Executive Summary
Alphablocks Nursery School is committed to providing outstanding education and empowering children to become confident learners. In 2023, our research organisation, Alphablocks Research Lab, funded academic work that made significant contributions in the exploration of childhood social cognitive abilities and mental health outcomes. This report summarises the year’s achievements.
Primary Research Areas
- Long-term mental health impact of Theory of Mind & prosocial behaviour in children
- Focus: Investigating the influence of childhood “Theory of Mind” and social competence on risk-taking behaviours and mental health trajectories from childhood to adolescence.
- Key Publications:
- Tsomokos, D. I. & Flouri, E.: “Superior social cognitive abilities in childhood are associated with better reward-seeking strategies in adolescence: evidence for a Social-Motivational Flexibility Model.” Advances in Psychology. DOI.
- Tsomokos, D. I. & Flouri, E.: “The role of social cognition in mental health trajectories from childhood to adolescence.” European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (2023). DOI.
- Sleep, greenspace & the built environment: Impact on youth development
- Focus: Examining how urban environment factors like greenspaces, air pollution, and sleep patterns affect childhood and adolescent health and behaviour.
- Key Publication:
- Tsomokos, D. I., Ji, D., Mueller, M. A. E., Papachristou, E., & Flouri, E.: “The effect of urban greenspace on adolescent sleep patterns.” Landscape Research (2023). DOI.
- Trust and belonging: The role of religion in adolescent mental health
- Focus: Starting from the recent finding that the perception of social threats and rejection degrades health, we investigated whether religious faith moderates the association between interpersonal distrust (an index of social threat and lack of belonging) and depressive symptoms in adolescence.
- Key Publication:
- Tsomokos, D. I., & Dunbar, R.I.M.: “The role of religion in adolescent mental health: faith as a moderator of the relationship between distrust and depression.” Religion, Brain & Behavior (2023). DOI.
Conclusion
In 2023, Alphablocks Research Lab contributed to our understanding of the complexities of early childhood cognition and development. The focus on the long-term impact of social cognitive abilities and the role of environmental factors has provided insights that will inform effective early learning strategies, which will be explored further in 2024 and translated into practice.
This is the first in a series of annual reports that document the progress and research findings that are partially funded by Alphablocks Research Lab.