Developmental trajectory of social reward motivation from early adolescence into adulthood in female and male Long-Evans rats.

Most studies of adolescent and adult behavior involved one age group of each, whereas the dynamic changes in brain development suggest that there may be behavioral flux in adolescence. In two studies, we investigated developmental changes in social reward motivation in female and male Long-Evans rats from prepuberty to early adulthood in a social operant conditioning task. Given the earlier onset of puberty in females than in males, we predicted the course of social reward development would differ between the sexes. Overall, the pattern of results from both studies suggests that the trajectory of social motivation across adolescence is characterized by upward and downward shifts that do not depend on the sex of the rats. During training, in both studies, the mean number of social gate openings and percentage of social gate openings was higher at P30 (prepubertal, early adolescence) and P50 (late adolescence) than at P40 (mid adolescence) and P70 (adulthood) irrespective of sex. Nevertheless, the specific age comparisons that were significant depended on the study. In both studies, P30 rats had greater levels of social motivation than did adults in accessing a social reward when increased effort was required (progressive ratio tests). In an extinction test, only P30 and P50 rats continued to show more nose-pokes at the previously social gate than at the nonsocial gate, suggesting resistance to extinction. The results highlight the importance of characterizing behavior at several timepoints in adolescence to understand the neural mechanisms, many of which show similar discontinuities as they develop across adolescence.

The relationship between attachment representations and minimal intergroup bias in preschool-aged children.

Attachment theory proposes that young children's experiences with their caregivers has a tremendous influence on how children navigate their social relationships. By the end of early childhood, intergroup contexts play an important role in their social life and children build strong ties to their ingroups. Although both domains relate to the same psychological processes-children's affective ties to others-surprisingly very little research has addressed how children's attachment relates to their intergroup attitudes and behavior. In this study, we investigate the link. For that purpose, 5-year-old children (n = 100) first underwent the German Attachment Story Completion Task (GEV-B). Then we allocated children into minimal groups based on T-Shirt color and assessed their intergroup attitudes and intergroup behavior. Results showed that while most children showed a strong and robust ingroup bias in their attitudes and behavior, children with an insecure-ambivalent attachment representation treated in- and outgroup similarly. Overall, this study provides novel perspectives on the relationship between children's attachment representation and their interactions in the social world. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This study provides novel insights into the relationship between children's attachment security and the development of intergroup bias in a minimal group context Children with secure, insecure-avoidant and disorganized attachment representation showed a strong intergroup bias in explicit attitudes and behavior Children with insecure-ambivalent attachment representation displayed no intergroup bias Insecure-ambivalent attachment representations might be detrimental to the formation of ingroup attachment.

Infants Infer Social Relationships Between Individuals Who Engage in Imitative Social Interactions.

Infants are born into rich social networks and are faced with the challenge of learning about them. When infants observe social interactions, they make predictions about future behavior, but it is not clear whether these predictions are based on social dispositions, social relationships, or both. The current studies (N = 188, N = 90 males) address this question in 12-month-old infants and 16- to 18-month-old toddlers who observe social interactions involving imitation. In Studies 1 and 3, infants and toddlers expected that imitators, compared to non-imitators, would respond to their social partners' distress. Likewise, they expected the targets of imitation, compared to non-targets, to respond to their partner's distress. In Study 2, these expectations did not generalize to interactions with a new partner, providing evidence that infants learned about the relationships between individuals as opposed to their dispositions. In Study 3, infants did not make predictions about responses to laughter, suggesting that infants see imitation as indicative of a specific kind of social relationship. Together, these results provide evidence that imitative interactions support infants' and toddlers' learning about the social relationships connecting unknown individuals.

Sleep Quality, Nutrient Intake, and Social Development Index Predict Metabolic Syndrome in the Tlalpan 2020 Cohort: A Machine Learning and Synthetic Data Study.

This study investigated the relationship between Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), sleep disorders, the consumption of some nutrients, and social development factors, focusing on gender differences in an unbalanced dataset from a Mexico City cohort. We used data balancing techniques like SMOTE and ADASYN after employing machine learning models like random forest and RPART to predict MetS. Random forest excelled, achieving significant, balanced accuracy, indicating its robustness in predicting MetS and achieving a balanced accuracy of approximately 87%. Key predictors for men included body mass index and family history of gout, while waist circumference and glucose levels were most significant for women. In relation to diet, sleep quality, and social development, metabolic syndrome in men was associated with high lactose and carbohydrate intake, educational lag, living with a partner without marrying, and lack of durable goods, whereas in women, best predictors in these dimensions include protein, fructose, and cholesterol intake, copper metabolites, snoring, sobbing, drowsiness, sanitary adequacy, and anxiety. These findings underscore the need for personalized approaches in managing MetS and point to a promising direction for future research into the interplay between social factors, sleep disorders, and metabolic health, which mainly depend on nutrient consumption by region.

