory through childhood: The interplay of family socioeconomic status and parenting behaviors,” was authored by Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong.

    URL: psypost.org/mentally-engaging-

    -------------------------------------------------

    Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: clinicians-exchange.org

    Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

    -------------------------------------------------

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #WorkingMemory #CognitiveDevelopment #EarlyChildhoodEducation #ParentingTips #SocioeconomicStatus #CognitiveStimulation #ReadingWithKids #MentalEngagement #ChildDevelopment #LearningDifferences

  11. DATE: August 12, 2026 at 12:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Mentally engaging parenting linked to better working memory development

    URL: psypost.org/mentally-engaging-

    Children from wealthier families tend to start school with a better ability to hold and use information in their minds, but engaging kids in activities like reading or puzzles is associated with bridging this gap. A large study tracking students from kindergarten through fifth grade found that mentally engaging parenting practices are linked to protected cognitive development in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The research was published in Learning and Individual Differences.

    Working memory is the mental capacity to temporarily hold and manipulate information. It acts as a mental workspace for tasks like reasoning, planning, and understanding language. In a classroom, a child uses working memory to remember multi-step instructions or to solve mental math problems. This cognitive skill is strongly linked to how well children learn when they enter formal schooling.

    During early childhood, this mental capacity grows rapidly. A family’s socioeconomic status, which encompasses household income, parental education, and job prestige, is closely tied to this early cognitive development. Children raised in families with fewer resources often face chronic stress and have less access to educational materials. These factors are frequently associated with slower cognitive growth compared to peers from wealthier backgrounds.

    Past research has shown mixed results about whether these early cognitive gaps widen, remain the same, or shrink as children progress through school. Researchers Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong wanted to map exactly how working memory changes across childhood. They also examined whether specific parenting behaviors could alter the statistical relationship between a family’s socioeconomic background and a child’s cognitive growth.

    The team analyzed data from a large study of 15,437 children in the United States. The information came from a national education database that followed a representative group of students from their kindergarten year in 2010 through the fifth grade. To measure working memory, the original survey administrators used a backward digit span task. Children listened to a sequence of numbers and had to repeat them back in reverse order.

    The number sequences grew longer as the children succeeded, testing the limits of their mental capacity. This test was given to the students multiple times between kindergarten and the fifth grade. During the kindergarten year, parents answered survey questions about their household income, education levels, and occupations.

    Parents also reported on three dimensions of their parenting behavior. They answered questions about cognitive stimulation, which included how often they read, sang, or did arts and crafts with their children. The survey also asked about parental warmth, such as how often parents expressed affection or felt close to their child. Finally, parents reported on negative discipline, specifically whether they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week.

    Using all these data points, the researchers built statistical models to track cognitive growth over time. Overall, working memory increased steadily for most children as they progressed through elementary school. The growth happened fastest in the early years and began to level off as the children approached the fifth grade.

    A family’s socioeconomic status was linked to exactly how this growth happened. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds started kindergarten with better working memory scores than their less wealthy peers. However, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds actually showed a faster initial rate of cognitive growth during the early school years.

    This early burst of growth allowed disadvantaged children to narrow the cognitive gap slightly. The researchers suspect that entering a structured school environment provides an initial boost to children who lacked resources at home. Yet, their working memory growth started to plateau much earlier than that of their wealthier peers. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds experienced a steadier, more prolonged period of working memory development.

    Because of this longer growth period, the cognitive gap remained evident by the end of fifth grade. Over time, cumulative disadvantages like limited access to enriching extracurricular activities can continue to restrict cognitive development. Wealthier children keep benefiting from sustained access to enriched resources, allowing their mental capacities to grow for a longer period.

    The researchers then looked at how parenting behaviors altered these trends. They found that cognitive stimulation was associated with a buffering effect against the negative impacts of a lower socioeconomic background. Children whose parents frequently engaged them in reading, puzzles, and nature activities tended to start kindergarten with higher working memory scores.

    These engaging activities were also linked to changes in the trajectory of the children’s cognitive growth. Children receiving high levels of cognitive stimulation experienced a delayed plateau in their working memory development. This means their cognitive skills continued growing for a longer time, following a pattern more similar to the growth of children from wealthier families.

    Other parenting behaviors did not alter the relationship between family wealth and cognitive growth. The results were not statistically significant for parental warmth modifying the socioeconomic disparities in working memory. The researchers noted that most parents in the survey reported very high levels of warmth, which might have made it difficult to detect any subtle statistical variations.

    Spanking also failed to change the trajectory of socioeconomic disparities. While spanking was generally linked to poorer working memory across all groups, it did not uniquely associate with a change in the cognitive gap tied to socioeconomic status. Physical discipline appeared to be negatively linked to cognitive development regardless of a family’s income or education level.

    There are a few limitations to the study design. All data on parenting behaviors were reported by the parents themselves. People often answer surveys in ways that make them look better, which can introduce bias into the results. Future projects could use direct observations of parent-child interactions to get more objective measurements.

    Additionally, the researchers only used data on family income and parenting behaviors from the children’s kindergarten year. Families experience financial changes, and parenting styles evolve as children grow. By only looking at a single point in time, the study cannot account for how shifting family dynamics over the next five years might have shaped the students’ development.

    The measurement of physical discipline was also quite narrow. The survey asked parents if they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week. This short timeframe makes it hard to capture chronic patterns of harsh discipline. A longer assessment period would be needed to see how consistent physical discipline associates with cognitive growth over years.

    The backward digit span task only assesses one specific type of cognitive processing. Working memory has multiple components, including the ability to remember spatial information. Using a wider variety of cognitive tests would provide a more complete picture of a child’s mental capabilities.

    Finally, the data came exclusively from a sample of children in the United States. Educational systems and cultural parenting norms vary widely around the world. The ways that wealth and parenting interact to shape cognitive growth might look different in other countries.

    The study, “Development of working memory through childhood: The interplay of family socioeconomic status and parenting behaviors,” was authored by Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong.

    URL: psypost.org/mentally-engaging-

    -------------------------------------------------

    Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: clinicians-exchange.org

    Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

    -------------------------------------------------

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #WorkingMemory #CognitiveDevelopment #EarlyChildhoodEducation #ParentingTips #SocioeconomicStatus #CognitiveStimulation #ReadingWithKids #MentalEngagement #ChildDevelopment #LearningDifferences

  12. With the new school year underway, parents should reassess screen time limits to support children's academic success and well-being. Utilizing frameworks like the '5 Cs' and tools like Apple's enhanced Screen Time in iOS 27 can help create balanced media plans tailored to each child's needs.

