Developmental Psychology®

Developmental Psychology ^® publishes articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span. The journal focuses on seminal empirical contributions. The journal occasionally publishes exceptionally strong scholarly reviews and theoretical or methodological articles. Studies of any aspect of psychological development are appropriate, as are studies of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development.

The journal welcomes not only laboratory-based experimental studies but studies employing other rigorous methodologies, such as ethnographies, field research, and secondary analyses of large data sets. We especially seek submissions in new areas of inquiry and submissions that will address contradictory findings or controversies in the field as well as the generalizability of extant findings in new populations.

Although most articles in this journal address human development, studies of other species are appropriate if they have important implications for human development.

Submissions can consist of single manuscripts, proposed sections, or short reports.

Subscribe to the RSS feed for Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology^® is a registered trademark of American Psychological Association

Editor

Jacquelynne S. Eccles
University of Michigan

Associate Editors

Nameera Akhtar
University of California, Santa Cruz

Margarita Azmitia
University of California, Santa Cruz

Christy M. Buchanan
Wake Forest University

Noel A. Card
University of Connecticut

Marianella Casasola
Cornell University

Eric F. Dubow
Bowling Green State University and the University of Michigan

Sumru Erkut
Wellesley Centers for Women, Wellesley College

Elizabeth T. Gershoff
University of Texas at Austin

Bert Hayslip, Jr.
University of North Texas

Vikram K. Jaswal
University of Virginia

Paul E. Jose
Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

George P. Knight
Arizona State University

Revathy Kumar
University of Toledo

Deborah J. Laible
Lehigh University

Robert D. Laird
University of New Orleans

Shu-Chen Li
Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Katherine A. Magnuson
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Stuart Marcovitch
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Nancy L. McElwain
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Nirmala Rao
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

David M. Sobel
Brown University

Consulting Editors

Martha E. Arterberry
Colby College

Terry Kit-fong Au
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Melissa A. Barnett
University of Arizona

Jay Belsky
University of California, Davis

Clancy Blair
New York University

Janet J. Boseovski
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Paul Boxer
Rutgers University

Rechele Brooks
University of Washington

B. Bradford Brown
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Kirsten L. Buist
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherland

Alison Chasteen
University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Him Cheung
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Bonnie Wing-Yin Chow
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Antonius H. N. Cillessen
Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

Melissa Clearfield
Whitman College

Carol McDonald Connor
Arizona State University

Pierre Cormier
Université of Moncton, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada

Kai S. Cortina
University of Michigan

Lisa J. Crockett
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Michael Cunningham
Tulane University

Kristen Dunfield
The Ohio State University

Rachel Dunifon
Cornell University

Nancy Eisenberg
Arizona State University

Mona El-Sheikh
Auburn University

Mark A. Fine
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Karen L. Fingerman
University of Texas at Austin

Alexandra M. Freund
University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Alice Frye
University of Massachusetts–Lowell

Susan Graham
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Suzanne E. Graham
University of New Hampshire

Josefina M. Grau
Kent State University

Robert Guttentag
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Wen-Jui Han
Columbia University

Laura D. Hanish
Arizona State University

Sam A. Hardy
Brigham Young University

Daniel Hart
Rutgers University–Camden

Robin Harwood
Maternal and Child Health Bureau, HRSA

Ernest V. E. Hodges
St. John's University

Andrea Hussong
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Janet S. Hyde
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Justin Jager
Arizona State University

Vikram K. Jaswal
University of Virginia

Charles Kalish
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Loes Keijsers
Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Neal Krause
University of Michigan

Jutta Kray
Saarland University, Saarbrücken Germany

Beth Kurtz-Costes
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Robert D. Laird
University of New Orleans

Daniel Lapsley
University of Notre Dame

Cristine H. Legare
University of Texas at Austin

Jeffrey Liew
Texas A&M University

Lori Markson
Washington University in St. Louis

Nicole M. McNeil
University of Notre Dame

Anne Noonan
Salem State College

Christine McCauley Ohannessian
Connecticut Children's Medical Center and University of Connecticut Medical School

Kätlin Peets
University of Turku, Turku, Finland

Marjorie Rhodes
New York University

Rebekah A. Richert
University of California, Riverside

Karen A. Roberto
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

William L. Roberts
Thompson Rivers University, British Columbia, Canada

Philip C. Rodkin
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Mark W. Roosa
Arizona State University

Amanda J. Rose
University of Missouri–Columbia

Katariina Salmela-Aro
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Megan M. Saylor
Vanderbilt University

Laura V. Scaramella
University of New Orleans

Ingrid Schoon
University of London, London, United Kingdom

Vanessa R. Simmering
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Sandra Simpkins
Arizona State University

