Objective: This study aimed to explore whether and how infants showed their empathy in everyday lives at a childcare center. Methods: The participants of this research were 10 infants (23~31 months) attending a one-year-old classroom in a childcare center located in Seoul, and the data were collected primarily thorough participant observations. Results: The infants showed four categories of empathy in their everyday lives. The first one was related to the safety of their peers; it was presented when the infants found out that their peers were sick, in trouble, and having a hard time separating from their parents, or when they found possible risks to their peers. The second one was related to the achievement of their peers; it was presented when the infants noticed their peers trying hard to continue their play. The third one was related to the infants' pleasure; it was presented when they felt shared interests and joy with their peers. The fourth one was related to the infants' self-reflection; it was presented when the infants found out that what they had been doing made their peers upset. Conclusion/Implications: These results demonstrate infants' ability to empathize with others and also imply the need to support their development of empathy continuously.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify the longitudinal reciprocal relationship between young children's vocabulary ability and physical aggression in young children. Methods: Two waves of panel data(2013/2015) from the Panel Study of Korean Children were analyzed in this study by using an adapted version of Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling. A total of 306 five-year-old and seven-year-old preschoolers, and their mothers participated in the study. Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling for multiple groups was conducted by using AMOS 24.0. Results: First, vocabulary ability and physical aggression showed stability over time. Second, young children's vocabulary ability(t) had a statistically significant effect on physical aggression(t+1). Conclusion/Implications: This study confirmed the interrelationships of young children's vocabulary ability and physical aggression by examining longitudinal data using the longitudinal analysis method. This study highlights the importance of developing interventions to support language development with aggressive children. The results of the present study can be used as a source in developing policies for aggressive children and their parents.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between young children's temperament, emotional regulation ability and mother's parenting sense of competence. Methods: The participants were comprised of 315 young children who attend a kindergarten or day care center and their mothers from Seoul, Inchon, and Gyeonggi-do Province. They completed questionnaires on temperament, emotion regulation ability, and parenting sense of competence. The data were analyzed by frequency analysis, Cronbach's ${\alpha}$, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and multiple regression analysis. Results: It was observed that young children's regularity/adaptability was positively correlated with sense of competence as a parent and young children's emotional regulation. Young children's regularity/adaptability was negatively correlated with dissatisfaction as a parent and young children's emotional instability/negativity. Sense of competence as a parent was positively correlated with young children's emotional regulation and negatively correlated with young children's emotional instability/negativity. In addition, it was further found that the mother's parenting sense of competence tended to play a perfectly/partially mediating role between young children's temperament and young children's emotional regulation ability respectively. Conclusion/Implications: These results clearly indicated that parenting sense of competence plays a crucial role between young children's temperament and emotional regulation.

Objective: This study aimed to provide a systematic understanding of children's peer initiative and peer acceptance and to offer specific information to increase young children's social competence. Methods: Participants were 235 5-year-old children from six child care centers in Sejong City. The participants were interviewed to measure the peer acceptance of children attending the same class. Also, a survey was conducted on their teachers to measure children's peer initiative and the relationship with them. The collected data were analyzed by hierarchical regression using the SPSS 21.0 program. Results: The results showed that significant main effects of friendly and unfriendly peer-initiatives on peer acceptance were found. The effects of teacher-child relationships and their moderating effects, however, were partial; only main influences of close relationships and the interaction effects between peer-initiatives and close relationships were significant. That is, the relationships between improper initiatives and low acceptance levels among peers were more intense when children established conflict relationships with their teacher. Conclusion/Implications: We found that close teacher-child relationships play moderating roles on the pathway from peer initiative to peer acceptance as a protective risk factor for children.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the level of communication difficulty between child-care teachers and parents and teachers' job satisfaction on teacher's emotional labor. Methods: The data of 137 questionnaires collected in Y city, Gyeongggi-do were analyzed. The respondents of the questionnaires were teachers of 0-5 year old children. Statistical analyses were performed using frequency analysis, explorative factor analysis, independent t-test, One-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis at the p < .05 by SPSS 24.0 program. Results: First, there was no statistically significant difference on child-care teachers' communication difficulties with parents by sociological variables of child-care teachers. Second, there was no statistically significant difference on teachers' job satisfaction by sociological variables of child-care teachers. However, there were significant differences on the sub-factors of job satisfaction by teaching careers, types of workplace, and marital status. Third, these two factors were found to be important predictors of child-care teachers' emotional labor. Conclusion/Implications: In order to reduce the emotional labor experienced by child-care teachers in early childhood care settings, it will be necessary to pursue a multi-faceted approach to improving the working environment.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effect of a teacher professional learning environment at workplace day care centers on the professionalism of beginning teachers and also to verify the mediating effects of the beginning teachers'work task motivation on that relationship. Methods: The participants were 129 new teachers currently employed at workplace day care centers. The Current Status for Professional Competence was used to measure the teachers' professionalism. The Professional Learning Environment Inventory assesses the professional learning environment of day care centers. To measure the work task motivation, the Work Tasks Motivation Scale for Teachers was used. Results: Firstly, positive relationships were identified between a professional learning environment and their intrinsic motivation and identified motivation. However, there were also negative relationships between the professional learning environment and their introjected motivation and amotivation. Secondly, this study partially verified the mediating effects of the beginning teachers'work task motivation on the relationship between the professional learning environment and teachers' professionalism. Conclusion/Implications: The relationship between the professional learning environment and the professionalism of beginning teachers was mediated by the teachers'own intrinsic motivations, identified motivations, and amotivation.