Registered Reports in Child Development: Introduction to the Special Section

Registered Reports (RRs) are an emerging format for publishing empirical journal articles in which the decision to publish an article is based on sound conceptualization, methods, and planned analyses rather than the specific nature of the results. This article introduces the Special Section on Registered Reports in Child Development by describing what RRs are and why they are necessary, outlining the thought process that guided the Special Section, describing key thematic insights across the eight articles included in the collection, and providing recommendations for developmental researchers interested in publishing via the RR format. This article also serves as a formal announcement that RRs will be a standard publishing option at Child Development, effective immediately.     

A differential item functioning study of counseling competencies scale-revised scores

Our study examines the differential item functioning of the Counselor Competencies Scale—Revised (CCS-R) scores due to respondents’ gender, the type of evaluation, and a combination of these two variables using a large sample (N = 1614). Implications of the findings are offered to inform counselor educators and supervisors using the CCS-R and similar supervisee assessment measures.     

A microfluidic device to study cancer metastasis under chronic and intermittent hypoxia

Metastatic cancer cells must traverse a microenvironment ranging from extremely hypoxic, within the tumor, to highly oxygenated, within the host''s vasculature. Tumor hypoxia can be further characterized by regions of both chronic and intermittent hypoxia. We present the design and characterization of a microfluidic device that can simultaneously mimic the oxygenation conditions observed within the tumor and model the cell migration and intravasation processes. This device can generate spatial oxygen gradients of chronic hypoxia and produce dynamically changing hypoxic microenvironments in long-term culture of cancer cells.     

儿童道德价值的生成——一个值得社会优先关注的话题

儿童道德价值的形成是不同文化背景的国家必须面对的共同问题，作者在综合他人方法的基础上，提出了把社会已接受的道德价值移入儿童的一种模式，倡导儿童道德价值生成的重要性，认为学校是道德训练和道德发展的主场所，儿童道德价值的生成需要教师、教育顾问、教育家和父母的共同努力才能达成。