Gregory Smith
Kent State University

Bart Soenens
Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Jessica Sommerville
University of Washington

Harvey L. Sterns
University of Akron

Kaveri Subrahmanyam
California State University, Los Angeles and Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles

Marie Tisak
Bowling Green State University

Wendy Troop-Gordon
North Dakota State University

Marion K. Underwood
The University of Texas at Dallas

Marinus H. van IJzendoorn
Leiden University and Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal
University of Pittsburgh

Felix Warneken
Harvard University

Michael T. Willoughby
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Yiyuan Xu
University of Hawaii at Manoa

Zheng Yan
State University of New York at Albany

Lise M. Youngblade
Colorado State University

Jeong Jin Yu
University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Principal Reviewers

Nicole Alea
University of the West Indies

Philip A. Allen
University of Akron

Y. Gavriel Ansara
University of Surrey, Surrey, United Kingdom

Annie Bernier
Université de Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Jamila Bookwala
Lafayette College

Julia M. Braungart-Rieker
University of Notre Dame

Josh B. Bricker
University of Colorado

Stephanie Brown
Stony Brook University

Kathleen H. Corriveau
Boston University

Lisabeth F. DiLalla
Southern Illinois University

Mary B. Eberly Lewis
Oakland University

Xin Feng
The Ohio State University

Margo Gardner
Columbia University

Jane F. Gaultney
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Editorial Manager

Deanna J. Maida

Editorial Assistant

Jeannette Eccles

Abstracting and indexing services providing coverage of Developmental Psychology

A S S I A (Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts)
Academic Abstracts FullTEXT Ultra
Academic ASAP
Academic OneFile
Academic Search Alumni Edition
Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Elite
Academic Search Premier
Academic Source Premier
AgeLine
Book Review Digest Plus
C A B Abstracts
Contents Pages in Education
Criminal Justice Abstracts
Criminal Justice Periodical Index
Current Abstracts
Current Contents
Dietrich's Index Philosophicus
E R I C (Education Resource Information Center)
EBSCOhost MegaFILE
Education Abstracts
Education Full Text
Education Index
Education Research Complete
Education Research Index
Educational Management Abstracts
Educational Research Abstracts Online
Educators Reference Complete
F R A N C I S
Family Index
Family Studies Abstracts
GaleGroup Professional Collection
Global Health
Health & Wellness Resource Center
Health Reference Center Academic
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective
I B Z - Internationale Bibliographie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Zeitschriftenliteratur
InfoTrac Custom
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences
Internationale Bibliographie der Rezensionen Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlicher Literatur
Journals@Ovid
M L A International Bibliography (Modern Language Association of America)
MEDLINE
Multicultural Education Abstracts
Peace Research Abstracts Journal
Professional Development Collection
ProQuest Central
PsycINFO
PubMed
Reactions Weekly
Research into Higher Education Abstracts
Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies
SCOPUS
Social Sciences Citation Index
Social Sciences Full Text
Social Sciences Index/Abstracts
Social Work Abstracts
Sociology of Education Abstracts
Special Educational Needs Abstracts
Student Resource Center College
Studies on Women and Gender Abstracts
SwetsWise All Titles
TOC Premier
Tropical Diseases Bulletin
Wilson OmniFile Full Text Mega Edition

Prior to submission, please carefully read and follow the submission guidelines detailed below. Manuscripts that do not conform to the submission guidelines may be returned without review.

Submissions

Submit manuscripts electronically via the Manuscript Submission Portal, and mail any other correspondence to the Editor:

Jacque Eccles
Editor, Developmental Psychology
Institute for Social Research
University of Michigan
PO Box 1248, 426 Thompson Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248

General correspondence may be directed to the Editor's Office.

Length

Manuscripts should be the appropriate length for the material being presented. Manuscripts can vary from 2500–4500 words for a brief report to 10,500 words for a larger research report to 15,000 words for a report containing multiple studies or comprehensive longitudinal studies. Editors will decide on the appropriate length and may return a manuscript for revision before reviews if they think the paper is too long. Please make manuscripts as brief as possible. We have a strong preference for shorter papers.

Facilitating Manuscript Review

In addition to email addresses, please supply mailing addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers. Most correspondence will be handled by email. Keep a copy of the manuscript to guard against loss.

Masked Review Policy

This journal uses masked review for all submissions. Make every effort to see that the manuscript itself contains no clues to the authors' identity. The submission letter should indicate the title of the manuscript, the authors' names and institutional affiliations, and the date the manuscript is submitted.

