Associations among family environment, sustained attention, and school readiness for low-income children.

In this study, we examined the developmental pathways from children's family environment to school readiness within a low-income sample (N = 1,046), with a specific focus on the role of sustained attention. Six distinct factors of the family environment representing maternal parenting behaviors, the physical home environment, and maternal mental health at 3 years of age were explored as independent predictors of children's observed sustained attention as well as cognitive and behavioral outcomes at 5 years of age. Children were grouped by poverty status (poor vs. near-poor). Results suggest specificity in the associations among attention (focused attention and lack of impulsivity) and its correlates, with different patterns emerging by poverty status group. Overall, the family environment was largely unrelated to children's sustained attention. For both groups, focused attention was associated with receptive vocabulary; however, it partially mediated the association between maternal lack of hostility and receptive vocabulary only among the near-poor. In addition, lack of impulsivity was associated with both receptive vocabulary and externalizing behaviors but only for the poor group. Findings indicate sustained attention as a potential target for efforts aimed at enhancing school readiness among predominantly poor children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of cognitive skills and gains in academic school readiness for children from low-income families.

This study examined developmental associations between growth in domain-general cognitive processes (working memory and attention control) and growth in domain-specific skills (emergent literacy and numeracy) across the prekindergarten year and their relative contributions to kindergarten reading and math achievement. One hundred sixty-four Head Start children (44% African American or Latino; 57% female) were followed longitudinally. Path analyses revealed that working memory and attention control predicted growth in emergent literacy and numeracy skills during the prekindergarten year and that growth in these domain-general cognitive skills made unique contributions to the prediction of kindergarten math and reading achievement, controlling for growth in domain-specific skills. These findings extend research highlighting the importance of working memory and attention control for academic learning, demonstrating the effects in early childhood, prior to school entry. Implications of these findings for prekindergarten programs are discussed, particularly those designed to reduce the school readiness gaps associated with socioeconomic disadvantage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do children's attention processes mediate the link between family predictors and school readiness?

The role of attention processes as possible mediators between family environment and school readiness was analyzed with data from 1,002 children and their families. Data on children's sustained attention, impulsivity, and school readiness (i.e., cognitive, achievement, language, and social development) were obtained at 54 months of age, and quality of the family environment was assessed throughout the first 54 months. Mediation tests showed that children's sustained attention partially accounted for the link between family environment and achievement and language outcomes. Impulsivity partially accounted for the link between family environment and achievement, social competence, and externalizing behaviors. The roles of sustained attention and of inhibition of impulsive responding in the relation between family characteristics and school readiness are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Play, aggression, the preschool child, and the family: A review of literature to guide empirically informed play therapy with aggressive preschool children.

Preschool-aged children displaying high levels of aggression repeatedly have been shown to be at significant risk for continued behavior problems and other social and emotional challenges throughout their lifetimes. The present literature review seeks to summarize and integrate findings across the fields of developmental psychology, family studies, child development, and play therapy to inform play therapists' practices with this population. Specifically, findings from research in these fields hold substantial implications for empirically informed ways in which play therapists can include parents within play therapy processes. Affective quality of parent- child interactions emerges as the common theme across all existing literature and is emphasized as a critical focus for play-based therapeutic intervention. Topics for future research by play therapists focusing on this population are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex, ethnicity, and play preferences of preschool children.

"Preschool children of Oriental… and Caucasian… background were observed, using a time-sampling technique; and their choices of play companions were analyzed. Children in both ethnic groups were found to prefer play companions of their own sex, this tendency being more pronounced in boys than in girls." Ss tended to play with dolls resembling their own race. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4FF83M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting and academic socialization as they relate to school readiness: The roles of ethnicity and family income.

Relationships between parenting and children's school readiness were examined within socioeconomically comparable samples of African American and Euro-American kindergarten children, mothers, and teachers. The moderating role of family income and ethnicity for the relationships between parenting behaviors, parental expectations, and school involvement and children's early school performance were also examined. Although there were many similarities across ethnic groups in the relationships between parenting and school performance, family income moderated the relationship between parenting behaviors and prereading scores: Parenting had a much stronger relationship with prereading performance for lower income families than for higher income families. Ethnicity moderated the relationships between parental school involvement and children's premath performance. Implications of these findings for prevention and intervention programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collateral benefits of the family check-up on early childhood school readiness: Indirect effects of parents' positive behavior support.

The authors examined the longitudinal effects of the Family Check-Up (FCU) on parents' positive behavior support and children's school readiness competencies in early childhood. It was hypothesized that the FCU would promote language skills and inhibitory control in children at risk for behavior problems as an indirect outcome associated with targeted improvements in parents' positive behavior support. High-risk families in the Women, Infants, and Children Nutrition Program participated in a multisite preventive intervention study (N = 731) with 3 yearly assessments beginning at child age 2 years. Positive behavior support was measured using 4 indicators derived from at-home observations of parent-child interaction during semistructured tasks. Longitudinal structural equation models revealed that parents in families randomly assigned to the FCU showed improvements in positive behavior support from child age 2 to 3, which in turn promoted children's inhibitory control and language development from age 3 to 4, accounting for child gender, ethnicity, and parental education. Findings suggest that a brief, ecological preventive intervention supporting positive parenting practices can indirectly foster key facets of school readiness in children at risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and impact of changes in home learning environment on development of language and academic skills in preschool children.

