Background: There is a growing body of research focused on autistic individuals who present with aggressive behaviour. Aggressive behaviour has been found to occur more frequently in autism compared with other developmental disabilities or the general population. The most common types of aggressive behaviours are self-injurious behaviours,…

Machiavellianism is an antisocial interpersonal style involving the use of manipulative, deceptive, and coercive behaviors in the pursuit of self-interest. Although widely studied as a "dark" personality trait in adults, relatively little is known about the developmental correlates of Machiavellian tendencies earlier in life. The present…

Purpose: Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is the process of engaging in negatively valenced and habitual thought patterns. RNT is strongly associated with mental health conditions and often affects quality of life. This study explored RNT in older school-age children and adolescents who stutter to quantify the relationship between RNT and…

This qualitative study explored mothers' and fathers' perspectives on children's play through semi-structured interviews. Fifteen fathers and 19 mothers were interviewed using open-ended questions. Interviews were audio-recorded and analyzed using open coding. Several themes emerged related to the definition of play, use of play, play activities,…

Children from lower socioeconomic status (SES) families are at increased risk for anxiety problems, though knowledge of the pathways by which SES predicts children's anxiety outcomes remains scant. Limited work suggests SES as a moderator of links between early development and anxiety outcomes but has not used a longitudinal framework or a…

Background: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) experience heightened levels of parenting stress and more affective symptoms. Although the relationship between parenting stress and mental health has been extensively studied, limited understanding exists regarding parenting behaviors and related factors. This study aimed to…

This article reports the findings from a qualitative study evaluating a Visiting Mum scheme that supported Welsh children with a mother in prison. There are 12 women's prisons in England, and none in Wales. Women living in south and west Wales are currently incarcerated at HMP Eastwood Park, Gloucestershire. This is significant for Welsh children,…

Caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience greater stress, expressed emotion (EE), and affiliate stigma than caregivers of children without ASD. Siblings of children with ASD often experience greater negative functioning than siblings of individuals without ASD. The current study found significant interrelations among…

Background and Aims: The diversity of the autistic population seeking professional services and education in the United States has increased. As the diagnosis of autism increases among the Chinese American immigrant population, there is also an increasing need to learn about this population and provide appropriate intervention and education for…

Two studies examined the process and aftermath of coming to disbelieve in the myth of Santa Claus. In Study 1, 48 children ages 6-15 answered questions about how they discovered Santa was not real and how the discovery made them feel, and 44 of their parents shared their perspectives and how they promoted Santa. In Study 2, 383 adults reflected on…

The most prominent view in psychological theory has been that negative feedback should generally have a detrimental impact on intrinsic motivation. Competing perspectives and caveats on this view have suggested that negative feedback may sometimes have neutral or even positive effects. This meta-analysis of 78 studies examined the effect of…

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in young people, which disrupts daily life and results in an increased risk of victimization. Archival data from the 2018/2019 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey, were used. Data from the NSCH were collected via parent reports and…

Understanding nonliteral language requires inferencing ability and is an important but complex aspect of social interaction, involving cognitive (e.g., theory of mind, executive function) as well as language skill, areas in which many deaf individuals struggle. This study examined comprehension of metaphor and sarcasm, assessing the contributions…

Coercion theory well characterizes the behavioral aspects that often lead to dysfunctional family processes. Recent conceptualizations have incorporated emotion into models of coercive interactions, yet empirical evidence has been limited. In this study, repeated measures of mother-child dyads (N = 319) were assessed over the course of 2 years to…

Background: Public stigma, or negative community-held beliefs, about children with disabilities (CWDs) often leads to negative outcomes for CWD and their families. This study considers the effectiveness of four community-level interventions to reduce public stigma in two Lusaka, Zambia communities. Methods: This feasibility study describes four…