This study examined the interrelationships among playfulness, prosocial skills, and school readiness of Hong Kong kindergarten children across time. Participants were 106 local children (55.6% boys, mean age = 60.0 months) and their parents and teachers. At time 1, parents reported their child’s age, gender, and playfulness. Six months later at time 2, teachers reported children’s prosocial skills and school readiness. The structural equation model revealed that children’s playfulness at time 1 significantly predicted their prosocial skills at time 2, and that their prosocial skills and school readiness at time 2 were positively associated. The indirect relationship between playfulness and school readiness as mediated through prosocial skills was significant, whereas the direct relationship was non-significant. These findings suggest that children’s playfulness may contribute to school readiness by fostering prosocial skills. Practically, results highlight the utility of promoting children’s playfulness and prosocial skills to support their formal school transition. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The number of Chinese children living in poverty has risen steadily in Hong Kong, China. However, little is known on the longitudinal effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) on cognitive-linguistic skills, word reading and writing in children from low-SES backgrounds. This study examines differences in cognitive-linguistic skills and word reading and writing across kindergarteners from the low- and middle-SES groups. It also investigates the direct link between SES and children's concurrent Chinese literacy skills and how cognitive-linguistic skills mediate the longitudinal associations between SES and word reading and writing. One hundred and nine children were assessed at Kindergarten K2 (Time 1) and reassessed at Kindergarten K3 (Time 2). Children were administered the measures of vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, executive functioning, Chinese word reading, and Chinese word dictation at both time points. Results revealed that low-SES children performed less well on Chinese word reading and dictation than their middle-SES peers at both time points. Moreover, hierarchical regression and mediation analyses suggested that SES had a direct relation with Chinese word reading at Time 1 after controlling for age and cognitive-linguistic skills, and an indirect link with Chinese word dictation at Time 2 which was fully mediated by phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge at Time 1. The results highlight that SES may exert an impact on children's early Chinese reading and writing and suggest the benefit of improving phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge of low-SES children. Copyright ©Springer Netherlands.

Previous research studies have demonstrated the link between parents’ education and parental stress level. However, these studies have not taken parents’ goal orientation into consideration. Based on the framework of goal orientation theory, we examined how parents’ goals would interact with parents’ education to affect perceived parental stress in face of children’s upsetting school experience. Participants were 189 parents of Hong Kong Chinese children studying in kindergartens. Using an experimental design, parents with various education backgrounds were randomly assigned to mastery or performance goals manipulation. The interaction between parents’ goals and parents’ education on perceived parental stress was investigated. Results from the two-way ANOVA indicated the significant main effect of parents’ goals, while the main effect of parents’ education and the interaction effect between parents’ goals and parents’ education were both nonsignificant. Regardless of parents’ education, parents in the performance goals condition reported significantly higher parental stress than those in the mastery goals condition. The findings highlight the utility of fostering parents’ mastery goal orientation to improve their well-being and capacity to cope with children’s academic setback. Copyright © 2020 Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Lisboa and Springer Nature B.V.

This study examined the bidirectionality between kindergarten children's executive functioning (EF) and word reading across two time points. Participants were 523 Hong Kong Chinese-speaking children (mean age at Time 2 = 64.59 months; 52.9% male) and their parents. At Time 1, children were administered the measures of EF skills: inhibitory control, attention shifting, working memory and Chinese word reading. They were reassessed with these measures at Time 2 one year later. Results from the cross-lagged panel model revealed that, controlling for child age, gender and parental education levels, children's word reading at Time 1 was significantly predictive of their working memory at Time 2, but that the three EF skills at Time 1 were not predictive of word reading at Time 2. These findings underscored the role of early word reading in promoting children's working memory. Copyright © 2020 UKLA.

This study examined the longitudinal associations of emotional regulation and school readiness among Chinese kindergarten children. Data were collected from 523 children (mean age at time 1 = 52.42 months; 52.9% male) at two time points separated by approximately 1 year in Hong Kong, China. At times 1 and 2, children's school readiness was assessed by their teachers and parents while their emotional regulation was directly tested. Teachers also rated children's emotional regulation at both time points. The results from the two reciprocal path models showed that, controlling for the corresponding autoregressive effects, school readiness at time 1 was predictive of emotional regulation at time 2. However, emotional regulation at time 1 did not emerge as a significant predictor of school readiness at time 2. Theoretically, these results underscored children's school readiness as a potential contributor to their emotional regulation. Practically, these findings suggested the utility of supporting children's school readiness to foster their emotional regulation. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Commonalities and distinctions in Hong Kong-Chinese and German kindergarten teachers' conceptions of play and learning were examined. Six video clips of play episodes reflecting common play behavior and themes were selected from observations made during free play in two kindergartens in Hong Kong and two in Germany. Ten Chinese and seven German teachers viewed clips of children in their own and the other culture in small groups, participated in a semi-structured group discussion, and completed questionnaires, respectively. Results indicated that teachers in the two contexts had different views on the role of play in curriculum, teacher intervention during children's play, and learning objectives in play. These differences may be a function of different ecological environments and preset learning objectives. Findings suggest that teachers' cultural beliefs about play and learning are translated into actions (play arrangements) which, in turn, influence children's play behavior.
[Copyright of Roeper Review is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2011.623511]