    #ScreenTime #ParentalControls #BackToSchool #ChildDevelopment #iOS27 #DigitalWellbeing

    thedailytechfeed.com/reevaluat

  13. DATE: August 9, 2026 at 02:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Wealthier children score higher on intelligence, but quality parenting levels the playing field

    URL: psypost.org/wealthier-children

    An analysis of the TwinLIFE study data found that children from families of higher socioeconomic status tended to exhibit somewhat higher levels of intelligence, and tended to be slightly more emotionally stable and extraverted compared to their peers from low socioeconomic status families. The paper was published in the Journal of Genetic Psychology.

    Personality traits influence many important life outcomes, including academic achievement, health, earnings, relationships, and the ability to cope with stress. Although these traits are often viewed as relatively stable, their development may be shaped by both inherited characteristics and the environments in which children grow up.

    Parents can influence children’s personalities through their own traits and abilities, their parenting styles, the time they spend with their children, and the opportunities they provide. Family socioeconomic status, including income, education, and occupational prestige, may affect these influences by determining the resources available for children’s development. Children from more advantaged families tend to receive greater educational, emotional, and material support, although higher socioeconomic status does not always produce more favorable personality outcomes.

    Study author Melchior Vella hypothesized that higher socioeconomic status is associated with more favorable personality development. If this is true, children from families with higher socioeconomic status would achieve higher scores on the “Big Five” personality traits—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability—the author reasoned. Also, parents of higher socioeconomic status might be more likely to practice positive parenting styles and to show greater parental investment.

    To check these hypotheses, the author analyzed data from the German Twin Family Panel (TwinLIFE). This is an ongoing 12-year behavioral genetic study focused on social inequality development. TwinLIFE collects data through face-to-face and Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) with same-sex twins and their families. The study recruited twins raised in the same family across four age groups – those born in 2009/2010 (Cohort 1), 2003/2004 (Cohort 2), 1997/1998 (Cohort 3), and 1990–1993 (Cohort 4).

    Data used in this study came from Cohort 2, which included twins aged 10 to 12 at the time of the data collection. The sample consisted of 392 monozygotic (identical) and 648 dizygotic (fraternal) twins. The analyses were based on data from the first wave, which was collected via face-to-face interviews.

    The author of the study used data on participants’ socioeconomic background (based on family income and the highest education level of parents), personality traits (assessed using the Big Five Inventory, BFI-S), fluid intelligence (defined as the ability to reason and solve problems independently of prior experience, measured using the short version of the Culture Fair Test 20 R), parenting style (using custom-adapted scales), and parental time (measured through the frequency of family activities).

    Results showed that children from families of higher socioeconomic status tended to have somewhat higher fluid intelligence compared to children from low socioeconomic status families. They also tended to be slightly more emotionally stable and extraverted, although the association with extraversion was modest. Additionally, parents from high socioeconomic status families tended to devote slightly more time to their children.

    The study’s use of twin data allowed the researcher to isolate environmental influences from genetic inheritance. Because identical twins share nearly 100% of their DNA while fraternal twins share about 50%, comparing the two groups helps reveal which traits are shaped by upbringing rather than biology.

    The data revealed that parental investments are equally effective regardless of a family’s socioeconomic background. In other words, when low-income parents are able to invest the same amount of time and positive parenting into their children, they yield the exact same developmental benefits as high-income parents. Furthermore, the study found that children from disadvantaged backgrounds actually benefit the most from this increased parental investment.

    “The findings suggest that interventions targeting parental investments and fostering desirable personality traits could significantly enhance outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged children, thereby offering a promising avenue for improving child welfare and life outcomes,” the study author concluded.

    The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the links between socioeconomic status and psychological characteristics. However, it should be noted that while the socioeconomic disparities in fluid intelligence were relatively pronounced, the differences in personality traits across socioeconomic backgrounds were minor by comparison.

    The paper, “The Impact of Parental Background on the Big Five Traits and Intelligence: Evidence from a Twin Based Study,” was authored by Melchior Vella.

    URL: psypost.org/wealthier-children

    -------------------------------------------------

    Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: clinicians-exchange.org

    Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot

    -------------------------------------------------

    #psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #WealthAndIntelligence #TwinLIFEStudy #BigFiveTraits #SocioeconomicStatus #ParentalInvestment #FluidIntelligence #EmotionalStability #Extraversion #PositiveParenting #ChildDevelopment

  14. DATE: August 9, 2026 at 02:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Wealthier children score higher on intelligence, but quality parenting levels the playing field

    URL: psypost.org/wealthier-children

    An analysis of the TwinLIFE study data found that children from families of higher socioeconomic status tended to exhibit somewhat higher levels of intelligence, and tended to be slightly more emotionally stable and extraverted compared to their peers from low socioeconomic status families. The paper was published in the Journal of Genetic Psychology.

    Personality traits influence many important life outcomes, including academic achievement, health, earnings, relationships, and the ability to cope with stress. Although these traits are often viewed as relatively stable, their development may be shaped by both inherited characteristics and the environments in which children grow up.

    Parents can influence children’s personalities through their own traits and abilities, their parenting styles, the time they spend with their children, and the opportunities they provide. Family socioeconomic status, including income, education, and occupational prestige, may affect these influences by determining the resources available for children’s development. Children from more advantaged families tend to receive greater educational, emotional, and material support, although higher socioeconomic status does not always produce more favorable personality outcomes.

    Study author Melchior Vella hypothesized that higher socioeconomic status is associated with more favorable personality development. If this is true, children from families with higher socioeconomic status would achieve higher scores on the “Big Five” personality traits—openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability—the author reasoned. Also, parents of higher socioeconomic status might be more likely to practice positive parenting styles and to show greater parental investment.

    To check these hypotheses, the author analyzed data from the German Twin Family Panel (TwinLIFE). This is an ongoing 12-year behavioral genetic study focused on social inequality development. TwinLIFE collects data through face-to-face and Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) with same-sex twins and their families. The study recruited twins raised in the same family across four age groups – those born in 2009/2010 (Cohort 1), 2003/2004 (Cohort 2), 1997/1998 (Cohort 3), and 1990–1993 (Cohort 4).