Ecological variation in adult social play reveals a hidden cost of motherhood for wild chimpanzees.

Though common among humans, social play by adults is an uncommon occurrence in most animals, even between parents and offspring.1,2,3 The most common explanation for why adult play is so rare is that its function and benefits are largely limited to development, so that social play has little value later in life.3,4,5,6 Here, we draw from 10 years of behavioral data collected by the Kibale Chimpanzee Project to consider an alternative hypothesis: that despite its benefits, adult play in non-humans is ecologically constrained by energy shortage or time limitations. We further hypothesized that, since they may be the only available partners for their young offspring, mother chimpanzees pay greater costs of play than other adults. Our analysis of nearly 4,000 adult play bouts revealed that adult chimpanzees played both among themselves and with immature partners. Social play was infrequent when diet quality was low but increased with the proportion of high-quality fruits in the diet. This suggests that adults engage in play facultatively when they have more energy and/or time to do so. However, when diet quality was low and most adult play fell to near zero, play persisted between mothers and offspring. Increased use of play by adult chimpanzees during periods of resource abundance suggests that play retains value as a social currency beyond development but that its costs constrain its use. At the same time, when ecological conditions constrain opportunities for young to play, play by mothers fills a critical role to promote healthy offspring development.

Hospitalizations for Cardiovascular Diseases Sensitive to Primary Health Care in Paraná State, Brazil: A Bayesian Spatiotemporal Model.

PURPOSE: To analyze spatiotemporal trends in hospitalizations for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) sensitive to primary health care (PHC) among individuals aged 50-69 years in Paraná State, Brazil, from 2014 to 2019 and investigate correlations between PHC services and the Social Development Index. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional ecological study using publicly available secondary data to analyze the municipal incidence of hospitalizations for CVD sensitive to PHC and to estimate the risk of hospitalization for this group of diseases and associated factors using hierarchical Bayesian spatiotemporal modeling with Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation. RESULTS: There was a 5% decrease in the average rate of hospitalizations for PHC-sensitive CVD from 2014 to 2019. Regarding standardized hospitalization rate (SHR) according to population size, we found that no large municipality had an SHR >2. Likewise, a minority of these municipalities had SHR values of 1-2 (33%). However, many small and medium-sized municipalities had SHR values >2 (47% and 48%, respectively). A greater Social Development Index value served as a protective factor against hospitalizations, with a relative risk of 0.957 (95% credible interval, 0.929-0.984). CONCLUSIONS: The annual risk of hospitalization decreased over time; however, small municipalities had the greatest rates of hospitalization, indicating an increase in health inequity. The inverse association between social development and hospitalizations for CVD sensitive to PHC raises questions about intersectionality in health care.

A qualitative comparative analysis of the evolution path of postgraduate enrollment expansion policies and social development in China.

Postgraduate enrollment expansion policies in China have formed a development system of postgraduate education with an expansion of scale and increase of categories. Taking the institutional equilibrium theory as the prerequisite of assumption, this study evaluates 30 postgraduate enrollment expansion policies using the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis method (fsQCA method) and explores the matching degree between policy changing path and social development. It is found that path dependence is the main cause and trend of progressive policy change, the construction of the national strategy determines the direction and content of policy change, and the environment induces the abrupt logic and gives early warning to policy change. Therefore, the postgraduate enrollment expansion policy system respects the law of education itself, has contingency and flexibility, adjusts the training structure, and improves the competence of highly specialized talents to serve society. However, it is still necessary to closely follow the social demand to clarify the dialectical relationship between the scale and structure of postgraduate enrollment and highlight the strategic advantages of the government's decision.

The longitudinal relationship between socioemotional difficulties and irritability in ADHD.