The first page of the manuscript should omit the authors' names and affiliations but should include the title of the manuscript and the date it is submitted. Author notes, acknowledgments, and footnotes containing information pertaining to the authors' identity or affiliations may be added on acceptance.

Methodology

Description of Sample

Authors should be sure to report the procedures for sample selection and recruitment. Major demographic characteristics should be reported, such as sex, age, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and, when possible and appropriate, disability status and sexual orientation. Even when such demographic characteristics are not analytic variables, they provide a more complete understanding of the sample and of the generalizability of the findings and are useful in future meta-analytic studies.

Significance

For all study results, measures of both practical and statistical significance should be reported. The latter can involve either a standard error or an appropriate confidence interval. Practical significance can be reported using an effect size, a standardized regression coefficient, a factor loading, or an odds ratio.

Reliability

Manuscripts should include information regarding the establishment of interrater reliability when relevant, including the mechanisms used to establish reliability and the statistical verification of rater agreement and excluding the names of the trainers and the amount of personal contact with such individuals.

Manuscript Preparation

Prepare manuscripts according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6^th edition). Manuscripts may be copyedited for bias-free language (see Chapter 3 of the Publication Manual).

Review APA's Checklist for Manuscript Submission before submitting your article.

Double-space all copy. Other formatting instructions, as well as instructions on preparing tables, figures, references, metrics, and abstracts, appear in the Manual.

Below are additional instructions regarding the preparation of display equations, computer code, and tables.

Display Equations

We strongly encourage you to use MathType (third-party software) or Equation Editor 3.0 (built into pre-2007 versions of Word) to construct your equations, rather than the equation support that is built into Word 2007 and Word 2010. Equations composed with the built-in Word 2007/Word 2010 equation support are converted to low-resolution graphics when they enter the production process and must be rekeyed by the typesetter, which may introduce errors.

To construct your equations with MathType or Equation Editor 3.0:

Go to the Text section of the Insert tab and select Object.
Select MathType or Equation Editor 3.0 in the drop-down menu.

If you have an equation that has already been produced using Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010 and you have access to the full version of MathType 6.5 or later, you can convert this equation to MathType by clicking on MathType Insert Equation. Copy the equation from Microsoft Word and paste it into the MathType box. Verify that your equation is correct, click File, and then click Update. Your equation has now been inserted into your Word file as a MathType Equation.

Use Equation Editor 3.0 or MathType only for equations or for formulas that cannot be produced as Word text using the Times or Symbol font.

Computer Code

Because altering computer code in any way (e.g., indents, line spacing, line breaks, page breaks) during the typesetting process could alter its meaning, we treat computer code differently from the rest of your article in our production process. To that end, we request separate files for computer code.

In Online Supplemental Material
We request that runnable source code be included as supplemental material to the article. For more information, visit Supplementing Your Article With Online Material.

In the Text of the Article
If you would like to include code in the text of your published manuscript, please submit a separate file with your code exactly as you want it to appear, using Courier New font with a type size of 8 points. We will make an image of each segment of code in your article that exceeds 40 characters in length. (Shorter snippets of code that appear in text will be typeset in Courier New and run in with the rest of the text.) If an appendix contains a mix of code and explanatory text, please submit a file that contains the entire appendix, with the code keyed in 8-point Courier New.

Tables

Use Word's Insert Table function when you create tables. Using spaces or tabs in your table will create problems when the table is typeset and may result in errors.

Submitting Supplemental Materials

APA can place supplemental materials online, available via the published article in the PsycARTICLES^® database. Please see Supplementing Your Article With Online Material for more details.

Abstract and Keywords

All manuscripts must include an abstract containing a maximum of 250 words typed on a separate page. After the abstract, please supply up to five keywords or brief phrases.

References

List references in alphabetical order. Each listed reference should be cited in text, and each text citation should be listed in the References section.

Examples of basic reference formats:

Journal Article:
Hughes, G., Desantis, A., & Waszak, F. (2013). Mechanisms of intentional binding and sensory attenuation: The role of temporal prediction, temporal control, identity prediction, and motor prediction. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 133–151. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028566
Authored Book:
Rogers, T. T., & McClelland, J. L. (2004). Semantic cognition: A parallel distributed processing approach. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Chapter in an Edited Book:
Gill, M. J., & Sypher, B. D. (2009). Workplace incivility and organizational trust. In P. Lutgen-Sandvik & B. D. Sypher (Eds.), Destructive organizational communication: Processes, consequences, and constructive ways of organizing (pp. 53–73). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.

Figures

Graphics files are welcome if supplied as Tiff or EPS files. Multipanel figures (i.e., figures with parts labeled a, b, c, d, etc.) should be assembled into one file.