    Data used in this study came from Cohort 2, which included twins aged 10 to 12 at the time of the data collection. The sample consisted of 392 monozygotic (identical) and 648 dizygotic (fraternal) twins. The analyses were based on data from the first wave, which was collected via face-to-face interviews.

    The author of the study used data on participants’ socioeconomic background (based on family income and the highest education level of parents), personality traits (assessed using the Big Five Inventory, BFI-S), fluid intelligence (defined as the ability to reason and solve problems independently of prior experience, measured using the short version of the Culture Fair Test 20 R), parenting style (using custom-adapted scales), and parental time (measured through the frequency of family activities).

    Results showed that children from families of higher socioeconomic status tended to have somewhat higher fluid intelligence compared to children from low socioeconomic status families. They also tended to be slightly more emotionally stable and extraverted, although the association with extraversion was modest. Additionally, parents from high socioeconomic status families tended to devote slightly more time to their children.

    The study’s use of twin data allowed the researcher to isolate environmental influences from genetic inheritance. Because identical twins share nearly 100% of their DNA while fraternal twins share about 50%, comparing the two groups helps reveal which traits are shaped by upbringing rather than biology.

    The data revealed that parental investments are equally effective regardless of a family’s socioeconomic background. In other words, when low-income parents are able to invest the same amount of time and positive parenting into their children, they yield the exact same developmental benefits as high-income parents. Furthermore, the study found that children from disadvantaged backgrounds actually benefit the most from this increased parental investment.

    “The findings suggest that interventions targeting parental investments and fostering desirable personality traits could significantly enhance outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged children, thereby offering a promising avenue for improving child welfare and life outcomes,” the study author concluded.

    The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the links between socioeconomic status and psychological characteristics. However, it should be noted that while the socioeconomic disparities in fluid intelligence were relatively pronounced, the differences in personality traits across socioeconomic backgrounds were minor by comparison.

    The paper, “The Impact of Parental Background on the Big Five Traits and Intelligence: Evidence from a Twin Based Study,” was authored by Melchior Vella.

    URL: psypost.org/wealthier-children

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  15. The Guardian: ‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom . “Going into schools, I meet thousands of children a year and every day I become more certain that, if justice for all is to be our organising principle, AI is not for children and not for young people. It risks becoming an iron curtain that comes down between a […]

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/09/i-hate-what-ai-is-doing-to-the-minds-and-happiness-of-the-young-katherine-rundell-on-the-view-from-the-classroom-the-guardian/
  16. The Guardian: ‘I hate what AI is doing to the minds and happiness of the young’: Katherine Rundell on the view from the classroom . “Going into schools, I meet thousands of children a year and every day I become more certain that, if justice for all is to be our organising principle, AI is not for children and not for young people. It risks becoming an iron curtain that comes down between a […]

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/08/09/i-hate-what-ai-is-doing-to-the-minds-and-happiness-of-the-young-katherine-rundell-on-the-view-from-the-classroom-the-guardian/
  17. How Online Games Affect Your Child's Brain and Behavior
    Could online games be changing the way your child thinks, learns and behaves? Understand the real effects of excessive gaming and how parents can protect healthy development. Read now 👉 indiatutor.in/blogs/how-online #OnlineGaming #Parenting #ChildDevelopment #MentalHealth #ScreenTime #IndiaTutor

  18. How Much Screen Time Is Too Much for Kids? Expert Guidelines for Parents
    Not sure how much screen time is actually safe? Learn age-wise expert recommendations and simple ways to build healthier digital habits for your child. Read now 👉 indiatutor.in/blogs/how-much-s #ScreenTime #Parenting #HealthyHabits #DigitalWellbeing #ChildDevelopment #IndiaTutor

  19. Rising Stress in School Children – Causes, Symptoms & How Parents Can Help
    Is your child becoming anxious, irritable or overwhelmed by school? Learn how to identify the warning signs of stress early and discover practical ways parents can help children feel happier, healthier and more confident. Read now 👉 indiatutor.in/blogs/rising-str #Parenting #MentalHealth #SchoolLife #StudentWellbeing #ChildDevelopment #Education #Parents #IndiaTutor

  20. Rising Stress in School Children – Causes, Symptoms & How Parents Can Help
    Is your child becoming anxious, irritable or overwhelmed by school? Learn how to identify the warning signs of stress early and discover practical ways parents can help children feel happier, healthier and more confident. Read now 👉 indiatutor.in/blogs/rising-str #Parenting #MentalHealth #SchoolLife #StudentWellbeing #ChildDevelopment #Education #Parents #IndiaTutor

  21. Why Your Child Struggles to Concentrate – 7 Common Reasons & Solutions
    Is your child easily distracted, forgetting lessons or losing focus during homework? Discover the 7 most common reasons behind poor concentration and practical solutions every parent can use to improve focus and academic performance. Read now 👉 indiatutor.in/blogs/why-your-c #Parenting #ChildDevelopment #StudyTips #Concentration #Learning #Education #Students #AcademicSuccess #IndiaTutor

  22. Why Your Child Struggles to Concentrate – 7 Common Reasons & Solutions
    Is your child easily distracted, forgetting lessons or losing focus during homework? Discover the 7 most common reasons behind poor concentration and practical solutions every parent can use to improve focus and academic performance. Read now 👉 indiatutor.in/blogs/why-your-c #Parenting #ChildDevelopment #StudyTips #Concentration #Learning #Education #Students #AcademicSuccess #IndiaTutor

  23. DATE: August 1, 2026 at 08:00AM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Infant brain structure predicts future intelligence scores

    URL: psypost.org/infant-brain-maps-

    Researchers have found that the physical wiring patterns of a one-year-old child’s brain can predict their intelligence scores several years later. By analyzing specific brain imaging maps using artificial intelligence, the study suggests that the foundations of cognitive ability are established in early infancy. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

    Early childhood is widely recognized as a major period for the development of lifelong cognitive abilities and behaviors. Identifying biological indicators of brain development allows professionals to potentially predict and track cognitive trajectories over a person’s lifespan. Identifying these biological markers might also allow for timely interventions to optimize learning outcomes.

    The human brain depends on a vast network of nerve fibers called white matter. This material acts like physical cables, transmitting electrical signals between different biological processing centers. The complete map of these neurological connections is known as a structural connectome.

