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PURPOSE: Anterior drooling is a common comorbidity in children and young people (CYP) with neurodevelopmental disabilities. This study aimed to assess the social and emotional impact of drooling in CYP with a developmental age (DA) of 6 years and older, in whom this impact may differ from those with a lower DA due to their developing sense of self and awareness of their position within social groups. METHODS: Questionnaire data collected for routine clinical care were used to assess parental perceptions of the impact of drooling on (1) social interaction; (2) satisfaction with social interaction, appearance, family relations and life in general and (3) the way CYP expressed feelings on appearance, acceptance by peers and acceptance by adults. Fisher's exact tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were applied to identify associations between clinical characteristics and the social and emotional impact of drooling. RESULTS: Seventy-nine CYP with an estimated DA ≥ 6 years were included. The majority experienced frequent to constant (83%) and profuse (61%) drooling. Drooling frequently compromised social interaction with peers (49%) and adults (28%), and cognitive abilities were underestimated in 40%. Dissatisfaction with physical appearance (25%) related to drooling was noted. One-fifth of CYP reportedly expressed negative feelings on acceptance by peers related to drooling. CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the substantial impact of drooling on CYP with a DA of 6 years and older, primarily through avoidance by peers and underestimated cognitive abilities, emphasizing that recognizing and addressing these social-emotional consequences should be integral to clinical care. WHAT IS KNOWN: • Anterior drooling is common among children and youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities. WHAT IS NEW: • There seems to be a heightened prevalence of impaired social interaction with peers and underestimation of cognitive abilities due to drooling among children with a developmental age of at least 6 years compared to previous studies with more heterogeneous populations. • The impact of drooling can extend to domains that affect self-esteem, although this may not be fully captured with standardized questions, requiring clinicians to address these consequences in a way that is tailored to the child's experiences.

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Maternal love and caregiving are pillars for optimal child development and may affect infant outcomes from pregnancy onwards. The present study aimed to examine whether maternal trait mindfulness during pregnancy and pre- and postnatal maternal-infant bonding were associated with maternal perceptions of infant temperament and social-emotional development. In total, 408 Dutch women (Mage = 31.33, SD = 3.59) participated in a prospective perinatal cohort study and completed questionnaires on trait mindfulness, prenatal bonding, postnatal bonding, infant temperament, and infant social-emotional development at 20 and 28 weeks of gestation, and 10 weeks, 6 and 12 months postpartum, respectively. Path analyses demonstrated that higher levels of the trait mindfulness facet non-judging (i.e., refraining from judgments about own feelings and thoughts) were associated with more pre- and postnatal maternal bonding and fewer social-emotional problems as perceived by the mother. Adopting an accepting and non-judgmental attitude may promote positive feelings of bonding and benefit the infant in terms of having fewer social-emotional problems in the first year of life. Mindfulness interventions may be offered to pregnant women in order to enhance maternal bonding and improve infant outcomes after birth.

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Introduction  Social-emotional development refers to the development of one's abilities to understand, regulate, and express emotions and to establish and maintain successful relationships with peers and adults. Education in the arts has been shown to promote learning these skills, but the relationship between social-emotional development and summer art camp has not been explored. Methods The objective of this study is to determine the potential for social-emotional development in a community-based art day camp. A qualitative thematic analysis of the art camp's curriculum was conducted and compared with current literature regarding opportunities for social-emotional development in arts education and summer camp settings. Results The summer art camp curriculum included practices known to facilitate social-emotional learning in school-aged children. The curriculum data themes identified were performance, art projects, and outdoor activities. All of these themes have been shown to facilitate social-emotional skill building and can be connected to the components of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework. Conclusions Through the shown benefits of summer camp in combination with the benefits of in-school arts education, art camp provides the unique opportunity to practice self-expression, friend-making, and self-esteem building, all of which can contribute to mental well-being and academic success long-term.