In this study, we examined changes in the early home learning environment as children approached school entry and whether these changes predicted the development of children's language and academic skills. Findings from a national sample of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,018) revealed an overall improvement in the home learning environment from 36 to 54 months of children's age, with 30.6% of parents of preschoolers displaying significant improvement in the home environment (i.e., changes greater than 1 SD) and with only 0.6% showing a decrease. More important, the degree of change uniquely contributed to the children's language but not to their academic skills. Home changes were more likely to be observed from mothers with more education and work hours and with fewer symptoms of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Head Start and urban children's school readiness: A birth cohort study in 18 cities.

We used longitudinal data from a birth cohort study, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, to investigate the links between Head Start and school readiness in a large and diverse sample of urban children at age 5 (N = 2,803; 18 cities). We found that Head Start attendance was associated with enhanced cognitive ability and social competence and reduced attention problems but not reduced internalizing or externalizing behavior problems. These findings were robust to model specifications (including models with city-fixed effects and propensity-scoring matching). Furthermore, the effects of Head Start varied by the reference group. Head Start was associated with improved cognitive development when compared with parental care or other nonparental care, as well as improved social competence (compared with parental care) and reduced attention problems (compared with other nonparental care). In contrast, compared with attendance at pre-kindergarten or other center-based care, Head Start attendance was not associated with cognitive gains but with improved social competence and reduced attention and externalizing behavior problems (compared with attendance at other center-based care). These associations were not moderated by child gender or race/ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of preschool children's (Homo sapiens) uses of objects and their role in peer group centrality.

The ways in which objects were used by preschool children (Homo sapiens) was examined by directly observing them across one school year. In the first objective we documented the relative occurrence of different forms of object use and their developmental growth curves. Second, we examined the role of different types of object use, as well as novel and varied uses of objects, in predicting peer group centrality. Results indicated that noninstrumental object play was the most frequently observed category, followed by tool use, exploration, and construction; sex moderated the growth curve of children's exploration. Noninstrumental object play, not other types of object use, was significantly related to novel and varied object uses and only the latter category predicted peer group centrality. Results are discussed in terms of the social transmission of novel object use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

School readiness and later achievement: A French Canadian replication and extension.

We first replicated the data analytic strategy used in Duncan et al. (2007) with a population-based data set of French-speaking children from Quebec (Canada). Prospective associations were examined between cognitive, attention, and socioemotional characteristics underlying kindergarten school readiness and second grade math, reading, and general achievement. We then extended this school readiness model by including motor skills as an additional element in the prediction equation and expanded the original strategy by including classroom engagement. The Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Preschool Study, featured in Duncan et al., served as the Canadian reference group. In the replication model, kindergarten cognitive and attention characteristics predicted achievement by the end of 2nd grade. Although inconsistent across outcomes, behavioral problems and skills also emerged as predictors of some aspects of later achievement. Coefficients for kindergarten math skills were largest, followed by attention skills, receptive language skills, attention problems, and behavior. Most coefficients resembled those generated in the initial study. In our extension model, fine motor skills added their significant contribution to the prediction of later achievement above and beyond the original key elements of school readiness. Our extension model confirmed prospectively associations between kindergarten cognitive, attention, fine motor, and physical aggression characteristics and later achievement and classroom engagement by the end of 2nd grade. Although they comparatively showed better long-term benefits from stronger early attention skills, girls with less kindergarten cognitive skills were more vulnerable than boys with similar deficits when predicting 2nd grade math. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between hiding skill and judgment of eye direction in preschool children.

This study examines J. H. Flavell, S. G. Shipstead, and K. Croft's (1978) finding that 2 1/2-year-old children can hide an object behind a screen but cannot achieve the same result by placing the screen in front of the object. Experiment 1 replicated this finding alongside a task in which children judged what a person in a picture was looking at. Performance on the move-object task approached ceiling; performances on the move-screen and looking-where tasks were highly correlated even after age and control task performance were partialed out (r=.54, pengagement, a precursor to a mature understanding of attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reticent behavior and experiences in peer interactions in Chinese and Canadian children.

In this study, the authors examined relations between reticent behavior in unfamiliar peer situations and experiences in interactions in Chinese and Canadian children. Observational data were collected from samples of children at 4 years of age in the People's Republic of China and Canada. The results indicated that relations between reticent behavior and peer initiations were similar in the 2 samples. The differences between the samples were mainly in peer responses. Reticent behavior was associated with peer rejection such as overt refusal and disagreement in the Canadian sample but with positive responses such as approval in the Chinese sample, particularly when children made low-power initiations. The results suggest that reticent children in China and Canada may have similar as well as different experiences in social interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effectiveness of child-centered play therapy on developmental and diagnostic factors in children who are homeless.