    Because a connectome contains an overwhelming amount of raw data, researchers often use mathematical tools to create simplified models called gradients. A connectome gradient represents how brain connectivity gradually changes across different spatial dimensions. This provides a topographical map of the organ’s physical layout.

    Previous studies have looked closely at functional gradients, which track how different brain areas communicate with one another in real time. Functional gradients often show how the brain handles tasks ranging from primary senses, like vision and touch, to advanced reasoning. However, less attention has been paid to structural gradients.

    Structural gradients represent the actual physical nerve pathways that dictate where and how those real-time communications can travel. They represent the anatomic scaffolding of the mind.

    Yoonmi Hong, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her colleagues wanted to know if these physical scaffolding gradients look fully formed in toddlers. They also designed a study to test whether a child’s structural connectome at age one could predict their general cognitive abilities throughout the rest of their early childhood. Cognitive performance plays a major role in how well children adjust academically and socially once they reach school age.

    The research team suspected that networks associated with advanced thought processing would be particularly relevant to their predictions. Areas like the frontal and parietal lobes are known to govern executive functions, which include problem-solving, attention, and working memory. By measuring how well these regions are physically wired together early in life, the researchers hoped to capture a baseline snapshot of future cognitive development.

    To investigate this idea, the research team analyzed brain scans from a long-term infant development project. They focused on imaging data from around one hundred children who underwent brain evaluations at one year of age. The specific type of scan used, called diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, tracks the microscopic movement of water molecules in the brain.

    Because water travels more easily along the length of a nerve fiber than across it, scientists can use this water movement to map out the direction and thickness of white matter tracts. Using these scans, the investigators calculated two main structural gradients for each child.

    The primary gradient measured the connectivity patterns running from the left side of the brain to the right side. This axis is heavily defined by the relative lack of physical connections between the two hemispheres, meaning each half forms its own distinct networking architecture.

    The secondary gradient measured the pathways running from the front of the brain to the back. This typically reflects a transition from basic sensory regions in the rear to complex executive centers in the front.

    The children in the study later completed standardized cognitive assessments at ages four, six, and eight. To link the early brain scans with these later intelligence scores, Hong and her team developed a particular type of machine learning model designed to analyze complex networks. They trained an artificial neural network to find computational relationships between the one-year-old structural connectome gradients and the subsequent childhood intelligence evaluations.

    Typically, traditional network analysis looks at specific points in the brain in isolation. This approach can miss the broader, highly distributed topographical patterns that the structural gradients are designed to capture. By utilizing an artificial neural network, the model could evaluate the brain’s entire connective architecture simultaneously. It learned to compare how slight variations in spatial organization correlated with variations in the final intelligence scores.

    The computer model successfully forecast the children’s later cognitive abilities based entirely on their physical brain maps at age one. Even though the original scans were taken in infancy, the computer’s predictions remained highly consistent across the intelligence evaluations at ages four, six, and eight.

    The researchers point to the stability of white matter maturation as the reason for this success. When they examined additional scans taken at ages two, four, and six, the structural gradients looked very similar to the ones originally measured at twelve months.

    By analyzing the inner workings of their artificial intelligence model, the researchers identified which brain regions contributed most heavily to the prediction. The mapping tool relied almost exclusively on regions within the frontoparietal network and the executive control network. These are the areas of the brain involved in managing attention, guiding cognitive flexibility, and integrating basic sensory information. The model’s reliance on these specific regions aligns with existing theories about where human intelligence is localized in adults.

    While the computer model successfully predicted cognitive scores, the researchers outlined some limitations to their approach. Reconstructing the brain’s physical wiring by counting nerve pathways is an imperfect science. Minor head movements during an infant’s brain scan can distort the imaging data, resulting in an artificially low count of connecting fibers. Complex intersections where multiple distinct nerve fibers cross paths can also confuse the tracking software, creating potential inaccuracies in the map.

    The choice of software mapping definitions, known as cortical parcellations, also influences the boundaries used to define network nodes. Using a different mapping program could alter the shape of the gradient topography, potentially changing which specific brain regions the artificial intelligence flags as predictive.

    The early intelligence prediction model also did not include demographic details, such as maternal education levels. During statistical testing, the researchers noted that demographic variables actually predicted child intelligence scores better than the biological brain imaging features did. Maternal education is heavily associated with later cognitive outcomes, likely due to differences in household learning resources, early language exposure, and general environmental support.

    Future research will examine how demographic advantages and physical brain development might biologically relate to one another. The team hopes to determine if the development of physical white matter networks acts as a mediating bridge between environmental factors completely outside a child’s brain, like early education, and biological intelligence. They will also test whether a computer model that incorporates both brain imaging and demographics yields the highest predictive accuracy.

    Additional studies are also needed to explore specific types of cognitive tasks. Instead of grouping all childhood abilities into a single intelligence quotient score, researchers plan to track specific skills. The team intends to investigate whether separate brain connectivity gradients can predict distinct educational outcomes, isolating things such as verbal fluency from nonverbal visual memory. Mapping multiscale structural gradients could completely open up new possibilities for uncovering the comprehensive principles of organizational brain development.

    The study, “Structural connectome gradients and their relationship to IQ in childhood,” was authored by Yoonmi Hong, Emil Cornea, Jessica B. Girault, Rebecca L. Stephens, Maria Bagonis, Mark Foster, Sun Hyung Kim, Juan Carlos Prieto, Martin A. Styner, and John H. Gilmore.

    URL: psypost.org/infant-brain-maps-

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  24. DATE: August 1, 2026 at 08:00AM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Infant brain structure predicts future intelligence scores

    URL: psypost.org/infant-brain-maps-

    Researchers have found that the physical wiring patterns of a one-year-old child’s brain can predict their intelligence scores several years later. By analyzing specific brain imaging maps using artificial intelligence, the study suggests that the foundations of cognitive ability are established in early infancy. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

    Early childhood is widely recognized as a major period for the development of lifelong cognitive abilities and behaviors. Identifying biological indicators of brain development allows professionals to potentially predict and track cognitive trajectories over a person’s lifespan. Identifying these biological markers might also allow for timely interventions to optimize learning outcomes.

    The human brain depends on a vast network of nerve fibers called white matter. This material acts like physical cables, transmitting electrical signals between different biological processing centers. The complete map of these neurological connections is known as a structural connectome.