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BACKGROUND: The experimental evaluation of young children's socio-emotional abilities is limited by the lack of existing specific measures to assess this population and by the relative difficulty for researchers to adapt measures designed for the general population. METHODS: This study examined six early social-emotional abilities in 86 typically developing children aged 1 to 3 years using an eye-tracking-based experimental paradigm that combined visual preference tasks adapted from pre-existing infant studies. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to obtain developmental norms in six early social-emotional abilities in typical children aged 1 to 3 years that would be promising for an understanding of disorders of mental development. These developmental standards are essential to enable comparative assessments with children with atypical development, such as children with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities (PIMD). RESULTS: The participants had greater spontaneous visual preferences for biological (vs. non-biological) motion, socially salient (vs. non-social) stimuli, the eye (vs. mouth) area of emotional expressions, angry (vs. happy) faces, and objects of joint attention (vs. non-looked-at ones). Interestingly, although the prosocial (vs. antisocial) scene of the socio-moral task was preferred, both the helper and hinderer characters were equally gazed at. Finally, correlational analyses revealed that performance was neither related to participants' age nor to each other (dismissing the hypothesis of a common underpinning process). CONCLUSION: Our revised experimental paradigm is possible in infants aged 1 to 3 years and thus provides additional scientific proof on the direct assessment of these six socio-emotional abilities in this population.

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Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked recessive disorder caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. Deficiency of the dystrophin protein causes not only motor, but also cognitive, language, behavioural and social emotional problems. This is the first systematic review investigating five early developmental domains in boys with DMD between 0 and 6 years old. Interactions between different domains and links with mutation types and sites were explored. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus. An adapted version of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) Checklists for case-control and cohort studies was used to evaluate quality. Fifty-five studies of high or acceptable quality were included. One was an RCT of level 1b; 50 were cohort studies of level 2b; and four were an aggregation of case-control and cohort studies receiving levels 2b and 3b. We found that young boys with DMD experienced problems in all five developmental domains, with significant interactions between these. Several studies also showed relationships between mutation sites and outcomes. We conclude that DMD is not only characterised by motor problems but by a more global developmental delay with a large variability between boys. Our results emphasise the need for harmonisation in evaluation and follow-up of young boys with DMD. More high-quality research is needed on the different early developmental domains in young DMD to facilitate early detection of difficulties and identification of associated early intervention strategies.

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This study explored the positive effects of a six-week Social-Emotional and Ethical Learning® (SEE Learning) program on resilience and social and emotional competences, adapted for elementary students in Daegu, South Korea, a region strongly affected by the first outbreak of COVID-19. A total of 348 third- and fourth-grade students from 15 elementary schools participated, and the curriculum was tailored, emphasizing key areas such as resilience, attention, kindness, attention training, and compassion. Repeated measures analysis of variance (RMANOVA) tests showed statistically significant improvements between pre- and post-tests in resilience and its subscales, including self-efficacy, tolerance of negative affect, positive support relations, power of control, and spontaneity, as well as in social and emotional competencies, including emotional regulation, social skills, empathy, and social tendencies. Despite a lack of maintenance in all areas, at follow-up, the mean scores for self-efficacy, tolerance of negative affect, and positive support relations, as well as emotional regulation, social skills, empathy, and social tendency, remained higher than pre-test levels, suggesting some lasting benefits. The findings underscore the potential of the SEE Learning program integrated with resilience, mindfulness, compassion, and ethical practices to enhance students' resilience and social and emotional well-being. This study contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting the use of mindfulness and compassion-based SEL programs to mitigate the adverse effects of traumatic events on children's mental health.

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OBJECTIVE: Socioeconomic status (SES) has been previously associated with children's early development, health, and nutrition; however, evidence about the potential role of caregiver-child interaction in such associations was limited. This study aimed to explore the effect of caregiver-child interaction on the associations of SES with child developmental outcomes, including early neurodevelopment and social-emotional behavior. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2078 children aged 0-6 in a rural county that just lifted out of poverty in 2020 in Central China. The Ages & Stages Questionnaires-Chinese version (ASQ-C) and the Social-Emotional (ASQ: SE) questionnaire were used to assess children's early neurodevelopment and social-emotional behavior, respectively. Caregiver-child interaction was evaluated with the Brigance Parent-Child Interactions Scale. Regression-based statistical mediation and moderation effect were conducted with the PROCESS macro of SPSS. RESULTS: Children with low SES had an increased risk of suspected neurodevelopmental delay [OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.50, 2.44] and social-emotional developmental delay [OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.66]. The caregiver-child interaction partially mediated the associations of SES with child developmental outcomes; the proportion of the indirect effect was 14.9% for ASQ-C total score and 32.1% for ASQ: SE score. Moreover, the caregiver-child interaction had a significant moderation effect on the association of SES with ASQ-C total score (P < 0.05). A weaker association was observed in children with high-level caregiver-child interaction than in medium and low ones. Similar moderating effects were found among boys but not girls. CONCLUSION: Caregiver-child interaction plays a vital role in the relationship between SES and child development. Children with low SES households will benefit more in terms of their early development from intervention programs strengthening caregiver-child interaction.