BACKGROUND: Despite higher rates of irritability and socioemotional symptoms in ADHD, consensus is lacking regarding their developmental relationship and whether it differs by ADHD status. This longitudinal study sought to evaluate how peer and emotional difficulties relate to irritability in ADHD and control groups. METHODS: A community sample of 336 participants (45 % ADHD) were recruited for the Children's Attention Project. Participants completed the Affective Reactivity Index and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire's emotional and peer difficulties scales at baseline (mean age 10.5 years) and 18-month follow-up. Latent Change Score models assessed how emotional and peer difficulties related to irritability at baseline and longitudinally. RESULTS: For both groups, more severe baseline difficulties were associated with higher concurrent irritability, and reductions in emotional and peer difficulties were associated with declining irritability. Baseline emotional difficulties predicted change in irritability for the ADHD group, while baseline peer difficulties predicted change in irritability for both groups. Baseline irritability did not predict change in emotional or peer difficulties for either. The ADHD group showed elevated irritability, emotional, and peer difficulties, and stronger baseline correlation between peer difficulties and irritability. LIMITATIONS: Only two timepoints were captured, and associations with ADHD symptom severity and presentation were not investigated. Doing so may facilitate additional insights. CONCLUSIONS: Change in irritability corresponded to change in socioemotional difficulties, and was driven by earlier levels of socioemotional difficulties. ADHD exacerbated aspects of the relationship between socioemotional difficulties and irritability. Socioemotional difficulties drive irritability, so may represent targets for clinical interventions.

Caregiver-reported infant motor and imitation skills predict M-CHAT-R/F.

Altered motor and social-communicative abilities in infancy have been linked to later ASD diagnosis. Most diagnostic instruments for ASD cannot be utilized until 12 months, and the average child is diagnosed substantially later. Imitation combines motor and social-communicative skills and is commonly atypical in infants at risk for ASD. However, few measures have been developed to assess infant imitation clinically. One barrier to the diagnostic age gap of ASD is accessibility of screening and diagnostic services. Utilization of caregiver report to reliably screen for ASD mitigates such barriers and could aid in earlier detection. The present study developed and validated a caregiver-report measure of infant imitation at 4, 6, and 9 months and explored the relationship between caregiver-reported imitation and motor abilities with later ASD risk. Participants (N = 571) were caregivers of term and preterm infants recruited as part of a large multi-site study of PediaTrac™, a web-based tool for monitoring and tracking infant development. Caregivers completed online surveys and established questionnaires on a schedule corresponding to well-child visits from birth to 18 months, including the M-CHAT-R/F at 18 months. Distinct imitation factors were derived from PediaTrac at 4, 6, and 9 months via factor analysis. The results supported validity of the imitation factors via associations with measures of infant communication (CSBS; ASQ). Imitation and motor skills at 9 months predicted 18-month ASD risk over and above gestational age. Implications for assessment of infant imitation, detecting ASD risk in the first year, and contributing to access to care are discussed.

Effectiveness of Robotic Intervention on Improving Social Development and Participation of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder - A Randomised Controlled Trial.

Evidence-based robotic intervention programmes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been limited. As yet, there is insufficient evidence to inform therapists, teachers, and service providers on effectiveness of robotic intervention to enhance social development and participation of children with ASD in a real context. This study used a randomised controlled trial to test the efficacy of robotic intervention programmes in enhancing the social development and participation of children with ASD. 60 children with ASD were included. The participants were randomly assigned to the following groups: (1) robotic intervention programme (n = 20), (2) human-instructed programme (n = 20), and (3) control group (n = 20). Both the performance-based behavioural change in social communication and parent-reported change in social responsiveness were evaluated. The participants in the robotic intervention group demonstrated statistically significant changes in both the performance-based assessment and parent-reported change in social participation. Significant differences were found in the communication and reciprocal social interactions scores between the experimental group and the control and comparison groups in the performance-based assessment (p < 0.01). The effectiveness of robotic intervention programme to enhance the social communication and participation was confirmed. Future studies may also consider adding a maintenance phase to document how the effects of the intervention carry over to the participants over a longer period. (Clinical trial number: NCT04879303; Date of registration: 10 May 2021).

Do Peers, Neighborhood Disorder, Religiosity, Spirituality, and Family Support Influence Polysubstance Use Among Older Youth Transitioning from Foster Care?