    Because a connectome contains an overwhelming amount of raw data, researchers often use mathematical tools to create simplified models called gradients. A connectome gradient represents how brain connectivity gradually changes across different spatial dimensions. This provides a topographical map of the organ’s physical layout.

    Previous studies have looked closely at functional gradients, which track how different brain areas communicate with one another in real time. Functional gradients often show how the brain handles tasks ranging from primary senses, like vision and touch, to advanced reasoning. However, less attention has been paid to structural gradients.

    Structural gradients represent the actual physical nerve pathways that dictate where and how those real-time communications can travel. They represent the anatomic scaffolding of the mind.

    Yoonmi Hong, a researcher in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her colleagues wanted to know if these physical scaffolding gradients look fully formed in toddlers. They also designed a study to test whether a child’s structural connectome at age one could predict their general cognitive abilities throughout the rest of their early childhood. Cognitive performance plays a major role in how well children adjust academically and socially once they reach school age.

    The research team suspected that networks associated with advanced thought processing would be particularly relevant to their predictions. Areas like the frontal and parietal lobes are known to govern executive functions, which include problem-solving, attention, and working memory. By measuring how well these regions are physically wired together early in life, the researchers hoped to capture a baseline snapshot of future cognitive development.

    To investigate this idea, the research team analyzed brain scans from a long-term infant development project. They focused on imaging data from around one hundred children who underwent brain evaluations at one year of age. The specific type of scan used, called diffusion magnetic resonance imaging, tracks the microscopic movement of water molecules in the brain.

    Because water travels more easily along the length of a nerve fiber than across it, scientists can use this water movement to map out the direction and thickness of white matter tracts. Using these scans, the investigators calculated two main structural gradients for each child.

    The primary gradient measured the connectivity patterns running from the left side of the brain to the right side. This axis is heavily defined by the relative lack of physical connections between the two hemispheres, meaning each half forms its own distinct networking architecture.

    The secondary gradient measured the pathways running from the front of the brain to the back. This typically reflects a transition from basic sensory regions in the rear to complex executive centers in the front.

    The children in the study later completed standardized cognitive assessments at ages four, six, and eight. To link the early brain scans with these later intelligence scores, Hong and her team developed a particular type of machine learning model designed to analyze complex networks. They trained an artificial neural network to find computational relationships between the one-year-old structural connectome gradients and the subsequent childhood intelligence evaluations.

    Typically, traditional network analysis looks at specific points in the brain in isolation. This approach can miss the broader, highly distributed topographical patterns that the structural gradients are designed to capture. By utilizing an artificial neural network, the model could evaluate the brain’s entire connective architecture simultaneously. It learned to compare how slight variations in spatial organization correlated with variations in the final intelligence scores.

    The computer model successfully forecast the children’s later cognitive abilities based entirely on their physical brain maps at age one. Even though the original scans were taken in infancy, the computer’s predictions remained highly consistent across the intelligence evaluations at ages four, six, and eight.

    The researchers point to the stability of white matter maturation as the reason for this success. When they examined additional scans taken at ages two, four, and six, the structural gradients looked very similar to the ones originally measured at twelve months.

    By analyzing the inner workings of their artificial intelligence model, the researchers identified which brain regions contributed most heavily to the prediction. The mapping tool relied almost exclusively on regions within the frontoparietal network and the executive control network. These are the areas of the brain involved in managing attention, guiding cognitive flexibility, and integrating basic sensory information. The model’s reliance on these specific regions aligns with existing theories about where human intelligence is localized in adults.

    While the computer model successfully predicted cognitive scores, the researchers outlined some limitations to their approach. Reconstructing the brain’s physical wiring by counting nerve pathways is an imperfect science. Minor head movements during an infant’s brain scan can distort the imaging data, resulting in an artificially low count of connecting fibers. Complex intersections where multiple distinct nerve fibers cross paths can also confuse the tracking software, creating potential inaccuracies in the map.

    The choice of software mapping definitions, known as cortical parcellations, also influences the boundaries used to define network nodes. Using a different mapping program could alter the shape of the gradient topography, potentially changing which specific brain regions the artificial intelligence flags as predictive.

    The early intelligence prediction model also did not include demographic details, such as maternal education levels. During statistical testing, the researchers noted that demographic variables actually predicted child intelligence scores better than the biological brain imaging features did. Maternal education is heavily associated with later cognitive outcomes, likely due to differences in household learning resources, early language exposure, and general environmental support.

    Future research will examine how demographic advantages and physical brain development might biologically relate to one another. The team hopes to determine if the development of physical white matter networks acts as a mediating bridge between environmental factors completely outside a child’s brain, like early education, and biological intelligence. They will also test whether a computer model that incorporates both brain imaging and demographics yields the highest predictive accuracy.

    Additional studies are also needed to explore specific types of cognitive tasks. Instead of grouping all childhood abilities into a single intelligence quotient score, researchers plan to track specific skills. The team intends to investigate whether separate brain connectivity gradients can predict distinct educational outcomes, isolating things such as verbal fluency from nonverbal visual memory. Mapping multiscale structural gradients could completely open up new possibilities for uncovering the comprehensive principles of organizational brain development.

    The study, “Structural connectome gradients and their relationship to IQ in childhood,” was authored by Yoonmi Hong, Emil Cornea, Jessica B. Girault, Rebecca L. Stephens, Maria Bagonis, Mark Foster, Sun Hyung Kim, Juan Carlos Prieto, Martin A. Styner, and John H. Gilmore.

    URL: psypost.org/infant-brain-maps-

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  25. Cognitive offloading risks a population scale developmental crisis in children.

    If you are worried about your local school conforming to the 'inevitablism' and mania around AI, send them this article and explain that the less time kids spend with AI in the classroom, the more they'll have the edge in years to come (an edge they'll need given the future(s) they face).

    psychologytoday.com/us/blog/th

    #education #childdevelopment #psychology #ai

  26. Cognitive offloading risks a population scale developmental crisis in children.

    If you are worried about your local school conforming to the 'inevitablism' and mania around AI, send them this article and explain that the less time kids spend with AI in the classroom, the more they'll have the edge in years to come (an edge they'll need given the future(s) they face).

    psychologytoday.com/us/blog/th

    #education #childdevelopment #psychology #ai

  27. Children do not need to experience violence directly for it to affect their wellbeing.
    The environments they grow up in can shape how safe, secure and supported they feel every day.