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PURPOSE: Maternal perinatal social support is theorised to promote offspring social-emotional development, yet few studies have prospectively examined this relationship. Findings may inform preventative intervention efforts, to support a healthy start to emotional life. METHODS: This study examined whether maternal social support perinatally predicts infant social-emotional development at 12 months of age in two longitudinal cohort studies: The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) (n = 1,052 mother-infant dyads [653 mothers, M age_at_birth = 32.03, 88% Australian-born; 1,052 infants, 52% girls]) and The Triple B Pregnancy Cohort Study (Triple B) (n = 1,537 dyads [1,498 mothers, M age_at_birth = 32.53, 56% Australian-born; 1,537 infants, 49% girls]). Social support was assessed at pregnancy (third trimester) and eight-weeks post-birth. Infant social-emotional competencies (ATP: Brief Infant and Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (BITSEA), Competencies Scale; Triple B: Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Social Emotional Scale) and problems (ATP: BITSEA, Problems Scale; Triple B: Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional Scale), were assessed at 12-months of age. RESULTS: In ATP, social support was associated with lower offspring problems (pregnancy: ß = -0.15; post-birth: ß = -0.12) and greater competencies (pregnancy: ß = 0.12; post-birth: ß = 0.16) at 12 months. In Triple B, social support also predicted lower offspring problems (pregnancy: ß = -0.11; post-birth: ß = -0.07) and greater competencies (pregnancy: ß = 0.07) at 12 months. Findings did not indicate an association between support at eight-weeks post-birth and subsequent competencies (ß = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: Evidence suggests that perinatal social support promotes healthy infant social and emotional development. These results underscore the critical importance of social support for mothers transitioning into parenthood.

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We studied the effects of mother-infant interaction and maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress on children's social-emotional problems and competences, as well as whether interaction quality moderates the association between distress and children's outcomes. Maternal pre- and postnatal psychological distress were measured using the SCL and EPDS questionnaires, whereas mother-infant interaction was measured when the child was 8 months old using the EA Scales. Children's social-emotional development was measured using the BITSEA questionnaire at 2 years old and using the SDQ questionnaire at 4 years old, where higher maternal structuring was associated with fewer social-emotional problems in children and higher maternal sensitivity was associated with greater social-emotional competence in children at 2 years old. Further, higher postnatal distress was found associated with greater social-emotional problems at 2 years old, though neither these effects nor moderating effects at 4 years old were observed after multiple-comparison corrections. Our findings support direct associations of both mother-infant interaction and maternal postnatal psychological distress with children's social-emotional development during toddlerhood.

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The present study examined the social-emotional development items assessed by kindergarten teachers in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort to determine the optimal factor structure underlying the items as well as the reliability and validity of the resulting factors. This study identified an empirically derived factor structure for teacher-reported social development, investigated whether there was evidence of bias in teacher assessments of social-emotional constructs, examined factor invariance across demographic characteristics (i.e., race and ethnicity, sex, and poverty status), and examined the external validity of the derived factors by determining the extent to which they were associated with well-established measures of early childhood competencies. Findings suggested a 4-factor solution was optimal, consisting of (a) Interpersonal Skills, (b) Externalizing Behavior, (c) Approaches to Learning, and (d) Perspective Taking. Findings offer suggestive evidence of teacher biases in assessments and some, although not conclusive, support for the invariance of social-emotional dimension across demographic characteristics. Results provide a useful next step toward documenting reliable and valid social-emotional measures for use in early childhood research and challenges users of national datasets to think critically about the use of "scales" without a priori attention to important psychometric properties.