PURPOSE: Few studies have explored polysubstance use among youths aging out of foster care, despite higher rates of substance misuse for youths exiting foster care than those in the general population. Polysubstance use has been linked to substance use disorders, health problems, cognitive impairment, suicide, and overdose. METHOD: This study investigates understudied risk and protective factors associated with polysubstance use with data from 384 youth who turned 17 years old between December 1, 2001, and June 30, 2003, and were transitioning out of foster care from the Missouri Children's Division. We conducted bivariate analyses with chi-square tests for categorical variables and Analysis of Variance with continuous independent variables. Then we conducted a multinomial logistic regression to explore differences between individuals who used 1 or no substances, individuals who used only alcohol and marijuana, and individuals who used 2 or more substances. RESULTS: Bivariate analyses found that being white, having deviant peers, and living in a more disordered neighborhood were risk factors for polysubstance use. Multinomial logistic regression results found that being white (RR = 6.89, p < .001), having deviant peers (RR = 1.15, p < .001), and living in a more disordered neighborhood (RR = 1.13, p < .05), increased the risk engaging in polysubstance use. DISCUSSION: Similar to findings in other studies, we found that deviant peers and neighborhood disorder increase the risk of polysubstance use, but family support, church attendance, and spirituality were not protective against polysubstance use. CONCLUSION: Interventions should work to reduce deviant peer relationships among foster youth.

Preschoolers retain more details from event sequences 1 week following an in-group demonstration.

Previous research highlights that the learning processes of preschool-aged children are influenced by the cultural group membership of the information sources. As of yet, however, no study has aimed to explore the influence of cultural group membership on the long-term retention of novel information. In the current study, 4-year-old children observed three event sequences that were demonstrated by either an adult speaking their native language or a foreign language speaker. In Experiment 1, children (N = 56) were allowed to imitate the events immediately. Results showed that the average number of accurately reproduced details (native = 3.26; foreign = 3.11) and the order of event elements (native = 1.69; foreign = 1.49) did not significantly differ in the two conditions. In Experiment 2, children (N = 56) were allowed to imitate only following a 1-week delay. In this case, children retained more details (native = 2.6; foreign = 2.2) and reproduced the order in the event sequences more accurately (native = 1.18; foreign = 0.87) following a native demonstration. The behavior of children in all conditions differed from a baseline group without any instruction (n = 15). These findings show that preschoolers retain more information in the long term when it was demonstrated to them by a member of their own culture. Importantly, they also learn from people belonging to different cultures-as evidenced by both the lack of difference in Experiment 1 and the difference between the out-group condition of Experiment 2 and the baseline.

Early life social complexity shapes adult neural processing in the communal spiny mouse Acomys cahirinus.

RATIONALE: Early life social rearing has profound consequences on offspring behavior and resilience. Yet, most studies examining early life development in rodents use species whose young are born immobile and do not produce complex social behavior until later in development. Furthermore, models of rearing under increased social complexity, rather than deprivation, are needed to provide alternative insight into the development of social neural circuitry. OBJECTIVES: To understand precocial offspring social development, we manipulated early life social complexity in the communal spiny mouse Acomys cahirinus and assessed long-term consequences on offspring social behavior, exploration, and neural responses to novel social stimuli. METHODS: Spiny mouse pups were raised in the presence or absence of a non-kin breeding group. Upon adulthood, subjects underwent social interaction tests, an open field test, and a novel object test. Subjects were then exposed to a novel conspecific and novel group and neural responses were quantified via immunohistochemical staining in brain regions associated with social behavior. RESULTS: Early life social experience did not influence behavior in the test battery, but it did influence social processing. In animals exposed to non-kin during development, adult lateral septal neural responses toward a novel conspecific were weaker and hypothalamic neural responses toward a mixed-sex group were stronger. CONCLUSIONS: Communal species may exhibit robust behavioral resilience to the early life social environment. But the early life environment can affect how novel social information is processed in the brain during adulthood, with long-term consequences that are likely to shape their behavioral trajectory.

Polygenic risk for schizophrenia predicting social trajectories in a general population sample.

BACKGROUND: We investigated (a) whether polygenic risk for schizophrenia predicts different trajectories of social development among those who have not developed psychoses and (b) whether possible associations are PRSSCZ-specific or evident also for any polygenic risk for mental disorders, e.g. for major depression. METHODS: Participants came from the population-based Young Finns Study (n = 2377). We calculated a polygenic risk score for schizophrenia (PRSSCZ) and for major depression (PRSDEP). Diagnoses of psychotic disorders were derived from the hospital care register. Social development from adolescence to middle age was measured by (a) perceived social support from friends, family, and a close other, (b) perceived sociability, and (c) family structure (partnership status, number of children, age of first-time parenthood). RESULTS: Among those without manifest psychoses, high PRSSCZ predicted lower experienced support from friends (B = -0.04, p = 0.009-0.035) and family (B = -0.04, p = 0.009-0.035) especially after early adulthood, and also lower perceived sociability (B = -0.05, p = 0.010-0.026). PRSSCZ was not related to family structure. PRSDEP did not predict any domain of social development. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals at high PRSSCZ (not converted to psychosis) seem to experience a lower preference to be with others over being alone. Individuals with high (v. low) PRSSCZ seem to have a similar family structure in terms of partnership status or number of children but, nevertheless, they experience less support from their family. Among those not converted to psychosis in a typical age period, high PRSSCZ may predict a 'later risk phase' and reduced functional resilience when approaching middle age.