    🧠 Explore how community violence can impact children’s mental health and why understanding these effects is so important for parents and caregivers.

    🔗 Read more here: zurl.co/LdYvs

    #BabyYumYum #BYY #Parenting #MentalHealth #ChildDevelopment #ChildrensMentalHealth #ParentingSupport

  28. Children do not need to experience violence directly for it to affect their wellbeing.
    The environments they grow up in can shape how safe, secure and supported they feel every day.

    🧠 Explore how community violence can impact children’s mental health and why understanding these effects is so important for parents and caregivers.

    🔗 Read more here: zurl.co/LdYvs

    #BabyYumYum #BYY #Parenting #MentalHealth #ChildDevelopment #ChildrensMentalHealth #ParentingSupport

  29. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: ✍️🧠 A new study challenges the idea that people are born with a skilled dominant hand, showing instead that hand dominance develops through repeated practice.

    Researchers at Johns Hopkins and UCLA found that when tasks are novel both hands perform equally well, and that hand preference comes first and skill follows, not the reverse.

    👉 smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/

    #brains #science #neuroscience #learning #childdevelopment #psychology #johnshopkins #UCLA #research #study

  30. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: ✍️🧠 A new study challenges the idea that people are born with a skilled dominant hand, showing instead that hand dominance develops through repeated practice.

    Researchers at Johns Hopkins and UCLA found that when tasks are novel both hands perform equally well, and that hand preference comes first and skill follows, not the reverse.

    👉 smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/

    #brains #science #neuroscience #learning #childdevelopment #psychology #johnshopkins #UCLA #research #study

  31. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 🧒❤️ A study of 537 children ages 3 to 10 found that kindness and cooperation come intuitively to the youngest #kids, especially those who had to decide quickly. Researchers observed that by ages 9 to 10, #children who had time to reflect became just as prosocial as those deciding on instinct.

    👉 phys.org/news/2026-07-kindness

    #childdevelopment #psychology #behavior #morality #sciences #parenting #education #earlychildhood #nature #humans

  32. 💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: 🧒❤️ A study of 537 children ages 3 to 10 found that kindness and cooperation come intuitively to the youngest #kids, especially those who had to decide quickly. Researchers observed that by ages 9 to 10, #children who had time to reflect became just as prosocial as those deciding on instinct.

    👉 phys.org/news/2026-07-kindness

    #childdevelopment #psychology #behavior #morality #sciences #parenting #education #earlychildhood #nature #humans

  33. DATE: July 21, 2026 at 06:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
    -------------------------------------------------

    TITLE: Socioeconomic status shapes brain networks in different ways for boys and girls

    URL: psypost.org/brain-wiring-heavi

    A child’s socioeconomic environment shares a measurable relationship with their physical brain architecture and cognitive test scores. A large study of elementary schoolers has found that while biological sex fundamentally alters these relationships, socially constructed categories like race do not. The findings suggest that unequal access to resources is what truly drives most observed racial differences in brain development. The study was published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

    A child’s socioeconomic status encompasses more than just household income. It includes a variety of environmental factors, such as parental education, food security, neighborhood safety, and the emotional environment at home. Researchers know that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often experience different developmental trajectories than their wealthier peers. These differences show up in cognitive test scores and in the physical structure of the brain itself.

    In the United States, systemic inequalities have led to a reality where race and socioeconomic status are heavily intertwined. Because of this, it can be difficult for researchers to isolate the effects of environmental resources from other demographic factors. Previous research often treated race as a simple statistical adjustment. But scientists have grown increasingly concerned that this approach might obscure important nuances in how poverty and resources interact with childhood development.

    To understand how the environment alters the brain, scientists look at white matter. The brain’s white matter acts as the physical communication network between different gray matter regions. Researchers evaluate this network by looking at two main properties known as integration and segregation.

    Integration describes the global efficiency of the network. A highly integrated brain resembles a system of long-distance highways that allows information to travel quickly across the entire brain with very few stops. Segregation refers to localized efficiency. A segregated network is similar to tight-knit local neighborhoods, where nearby brain regions communicate heavily with one another rather than reaching out across the brain.

    To explore how these environmental and physical factors overlap, lead author Jaden Kropf and senior author Donald J. Mabbott, both based at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, worked alongside their colleagues to analyze child brain data. They used information from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. This produced a large study of 8,064 nine- and ten-year-old children from across the United States.

    The researchers gathered information on sixteen different measures of socioeconomic status. They grouped these measures into four distinct categories. These categories included general resources like parental education, material resources like food security, non-material resources like school engagement, and household dynamics like living with two parents.

    The team then evaluated diffusion magnetic resonance imaging scans to map the white matter networks of each child. This imaging technique works by tracking the movement of water molecules along the brain’s fibrous pathways. Finally, they recorded general cognitive ability using a standardized battery of tests that assess memory, language, and attention. By building statistical models, the researchers could look at the associations between socioeconomic status, brain network organization, and cognitive scores.

    The researchers found that all categories of socioeconomic status were linked to general cognitive ability. Increased general resources, non-material resources, and household stability were associated with higher cognitive scores. Conversely, higher material resources actually predicted lower cognitive scores. The study authors note that this specific negative association contradicts some previous research, pointing to the varied nature of socioeconomic measures.

    In looking at the brain, the team uncovered unexpected patterns. They originally suspected that decreased socioeconomic status would be linked to lower levels of white matter integration and segregation. Instead, they found the opposite. Children with lower socioeconomic status tended to have more highly integrated and segregated white matter networks.

    Because integration and segregation usually increase as a person ages, this means the brain networks of low-income children appeared more mature than their peers. The authors suggest this aligns with the stress acceleration hypothesis. This theory proposes that children facing early environmental adversity may experience faster biological development. In a stressful environment, the brain might accelerate its maturation to adapt to immediate survival challenges.

    While a highly organized brain network is typically a sign of healthy development in adults, premature maturation might come with trade-offs. In this age group, the researchers found that increased network segregation was associated with lower cognitive test scores. Ultimately, the way the brain wired itself into segregated networks partially explained the link between socioeconomic status and cognitive ability.

    After establishing these baseline associations, the researchers set out to see if demographic factors changed the modeled relationships. They first grouped the participants by race. They wanted to know if being part of a specific racial group altered how resources, brain wiring, and cognition interacted.