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OBJECTIVES: To examine the impact of displacement experiences on 0- to 6-year-old children's social-emotional and cognitive development, as well as influencing factors on reported outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: We systematically searched MEDline, Psyndex, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Elsevier, TandF, Oxford Journal of Refugee Studies, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, and Canada's Journal on Refugees for existing literature regarding social-emotional and cognitive outcomes in children directly exposed to forced displacement due to political violence. Results were synthesized in the discussion and displayed using harvest plots. RESULTS: Our search generated 9,791 articles of which 32 were selected for review and evaluation according to NICE criteria. Included studies provided results for 6,878 forcibly displaced children. Measured outcomes were diverse and included areas such as peer relations, prosocial behavior, family functioning, play, intelligence, learning performance, and language development. Repeated exposure to adverse experiences, separation from parents, parental distress, as well as duration and quality of resettlement in the host country were reported as influencing factors in the reviewed studies. CONCLUSION: As protective factors like secure and stable living conditions help to promote children's development, we call for policies that enhance participation in the welcoming society for refugee families. Early integration with low-threshold access to health and educational facilities can help to mitigate the wide-ranging negative consequences of forced displacement on young children's development.

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BACKGROUND: Previous research suggests that maternal parenting stress is a significant predictor of social-emotional problems in children. However, little is known regarding the mother-child relationship and the effect of maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on this association. METHODS: Three waves of longitudinal panel data were collected from 2893 Chinese preschoolers with a follow-up interval of 6 months. The mothers of preschoolers were asked to complete anonymous questionnaires concerning demographic variables, maternal ACEs and parenting stress in Wave 1, mother-child relationships in Wave 2, and children's social-emotional problems in Wave 3. The parallel mediation model was conducted to analyze the mediating role of three dimensions of mother-child relationships, and the moderation model was conducted to examine the moderating role of maternal ACEs. RESULTS: The results showed that maternal parenting stress predicted children's social-emotional problems directly or indirectly through the mother-child relationship, with an intimate mother-child relationship mediating this main effect negatively but a conflicted and dependent mother-child relationship mediating this main effect positively. In addition, moderating results indicated that the main effect of maternal parenting stress on children's social-emotional problems was more marked among participants with at least one maternal ACEs than those without maternal ACEs. Furthermore, the moderating effect was only detected in children whose mothers had a high school education or less. LIMITATIONS: The subjectivity of mothers' reports may somewhat reduce the credibility due to the possible overestimation or underestimation of children's social-emotional problems. CONCLUSION: These findings provide new evidence for the effects of maternal parenting stress on children's social-emotional development and highlight the need for more attention to children with mothers having ACE exposure, lower educational level and poor parent-child relationships.

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OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of in-utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection on offspring's neurodevelopment during the first year of life. METHODS: We performed a prospective cohort of babies exposed to SARS-CoV-2 during pregnancy, and a control group (CG) of unexposed babies in a low-income area in Brazil. Children's neurodevelopment was assessed using the guide for Monitoring Child Development in the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness context for both groups (at 1,2,3,4,5,6, 9, and 12 months), and the Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) for the exposed group (EG) (at 4, 6 and 12 months). RESULTS: We followed 137 children for 1 year, 69 in the COVID-19-EG, and 68 in the CG. All mothers were unvaccinated at the time of cohort inclusion, and maternal demographics were similar in the two groups. 20.3% of EG children and 5.9% of the CG received a diagnosis of neurodevelopmental delay within 12 months of life (P = 0.013, relative risk = 3.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.19- 9.95). For the EG, the prevalence of neurodevelopment impairment using Ages & Stages Questionnaire was 35.7% at 4 months, 7% at 6 months, and 32.1% at 12 months. CONCLUSION: SARS-CoV-2 exposure was associated with neurodevelopmental impairment, and specific guidelines are needed for the follow-up of these high-risk children to mitigate the long-term effects on children's health.