Social feedback biases emerge during recall but not prediction and shift across the development of social anxiety.

Memory is a reconstructive process that can result in events being recalled as more positive or negative than they actually were. While positive recall biases may contribute to well-being, negative recall biases may promote internalizing symptoms, such as social anxiety. Adolescence is characterized by increased salience of peers and peak incidence of social anxiety. Symptoms often wax and wane before becoming more intractable during adulthood. Open questions remain regarding how and when biases for social feedback are expressed and how individual differences in biases may contribute to social anxiety across development. Two studies used a social feedback and cued response task to assess biases about being liked or disliked when retrieving memories vs. making predictions. Findings revealed a robust positivity bias about memories for social feedback, regardless of whether memories were true or false. Moreover, memory bias was associated with social anxiety in a developmentally sensitive way. Among adults (study 1), more severe symptoms of social anxiety were associated with a negativity bias. During the transition from adolescence to adulthood (study 2), age strengthened the positivity bias in those with less severe symptoms and strengthened the negativity bias in those with more severe symptoms. These patterns of bias were isolated to perceived memory retrieval and did not generalize to predictions about social feedback. These results provide initial support for a model by which schemas may infiltrate perceptions of memory for past, but not predictions of future, social events, shaping susceptibility for social anxiety, particularly during the transition into adulthood.

Social life cycle assessment for industrial product development: A comprehensive review and analysis.

The sustainable development goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda encompass a range of global challenges aimed at promoting prosperity and security for both current and future generations. Within this context, the Social Life Cycle Assessment emerges as a valuable tool for assessing the socioeconomic impact assessment associated with the life cycle of industrial products. Despite the presence of a methodological framework with a structured process, the implementation of the Social Life Cycle Assessment within the industrial domain is hampered by the lack of precise indicators, context-specific databases, limited case studies, and the dynamic characteristics inherent in social data. This study conducts a comprehensive review of the scientific literature and examines methodologies, databases, and software, focusing specifically on its applicability in the design and development of industrial products. The main objective is to evaluate the current research effort, identify available technical and digital resources for implementation in industrial companies, and outline key areas of work and specific challenges related to the social dimension of life cycle assessment. The results emphasize the priority of improving indicator frameworks within specific impact categories and developing novel metrics to mitigate uncertainty in decision-making processes. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of transitioning to standardized application procedures within industrial product sectors, thus ensuring methodological consistency and improving the reliability of assessments.

The slow emergence of gaze- and point-following: A longitudinal study of infants from 4 to 12 months.

Acquisition of visual attention-following skills, notably gaze- and point-following, contributes to infants' ability to share attention with caregivers, which in turn contributes to social learning and communication. However, the development of gaze- and point-following in the first 18 months remains controversial, in part because of different testing protocols and standards. To address this, we longitudinally tested N = 43 low-risk, North American middle-class infants' tendency to follow gaze direction, pointing gestures, and gaze-and-point combinations. Infants were tested monthly from 4 to 12 months of age. To control motivational differences, infants were taught to expect contingent reward videos in the target locations. No-cue trials were included to estimate spontaneous target fixation rates. A comparison sample (N = 23) was tested at 9 and 12 months to estimate practice effects. Results showed gradual increases in both gaze- and point-following starting around 7 months, and modest month-to-month individual stability from 8 to 12 months. However, attention-following did not exceed chance levels until after 6 months. Infants rarely followed cues to locations behind them, even at 12 months. Infants followed combined gaze-and-point cues more than gaze alone, and followed points at intermediate levels (not reliably different from the other cues). The comparison group's results showed that practice effects did not explain the age-related increase in attention-following. The results corroborate and extend previous findings that North American middle-class infants' attention-following in controlled laboratory settings increases slowly and incrementally between 6 and 12 months of age. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: A longitudinal experimental study documented the emergence and developmental trajectories of North American middle-class infants' visual attention-following skills, including gaze-following, point-following, and gaze-and-point-following. A new paradigm controlled for factors including motivation, attentiveness, and visual-search baserates. Motor development was ruled out as a predictor or limiter of the emergence of attention-following. Infants did not follow attention reliably until after 6 months, and following increased slowly from 7 to 12 months. Infants' individual trajectories showed modest month-to-month stability from 8 to 12 months of age.