Children who are homeless have numerous emotional, social, behavioral, and developmental challenges. This pilot research study examined the effectiveness of child-centered play therapy on developmental and diagnostic factors in 36 elementary schoolchildren who are homeless. Results indicate statistically significant improvement in 1 of 2 developmental strands and 1 of 3 diagnostic profiles as measured by the Boxall Profile. Specifically, children who are homeless improved in internalization of controls and self-limiting features and showed positive trends in unsupported development. Effect sizes ranged from small to medium. The findings are congruent with previous research that indicates that child-centered play therapy may have a positive impact on children who are homeless and on children's development within the classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of classroom situational dimensions of emotional and behavioral adjustment and cognitive and social outcomes for Head Start children.

This study used a developmental-ecological approach to investigate the relationship across the school year between early problems in preschool classroom situations and a comprehensive set of readiness competencies for urban low-income children. Study 1 identified 3 reliable and unique underlying classroom situational dimensions where behavior problems occurred: structured learning, peer interaction, and teacher interaction situations. Boys and younger children evidenced more problematic behavior across all situations. Study 2 investigated the relationship between early problems in the situations and readiness outcomes. Early situational difficulties uniquely and differentially predicted lower peer social and classroom learning outcomes. In combination, both the type of behavior problem (what) and the situational problem (where) explained greater variance in the prediction of readiness outcomes, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of developmental trajectories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early school competence: The roles of sex-segregated play and effortful control.

The purpose of this research was to examine the role that young children's same-sex peer interactions play in influencing early school competence. The authors also examined the degree to which effortful control (EC) moderated these relations. The same-sex play preferences of 98 young children (50 boys and 48 girls; mean age = 54.77 months) were observed during the fall semester. At the end of the fall semester, one set of teachers reported on children's EC, and at the end of the following spring semester, another set reported on children's school competence (social, academic, and perceptual-motor). Results revealed that EC moderated the relations of children's same-sex play to their school competence. These patterns differed for boys and girls such that same-sex play was positively related to school outcomes for boys high in EC and for girls low in EC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibition and exuberance in preschool classrooms: Associations with peer social experiences and changes in cortisol across the preschool year.

Associations between behavioral inhibition and activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) system, a stress-sensitive neuroendocrine system indexed by salivary cortisol, have varied widely across studies. In the current study, we examined the role of peer social experiences in moderating patterns of association between inhibition/risk-aversion and cortisol reactivity. As expected based on previous research, preschool children (N = 165, 78 boys, 87 girls, 3.0–5.0 years) had significantly different social experiences in their preschool classrooms depending on temperament. Highly inhibited/risk-averse children were less socially integrated, less dominant, and less involved in aggressive encounters than both average and highly exuberant/risk-seeking children, but they were no more likely to be peer rejected. Highly exuberant children were more dominant, exhibited anger more often, and had friendships characterized by higher conflict. Cortisol levels fell from fall to spring for average and highly exuberant children but not for highly inhibited children. Unexpectedly, for highly inhibited children, having friends and being more dominant and popular than other highly inhibited children was associated with increasing cortisol levels over the school year. In contrast, highly exuberant children who were less socially integrated than other highly exuberant children maintained higher cortisol levels. Results indicate that the types of social experiences that affect stress-responsive biological systems may differ markedly for highly inhibited and highly exuberant children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

School readiness: Integrating cognition and emotion in a neurobiological conceptualization of children's functioning at school entry.

The author examines the construct of emotionality, developmental relations between cognition and emotion, and neural plasticity and frontal cortical functioning and proposes a developmental neurobiological model of children's school readiness. Direct links are proposed among emotionality, use-dependent synaptic stabilization related to the prefrontal cortex, the development of executive function abilities, and academic and social competence in school settings. The author considers research on the efficacy of preschool compensatory education in promoting school readiness and recommends that programs expand to include curricula directly addressing social and emotional competence. Research should focus on the ontogeny of self-regulation and successful adaptation to the socially defined role of student, the development of prevention research programs to reflect this orientation, and interdisciplinary collaborations that integrate scientific methods and questions in the pursuit of comprehensive knowledge of human developmental processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal relationship instability and the school behavior of children from disadvantaged families.

This longitudinal study examined the relation between the instability of maternal intimate relationships and the school behavior of 3rd-grade children from economically disadvantaged families. After ecological correlates were controlled, chronic relationship instability predicted externalizing behavior for boys and girls and internalizing behavior for girls, but not academic competence. In addition, past and recent instability had independent effects: Recent instability moderated the relation for past instability, and child adjustment in highly unstable families varied with verbal ability and aspects of the family ecology. The theoretical implications concern conceptualizations of the diverse and dynamic nature of family arrangements experienced by disadvantaged children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elementary school children's perceptions of play therapy in school settings.

Seven elementary school children's perceptions of the process of counseling with school counselors who utilized play therapy techniques were explored through a qualitative investigation. Findings included the importance of the therapeutic relationship, emotional expressiveness, and creative play. Better choices, decreased anxiety, increased empathy, and bolstered self-confidence were reported by participants as a result of participation in the counseling process. Additionally, participants articulated their preference for a mixture of traditional verbal interventions and play therapy techniques to solve problems in counseling. Implications for play therapists and counselors who utilize play therapy techniques in school settings are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)