    When the researchers simply grouped the children by race, they observed some group-specific associations. However, because wealth and resources are distributed so unequally across racial lines in the United States, the scientists ran a second analysis. In this analysis, they artificially balanced the sample so that each racial group had an equal number of participants from the exact same income brackets.

    Once the socioeconomic distributions were equalized, nearly all unique racial differences vanished. The relationships between resources and cognitive ability were largely the same regardless of a child’s race. The study notes that white matter differences previously attributed to race are likely just the result of unequally distributed socioeconomic resources.

    The scientists then examined biological sex, which they recorded as sex assigned at birth. Unlike race, sex is a fundamentally biological characteristic. When the researchers ran their models comparing male and female participants, they found distinct patterns.

    Biological sex meaningfully changed how the environment was tied to brain development and cognition. For instance, living in a two-parent household was linked to higher cognitive ability in boys, but the results were not statistically significant for girls. Alternatively, having more non-material resources was associated with network segregation only in girls. The brain’s network segregation mediated the link between socioeconomic status and cognition in boys, but it did not do the same in girls.

    These sex-based divergences might reflect different biological timelines for boys and girls. Nine- and ten-year-old children are at the onset of puberty. The authors point out that puberty has sex-specific influences on white matter development, and children in lower socioeconomic environments often enter puberty earlier.

    The authors acknowledge a few limitations in their work. Because the study relies on data taken from a single point in time, it cannot demonstrate that a lack of resources causes specific changes in the brain. The associations highlight a pattern, but developmental trajectories can only be confirmed through studies that follow the same children over many years.

    The mathematical models used to represent brain networks are also simplifications. Brain connectivity involves actual hierarchies that graph-based metrics do not completely capture. The researchers also note that cognitive tests inherently favor the cultural assumptions of the majorities they were designed around, meaning cultural biases could still influence test scores.

    These findings advocate for a customized approach when scientists evaluate demographics. Socially constructed categories like race might not act as biological variables, but they do dictate access to resources. In contrast, biological traits like sex can fundamentally alter the pathways through which the environment shapes the growing brain.

    The study, “Demographics Change the Relationships Between Socioeconomic Status, White Matter Network Organization, and Cognition in Children,” was authored by Jaden Kropf, Busisiwe Zapparoli, Julie Tseng, Amy S. Finn, Anne L. Wheeler, Nomazulu Dlamini, and Donald J. Mabbott.

    URL: psypost.org/brain-wiring-heavi

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  34. DATE: July 21, 2026 at 06:00PM
    SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

    ** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
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    TITLE: Socioeconomic status shapes brain networks in different ways for boys and girls

    URL: psypost.org/brain-wiring-heavi

    A child’s socioeconomic environment shares a measurable relationship with their physical brain architecture and cognitive test scores. A large study of elementary schoolers has found that while biological sex fundamentally alters these relationships, socially constructed categories like race do not. The findings suggest that unequal access to resources is what truly drives most observed racial differences in brain development. The study was published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

    A child’s socioeconomic status encompasses more than just household income. It includes a variety of environmental factors, such as parental education, food security, neighborhood safety, and the emotional environment at home. Researchers know that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds often experience different developmental trajectories than their wealthier peers. These differences show up in cognitive test scores and in the physical structure of the brain itself.

    In the United States, systemic inequalities have led to a reality where race and socioeconomic status are heavily intertwined. Because of this, it can be difficult for researchers to isolate the effects of environmental resources from other demographic factors. Previous research often treated race as a simple statistical adjustment. But scientists have grown increasingly concerned that this approach might obscure important nuances in how poverty and resources interact with childhood development.

    To understand how the environment alters the brain, scientists look at white matter. The brain’s white matter acts as the physical communication network between different gray matter regions. Researchers evaluate this network by looking at two main properties known as integration and segregation.

    Integration describes the global efficiency of the network. A highly integrated brain resembles a system of long-distance highways that allows information to travel quickly across the entire brain with very few stops. Segregation refers to localized efficiency. A segregated network is similar to tight-knit local neighborhoods, where nearby brain regions communicate heavily with one another rather than reaching out across the brain.

    To explore how these environmental and physical factors overlap, lead author Jaden Kropf and senior author Donald J. Mabbott, both based at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, worked alongside their colleagues to analyze child brain data. They used information from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. This produced a large study of 8,064 nine- and ten-year-old children from across the United States.

    The researchers gathered information on sixteen different measures of socioeconomic status. They grouped these measures into four distinct categories. These categories included general resources like parental education, material resources like food security, non-material resources like school engagement, and household dynamics like living with two parents.

    The team then evaluated diffusion magnetic resonance imaging scans to map the white matter networks of each child. This imaging technique works by tracking the movement of water molecules along the brain’s fibrous pathways. Finally, they recorded general cognitive ability using a standardized battery of tests that assess memory, language, and attention. By building statistical models, the researchers could look at the associations between socioeconomic status, brain network organization, and cognitive scores.

    The researchers found that all categories of socioeconomic status were linked to general cognitive ability. Increased general resources, non-material resources, and household stability were associated with higher cognitive scores. Conversely, higher material resources actually predicted lower cognitive scores. The study authors note that this specific negative association contradicts some previous research, pointing to the varied nature of socioeconomic measures.

    In looking at the brain, the team uncovered unexpected patterns. They originally suspected that decreased socioeconomic status would be linked to lower levels of white matter integration and segregation. Instead, they found the opposite. Children with lower socioeconomic status tended to have more highly integrated and segregated white matter networks.

    Because integration and segregation usually increase as a person ages, this means the brain networks of low-income children appeared more mature than their peers. The authors suggest this aligns with the stress acceleration hypothesis. This theory proposes that children facing early environmental adversity may experience faster biological development. In a stressful environment, the brain might accelerate its maturation to adapt to immediate survival challenges.

    While a highly organized brain network is typically a sign of healthy development in adults, premature maturation might come with trade-offs. In this age group, the researchers found that increased network segregation was associated with lower cognitive test scores. Ultimately, the way the brain wired itself into segregated networks partially explained the link between socioeconomic status and cognitive ability.

    After establishing these baseline associations, the researchers set out to see if demographic factors changed the modeled relationships. They first grouped the participants by race. They wanted to know if being part of a specific racial group altered how resources, brain wiring, and cognition interacted.

    When the researchers simply grouped the children by race, they observed some group-specific associations. However, because wealth and resources are distributed so unequally across racial lines in the United States, the scientists ran a second analysis. In this analysis, they artificially balanced the sample so that each racial group had an equal number of participants from the exact same income brackets.