Polygenic risk for schizophrenia, social dispositions, and pace of epigenetic aging: Results from the Young Finns Study.

Schizophrenia is often regarded as a disorder of premature aging. We investigated (a) whether polygenic risk for schizophrenia (PRSsch ) relates to pace of epigenetic aging and (b) whether personal dispositions toward active and emotionally close relationships protect against accelerated epigenetic aging in individuals with high PRSsch . The sample came from the population-based Young Finns Study (n = 1348). Epigenetic aging was measured with DNA methylation aging algorithms such as AgeAccelHannum , EEAAHannum , IEAAHannum , IEAAHorvath , AgeAccelHorvath , AgeAccelPheno , AgeAccelGrim , and DunedinPACE. A PRSsch was calculated using summary statistics from the most comprehensive genome-wide association study of schizophrenia to date. Social dispositions were assessed in terms of extraversion, sociability, reward dependence, cooperativeness, and attachment security. We found that PRSsch did not have a statistically significant effect on any studied indicator of epigenetic aging. Instead, PRSsch had a significant interaction with reward dependence (p = 0.001-0.004), cooperation (p = 0.009-0.020), extraversion (p = 0.019-0.041), sociability (p = 0.003-0.016), and attachment security (p = 0.007-0.014) in predicting AgeAccelHannum , EEAAHannum , or IEAAHannum . Specifically, participants with high PRSsch appeared to display accelerated epigenetic aging at higher (vs. lower) levels of extraversion, sociability, attachment security, reward dependence, and cooperativeness. A rather opposite pattern was evident for those with low PRSsch . No such interactions were evident when predicting the other indicators of epigenetic aging. In conclusion, against our hypothesis, frequent social interactions may relate to accelerated epigenetic aging in individuals at risk for psychosis. We speculate that this may be explained by social-cognitive impairments (perceiving social situations as overwhelming or excessively arousing) or ending up in less supportive or deviant social groups.

The potential of structured active play for social and personal development in preschoolers during cancer treatment: A qualitative RePlay study.

AIM: To explore the potential of a structured active play intervention to promote social and personal development in preschoolers during cancer treatment. DESIGN: A hermeneutic-phenomenological inspired explorative study. METHODS: Participant observations were conducted on 15 consecutively sampled children (aged 1-5 years) from April 2021 to April 2022. Observations were written as narrative scenic descriptions from field notes and were analysed inspired by hermeneutic-phenomenological analysis and using a thematic analysis structure. RESULTS: Observations were carried out during 67 group or individual structured active play sessions, resulting in 129 scenic descriptions. Observations of the children's emotional, verbal and bodily expressions and social interactions resulted in three main themes: (1) wanting to play, (2) gaining confidence in movement and (3) being part of a group. The findings showed how children, irrespective of age and the severity of their illness, wanted to play and expressed joy of movement. The children's daily physical state fluctuated and influenced their motivation to participate as well as their confidence in their physical abilities. Through structured active play and with support from their parents and healthcare professionals, the children had successful movement experiences and regained confidence in movement, supporting their personal development. Playing together with other children and accompanied by their parents, healthcare professionals supported the children's opportunities to practice social skills, such as turn-taking, waiting and taking charge. Familiarity, recognizability and fun were key motivational components for the children. CONCLUSION: Participating in structured active play during treatment has the potential to promote personal and social development in preschoolers with cancer. Parents play a crucial role in supporting the participation of their children. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION AND/OR PATIENT CARE: The healthcare system and healthcare professionals should provide opportunities for preschoolers with cancer and other illnesses to participate in structured active play. IMPACT: What problem did the study address? Cancer treatment affects the development of preschoolers' gross motor-, personal and social skills-essential skills in childhood development. This study aimed to explore the potential for social and personal development through structured active play. What were the main findings? This study found that preschoolers want to play, and participating in structured active play can support their personal and social development through regained confidence in movement and becoming part of a group. Where and on whom will the research have an impact? The research impacts healthcare professionals working with preschoolers in the healthcare system. Creating opportunities for preschoolers to participate in structured active play throughout treatment can promote personal and social development. REPORTING METHOD: The study adheres to relevant EQUATOR guidelines and is reported according to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) checklist. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Participants in this study were preschoolers with cancer and their parents. No public or patient involvement in the design of this study. TRIAL AND PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04672681. Registered on December 17, 2020. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04672681.