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Background: Parents' parenting beliefs have a major influence on their children's eating and sleeping problems and emotional socialization. However, the relationship between parent's concerns about eating or sleeping problems and social-emotional development is unclear. Methods: We used a convenience sampling method to investigate 997 parents of preschool children aged 3 to 6 in Hangzhou, China, and asked them to complete the "Ages & Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (2nd Edition)" (ASQ: SE-2) and the Survey of Concerns about Children's Eating and Sleeping Problems. To examine the relationship between children's social-emotional development and their parents' concerns about their eating or sleeping problems, binary logistic regression was used. Results: There were 218 children (21.9%) with a suspected social-emotional development delay, and 273 parents (27.4%) were concerned about their children's eating or sleeping problems, which mainly focused on ill-balanced eating, bad eating habits, and difficulty falling asleep. The rate of suspected social-emotional development delay in children with the co-occurrence of eating and sleeping problems (37.8%) was significantly higher than those with only eating problems (29.7%), only sleeping problems (24.4%), and those with no eating or sleeping problems (18.8%) (p < 0.05). A binary logistic regression analysis showed that parents' concerns about the co-occurrence of eating and sleeping problems (OR = 2.52, p = 0.01) and only eating problems (OR = 1.71, p = 0.004) were risk factors for children's social-emotional development. In addition, boys were more likely than girls to have suspected social-emotional development delay (OR = 1.49, p = 0.01). Conclusion: Children whose parents were concerned about only eating or the co-occurrence of eating and sleeping problems were linked to have a higher risk of suspected social-emotional development delay.

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Infancy is a critical period for neurodevelopment, which includes myelination, synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning, and the development of motor, social-emotional, and cognitive functions. Human milk provides essential nutrients to the infant's developing brain, especially during the first postnatal months. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are a major component of human milk, and there is growing evidence of the association of individual HMOs with cognitive development in early life. However, to our knowledge, no study has explained these associations with a mechanism of action. Here, we investigated possible mediating associations between HMOs in human milk, brain myelination (measured via myelin water fraction), and measures of motor, language (collected via the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III)), and socioemotional development (collected via the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional Version (ASQ-SE)) in healthy term-born breast-fed infants. The results revealed an association between 6'Sialyllactose and social skills that was mediated by myelination. Furthermore, associations of fucosylated HMOs with language outcomes were observed that were not mediated by myelination. These observations indicate the roles of specific HMOs in neurodevelopment and associated functional outcomes, such as social-emotional function and language development.

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OBJECTIVES: Quality of life plays an important place in the psychosocial development of children with Cochlear Implants (CI). We assesd health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with CI and in hearing children and determined relationships between HRQoL and other developmental characteristics (social-emotional development, Theory of Mind (ToM), spoken language skills). METHODS: A longitudinal study was conducted including children with CI and hearing children. We used instruments that are widely employed and have been validated for research. At time 1 social-emotional development, ToM and spoken language skills were assessed.HRQoL was assessed using the generic KINDL questionnaire, as was social-emotional development, 2.5 years later (time 2). RESULTS: No significant difference was seen in HRQoL between hearing children and children with CI. We show that the age of detection, the age of hearing care, and the start of early intervention are not related to HRQoL of children with CI, but relationships with some domains of social-emotional development are evident. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of targeted intervention not only to improve spoken language skills at preschool age, but also strengthen social-emotional and social-cognitive competences.

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For some students, school success is not a simple matter. A growing, innovative approach that supports students' functioning at school is programs in which animals are involved in education. The involvement of animals, especially dogs, in education is known as animal-assisted education (AAE). A literature review of AAE indicated a positive influence of AAE programs on the quality of learning and social emotional development in children. This study explored whether AAE positively impacts the social and emotional outcomes of elementary school students aged between 8 and 13 years through mixed methods. The methods used were a survey and an observational study. The survey section of the study showed that students participating in the program with the dogs rated themselves, after the intervention period, significantly higher in terms of self-confidence and had a more positive score for relationships with other students after the intervention. As rated by their teachers, after the intervention period, students scored significantly higher in relation to work attitude, pleasant behavior, emotional stability, and social behavior. In the observational study, we analyzed the video material of students who participated in an AAE program with dogs. We concluded that all verbal and non-verbal behaviors of the students increased, except eye contact. The current study indicates future directions for theoretical underpinnings, improved understanding, and the empirical measurement of the underlying variables and mechanisms.

