Israel-Arab Muslim children’s socioemotional functioning at kindergarten and during the Covid-19 pandemic
Relations with cognitive and socioemotional abilities, gender, and socioeconomic status
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9786276 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lena Kabha (0000-0002-6213-0738, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, corresponding author), Tzlil Einziger (0000-0002-9273-6976, Ruppin Academic Center), Noa Gueron-Sela (0000-0001-9826-5645, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), Andrea Berger (0000-0001-5557-4114, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 51-72 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Developmental Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0012-1649 • E-ISSN: 1939-0599 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/dev0001778 |
| PMID | 38934902 |
| OpenAlex | W4400087093 |
| Language | EN |
Self-regulation (SR; emotion-related, and behavioral), executive function, and theory of mind (ToM) all play an important role in child socioemotional functioning (SEF). However, much remains unknown about the interplay among these abilities when facing various challenging situations. Additionally, the role of these abilities in child SEF has not yet been studied among minority children from an Eastern culture. Thus, we conducted one study with two models to examine the combined contribution of these core abilities, concurrently, to children's SEF during the transition to kindergarten, and longitudinally (about 3 years later) to children's SEF during COVID-19. Overall, 202 kindergarten children (aged 4.9-6.5 years) participated, of which 136 of them in the longitudinal follow-up (aged 8.83-10.6 years). We used behavioral tasks and teacher and maternal reports. Mothers also reported their own distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the transition to kindergarten, we found that emotion-related SR was positively related to children's SEF. We also found that emotion-related SR moderated the relation between inhibition and ToM. In the follow-up study, we found that emotion-related SR in kindergarten significantly predicted children's SEF during the COVID-19 crisis, directly and indirectly, through children's SEF in kindergarten and their maternal COVID-related distress. Moreover, emotion-related SR moderated the longitudinal association between children's ToM at kindergarten age and their SEF during the COVID-19 crisis. Our findings highlight the central role that emotion-related SR plays in children's ability to face different challenges. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)
Cognition · Cognitive development · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Developmental psychology · Pandemic · Population · Socioeconomic status · Socioemotional selectivity theory · Sociology · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Demography · Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |