Bücher der Reihe Special Issues of the European Journal of Developmental Psychology

Theory of Mind, the cognitive capacity to attribute emotions, intentions and knowledge to oneself and others, has been claimed a hallmark of human cognition. Nonetheless, Theory of Mind is considered limited in young children and people with autism. This title offers insights into this capacity.

This special issue addresses whether differences in national identifications and national attitudes in children from different national groups result not only from processes of knowledge acquisition but also from cohort and context effects. Collectively, the studies examined 7- and 11-year-old children living in 12 different national settings that have or have not experienced violence or war in the recent past. Findings show that theories predicting universal developmental courses for national identifications and attitudes cannot be maintained across different socio-historical and political settings, and that much greater attention needs to be paid to the specificities of the particular contexts in which children develop.

The objective of this special issue is to illustrate some of the theoretical, methodological and practical aspects involved in the evidence-based evaluation of family educational programs aimed at supporting positive parenting. The main novelty that this special issue brings is the compilation of studies involving experiences of parent education programs from several countries. The objectives of the papers are to develop theoretically based prevention programs, to evaluate their effectiveness according to standards of evidence, and to examine factors that influence implementation process. The papers also provide recommendations for researchers to establish stable cooperation with politicians, officials, service providers, and practitioners.

The special issue aims to develop a greater understanding of the relationship between social cognitive development in adolescence and social behaviour, and to examine new approaches to the study of social development in adolescence.

This special issue offers important new findings on the development and consequences of cyberbullying and cyber-victimization, and opens new and future directions of research.