Disagreement exists about how to best spark young children's motivation to learn natural science. Both curiosity and wonder are considered important motivational factors for learning during early childhood (0-8 years). This systematic literature review explores research about scientific curiosity and wonder in early childhood education and care…

The secure base phenomenon was ascribed to changes in exploration observed during Ainsworth's Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), related to the quality of the attachment relationship. However, infant temperament was not taken into consideration. The current study aims to replicate Ainsworth's findings regarding infant exploration and attachment…

Choosing a course of study is one of the most consequential decisions a university student will make. While there is considerable literature investigating how personality influences students' choice of discipline, there is currently no evidence about how students cluster in disciplines relative to their civic-mindedness. This is an important gap…

This study continued an in-depth investigation of the Plurilingual Creativity paradigm. It examined how Big Five personality traits moderated the relationship between plurilingualism/pluriculturalism and creativity. Data collection included assessments of plurilingual experience (measured by the abridged version of the Multilingual and…

This study conducted on a sample of 295 Dutch and Italian undergraduate and graduate students aims to investigate how psychopathic personality traits (meanness, boldness and disinhibition) may lead to cheating behavior, and to study whether there are correlations between psychopathic traits, motivation, moral disengagement, the perception of…

There has been little attention to personality in research on school refusal (SR). This study examined personality traits among 41 adolescents receiving cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) during participation in a School Refusal Program in the Netherlands. Traits were examined via clinical scales and 2-point code types derived from the Minnesota…

Some research has investigated the big five personality dimensions among gifted individuals, but these individual studies have provided inconclusive results. The current meta-analysis examined the nature of the relationship between the big five dimensions and giftedness among individuals. Hedge's unbiased g was used as the effect size metric, and…

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits predict behavioral problems in adolescence. But little is known about early modulatory factors. Behavioral Inhibition (BI) in particular has been suggested to protect against the development of CU-traits. This temperamental predisposition is characterized by heightened environmental sensitivity. The current…

To prepare students for an increasingly globalized world, intercultural group work (IGW) holds promise as a pedagogical tool, because it may help them develop intercultural competence and second-language proficiency. These skills also are needed to complete the discipline-specific aspects of group work successfully. This study investigates the…

The ability to regulate one's emotions and behaviors is essential for adaptive functioning in society. We investigated whether parental mind-mindedness--parents' tendency to treat their children as mental agents--in infancy and toddlerhood predicts school-age children's self-regulation. The sample consisted of 125 mostly Dutch and White families.…

Feeling inhibited and socially not at ease is reflected in the trait social inhibition (SI). SI is associated with psychopathology that arises in young adulthood, such as anxiety. We aim for a better insight into the genetic and environmental contributions to SI across the life span, and as such examine their contributions to SI stability and…

We investigate the effect of being in the high track for secondary school students on cognitive and non-cognitive skill outcomes. Dutch students are assigned to tracks at the end of elementary school based on a test score. We use this test score in a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to exploit the discontinuity in the probability to be…

Although children's school success is a parental goal in most cultures, there is wide cultural variation in the qualities that parents most wish their children to develop for that purpose. A questionnaire contained forty-one child qualities was administered to 757 parents in seven cultural communities in Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland,…

We examined the divergent validity and utility of the "Test for Creative Thinking--Drawing Production" (TCT-DP) in an identification protocol for high-ability students that included measures of intelligence, school motivation, inquisitiveness, creativity, and academic achievement. Data were collected from seventh-grade students across 6…

Introduction: Personality traits may predict the use of substances in individuals with mild intellectual disabilities (MID) or borderline intellectual functioning (BIF). The Dutch version of the Substance Use Risk Profile Scale (SURPS), adapted for this population, was tested on its psychometric properties. Method: Individuals with MID or BIF (IQ…