The minimum line weight for line art is 0.5 point for optimal printing.

For more information about acceptable resolutions, fonts, sizing, and other figure issues, please see the general guidelines.

When possible, please place symbol legends below the figure instead of to the side.

APA offers authors the option to publish their figures online in color without the costs associated with print publication of color figures.

The same caption will appear on both the online (color) and print (black and white) versions. To ensure that the figure can be understood in both formats, authors should add alternative wording (e.g., "the red (dark gray) bars represent") as needed.

For authors who prefer their figures to be published in color both in print and online, original color figures can be printed in color at the editor's and publisher's discretion provided the author agrees to pay:

$900 for one figure
An additional $600 for the second figure
An additional $450 for each subsequent figure

Permissions

Authors of accepted papers must obtain and provide to the editor on final acceptance all necessary permissions to reproduce in print and electronic form any copyrighted work, including test materials (or portions thereof), photographs, and other graphic images (including those used as stimuli in experiments).

On advice of counsel, APA may decline to publish any image whose copyright status is unknown.

Download Permissions Alert Form (PDF, 13KB)

Publication Policies

APA policy prohibits an author from submitting the same manuscript for concurrent consideration by two or more publications.

APA requires authors to reveal any possible conflict of interest in the conduct and reporting of research (e.g., financial interests in a test or procedure, funding by pharmaceutical companies for drug research).

Download Disclosure of Interests Form (PDF, 38KB)

Authors of accepted manuscripts are required to transfer the copyright to APA.

For manuscripts not funded by the Wellcome Trust or the Research Councils UK
Publication Rights (Copyright Transfer) Form (PDF, 83KB)
For manuscripts funded by the Wellcome Trust or the Research Councils UK
Wellcome Trust or Research Councils UK Publication Rights Form (PDF, 34KB)

Ethical Principles

It is a violation of APA Ethical Principles to publish "as original data, data that have been previously published" (Standard 8.13).

In addition, APA Ethical Principles specify that "after research results are published, psychologists do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis and who intend to use such data only for that purpose, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and unless legal rights concerning proprietary data preclude their release" (Standard 8.14).

APA expects authors to adhere to these standards. Specifically, APA expects authors to have their data available throughout the editorial review process and for at least 5 years after the date of publication.

Authors are required to state in writing that they have complied with APA ethical standards in the treatment of their sample, human or animal, or to describe the details of treatment.

Download Certification of Compliance With APA Ethical Principles Form (PDF, 26KB)

The APA Ethics Office provides the full Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct electronically on its website in HTML, PDF, and Word format. You may also request a copy by emailing or calling the APA Ethics Office (202-336-5930). You may also read "Ethical Principles," December 1992, American Psychologist, Vol. 47, pp. 1597–1611.

Other Information

Selective Social Learning
Special issue of the APA journal Developmental Psychology, Vol. 49, No. 3, March 2013. The articles pose important questions concerning how children learn from others, what the characteristic signatures of social learning might be, and how this learning changes over time.
Violent Children
Special issue of the APA journal Developmental Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 2, March 2003. Includes articles about conduct problems; exposure to TV violence and violent behavior in young adulthood; childhood disruptive behaviors and adolescent delinquency; developmental pathways to severe conduct problems; physical aggression and expressive vocabulary; urban males' youth violence; a school-based violence prevention program; biological and social processes in relation to early-onset persistent aggression; and a biopsychosocial model of the development of chronic conduct problems.
Social and Emotional Development
Special issue of the APA journal Developmental Psychology, Vol. 34, No. 4, July 1998. Four sections examine culture as it relates to emotional development; parenting and parent-child relationships; social cognition and social relationships; and social and emotional adjustment and maladjustment.
Development, Transitions, and Adjustment in Adolescence
Special issue of the APA journal Developmental Psychology, Vol. 32, No. 4, July 1996. Includes articles about environment, biology, and culture; developmental interface between nature and nurture; family environment; puberty; sexual intercourse; risk factors for binge drinking; kinship support and family management practices; and parenting behaviors.
Sexual Orientation and Human Development
Special issue of the APA journal Developmental Psychology, Vol. 31, No. 1, January 1995. The articles discuss development and other issues in sexual orientation, including prenatal estrogen; birth order and sibling sex ratio; childhood sex-typed behavior; pubertal maturation timing and self-esteem; victimization; prevalence, course, and predictors of multiple problem behaviors; developmental changes in relationship quality; transitions from heterosexuality to lesbianism; lesbian and heterosexual parents and their children; parents' division of labor and children's adjustment; and sexual orientation of adult sons of gay fathers.

SEARCH

Developmental Psychology^®