The longitudinal network of social and emotional development in middle childhood

The understanding of children's social and emotional development in middle childhood is critical to promote well-being throughout the life course. Children who fail to develop social and emotional competencies are more likely to experience difficulties in adulthood and, in the worst case, psychopathology. The current study will employ Cross-Lagged Network Models to investigate children's social and emotional development among Australian children aged 6 to 10 years. Data were from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Children's social and emotional development was measured with the caregiver-informant Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The complete case sample ( n = 4070) included children aged 0 to 1 (in the LSAC B Cohort) and 4 to 5 (in the LSAC K Cohort) years at study baseline, who participated in the three study follow-ups (i.e., follow-ups at ages 6, 8, and 10) and had complete responses to all 25 SDQ items. The findings indicated that certain behaviours, such as reducing fights at age 6 years and improving peer relationships at age 8 years, were important intervention targets to promote healthy social and emotional development during middle childhood. • Childhood is a critical period for interventions that promote healthy development. • Network models provided new insight into effective intervention targets. • At age 6, reducing excessive fights is an important intervention target. • At age 8, improving peer relationships is another important intervention target. • These targets can inform interventions promoting healthy development in children.