    Once the socioeconomic distributions were equalized, nearly all unique racial differences vanished. The relationships between resources and cognitive ability were largely the same regardless of a child’s race. The study notes that white matter differences previously attributed to race are likely just the result of unequally distributed socioeconomic resources.

    The scientists then examined biological sex, which they recorded as sex assigned at birth. Unlike race, sex is a fundamentally biological characteristic. When the researchers ran their models comparing male and female participants, they found distinct patterns.

    Biological sex meaningfully changed how the environment was tied to brain development and cognition. For instance, living in a two-parent household was linked to higher cognitive ability in boys, but the results were not statistically significant for girls. Alternatively, having more non-material resources was associated with network segregation only in girls. The brain’s network segregation mediated the link between socioeconomic status and cognition in boys, but it did not do the same in girls.

    These sex-based divergences might reflect different biological timelines for boys and girls. Nine- and ten-year-old children are at the onset of puberty. The authors point out that puberty has sex-specific influences on white matter development, and children in lower socioeconomic environments often enter puberty earlier.

    The authors acknowledge a few limitations in their work. Because the study relies on data taken from a single point in time, it cannot demonstrate that a lack of resources causes specific changes in the brain. The associations highlight a pattern, but developmental trajectories can only be confirmed through studies that follow the same children over many years.

    The mathematical models used to represent brain networks are also simplifications. Brain connectivity involves actual hierarchies that graph-based metrics do not completely capture. The researchers also note that cognitive tests inherently favor the cultural assumptions of the majorities they were designed around, meaning cultural biases could still influence test scores.

    These findings advocate for a customized approach when scientists evaluate demographics. Socially constructed categories like race might not act as biological variables, but they do dictate access to resources. In contrast, biological traits like sex can fundamentally alter the pathways through which the environment shapes the growing brain.

    The study, “Demographics Change the Relationships Between Socioeconomic Status, White Matter Network Organization, and Cognition in Children,” was authored by Jaden Kropf, Busisiwe Zapparoli, Julie Tseng, Amy S. Finn, Anne L. Wheeler, Nomazulu Dlamini, and Donald J. Mabbott.

    URL: psypost.org/brain-wiring-heavi

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  35. Nanhe kadam by khushi @nanhekadambykhushi0.wordpress.com@nanhekadambykhushi0.wordpress.com ·

    Parenting Kitne Prakar Ki Hoti Hai? 10 Best Parenting Styles Explained in Hindi

    Parenting कितने प्रकार की होती हैं? 7 best parenting styles हिंदी मे विस्तार से। इस ब्लॉग मे आप जानेंगे parenting कितने प्रकार की होती हैं 10 parenting styles, उनके फायदे, नुक्सान, कोनसी parenting style बच्चे की बेहतर परवरिश के लिए अच्छी […]

    nanhekadambykhushi0.wordpress.

  36. New research argues kids don’t just absorb culture, they build it. From Nicaraguan Sign Language to hunter-gatherer foraging knowledge, peer groups run parallel cultural systems adults rarely see. #Anthropology #CulturalEvolution #ChildDevelopment anthropology.net/p/children-ar

  37. New research argues kids don’t just absorb culture, they build it. From Nicaraguan Sign Language to hunter-gatherer foraging knowledge, peer groups run parallel cultural systems adults rarely see. #Anthropology #CulturalEvolution #ChildDevelopment anthropology.net/p/children-ar

  38. It's amazing what turns up when you study something. And (FWIW) poor impulse control has a host of negative effects, not just obesity. And guess which communities are most likely to have high #PM2.5 as well as other pollutants in the air?

    Air pollution may cause childhood obesity by disrupting impulse control, study finds
    theguardian.com/us-news/2026/j

    #ChildDevelopment #AirQuality #Pollution #Poverty

  39. It's amazing what turns up when you study something. And (FWIW) poor impulse control has a host of negative effects, not just obesity. And guess which communities are most likely to have high #PM2.5 as well as other pollutants in the air?

    Air pollution may cause childhood obesity by disrupting impulse control, study finds
    theguardian.com/us-news/2026/j

    #ChildDevelopment #AirQuality #Pollution #Poverty

  40. The Conversation: Digital poverty is holding university students back. “When a student can’t submit their essay because the household’s only device is being used by three siblings for school, or because their mobile data ran out mid-lecture, they are experiencing digital poverty. Digital poverty describes a cluster of overlapping disadvantages: lack of access to devices, unreliable or […]

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/07/05/the-conversation-digital-poverty-is-holding-university-students-back/
  41. State of New York: New York State Office of Children and Family Services Launches New Family Guide to Child Care and Early Childhood Resources. “The New York State Office of Children and Family Services today announced the launch of a new online Family Guide to Child Care and Early Childhood Resources, including an enhanced, user-friendly child care search tool, to help families more easily […]

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/06/25/state-of-new-york-new-york-state-office-of-children-and-family-services-launches-new-family-guide-to-child-care-and-early-childhood-resources/
  42. New York Times: Student Cheating Is Becoming Impossible to Detect in an A.I. Era. This link goes to a gift article. “Humanizers rewrite A.I.-produced text to make it sound less robotic, formulaic and trite. Autotypers slowly drip words and sentences into documents, making it appear as if papers were typed at a human pace when in fact, they were produced by A.I. They even fabricate typos, […]

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/06/21/new-york-times-student-cheating-is-becoming-impossible-to-detect-in-an-a-i-era/
  43. Gizmodo: Norway Says AI Ain’t for Education. “There will be no tokenmaxxing happening in Norwegian classrooms. According to a report from Reuters, the nation’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere announced Friday that the government will impose restrictions on the use of AI tools in schools in an effort to combat what it sees as a negative impact on learning.”

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/06/21/gizmodo-norway-says-ai-aint-for-education/
  44. Big Island Now: State releases first comprehensive children, youth fiscal map. “The fiscal map examines state, federal and federal relief funding dedicated to children and youth ages 0 to 24 years old during fiscal years 2019 through 2023. The analysis provides a detailed look at how public investments support specific outcomes, services, age groups and populations throughout Hawaiʻi.”

    https://rbfirehose.com/2026/06/21/big-island-now-state-releases-first-comprehensive-children-youth-fiscal-map/