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BACKGROUND: Social-emotional capacities contribute to children's mental health by helping them navigate their own and others' emotional states and forge healthy relationships. Caregivers and educators are critical socialization agents in early and middle childhood, but gaps remain in the systematic integration of social-emotional research into caregiver and educator trainings. The aim of this pilot study was to test the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a social-emotional training designed to promote caregivers' and educators' capacities to support social-emotional development in children ages 3-8 years. METHODS: Fifty adults (n = 24 caregivers of children ages 3-8 years, n = 26 educators working with children ages 3-8 years) participated in a virtual training over 3 weeks. Participants completed pre-training, post-training, and 2-month follow-up questionnaires evaluating their knowledge of social-emotional concepts, use of training strategies, mental health, and satisfaction with the training. Caregivers also reported children's social-emotional capacities and mental health. RESULTS: On average, caregivers and educators completed 83% of the virtual training sessions and reported high satisfaction with the training. Further, preliminary evidence indicated that caregivers' and educators' knowledge of social-emotional concepts increased pre- to post-training and was maintained at the 2-month follow-up. Increases in caregivers' and educators' knowledge and greater use of training strategies were associated with improvements in children's social-emotional capacities and caregivers' and educators' own mental health. CONCLUSIONS: These pilot results support the feasibility of infusing evidence-based social-emotional content into caregiver and educator training initiatives aimed at nurturing child social-emotional development and mental health. The results inform future evaluation of the short- and long-term benefits of this training with a full-scale randomized controlled trial design.

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The first 1000 days after conception are considered critical for healthy development and well-being throughout life. Fundamental to health practices during pregnancy and positive parenting after birth is the development of maternal-infant bonding. Previous research has demonstrated the importance of having an involved partner during pregnancy and in parenting for optimal maternal-infant bonding. The current study examined maternal-infant bonding and partner support during pregnancy and the postpartum period, and their associations with early child social-emotional development. A total of 227 women completed the Pre- and Postnatal Bonding Scale (PPBS) and Tilburg Pregnancy Distress Scale (TPDS) during pregnancy (32 weeks of gestation) and at 8 months postpartum, assessing maternal-infant bonding and partner support. Additionally, a questionnaire on social-emotional behavior of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development was administered to mothers to measure child development at 2 years of age. Path analyses revealed an indirect positive effect of prenatal maternal-infant bonding on child social-emotional development through postnatal maternal-infant bonding, as well as mediating effects of pre- and postnatal maternal-infant bonding on the association between pre- and postnatal partner support and child social-emotional development. Our findings support the notion that an emotional connection from mother to child originates in pregnancy and that experiencing positive feelings towards the fetus promotes positive maternal-infant bonding after birth and social-emotional capacities of the child. Additionally, having a supportive partner during pregnancy and postpartum, might be essential for the development of optimal maternal-infant bonding.

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Introduction: Social-emotional competence is foundational to children's health and well-being. Body-oriented interventions, such as relaxation or play based interventions, have been shown to promote social-emotional competence, however more studies are needed to better understand the specific benefits of each type of body-oriented approach. Objective: The present study aimed to examine the chronic and the acute effects of three body-oriented intervention programs (loose parts play, relaxation and combining loose parts play and relaxation) on preschoolers' social-emotional competence. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was carried out, including 62 preschoolers (4.44 ± 0.93 years) that were allocated into 4 groups: Loose Parts Play program (n = 17); Relaxation program (n = 17); Combined program (n = 13); and Waitlist Control Group (no intervention; n = 15). All three intervention programs had a 12-week duration, with biweekly sessions of 30-min, implemented in the preschool outdoors. To examine the chronic effects of the intervention programs, all instruments (parents' and preschool teacher's questionnaires, tasks and saliva) were collected at baseline and after the 12-week period. To examine the acute effects, saliva samples were collected immediately before and after the 1st and the 24th sessions, with a total of 4 collections per child. Results: Both loose parts play and relaxation interventions significantly improved (p < 0.05) children's positive emotion expression. Several within-groups changes were found for the Loose parts play, Relaxation and Combined programs. Conclusion: Body-oriented interventions effectively promote preschoolers' social-emotional competence.