Research Findings: Children that experience neglect are at risk for maladaptive outcomes. One potential resource for these children is early childhood education (ECE), but there is currently limited evidence which is compounded by data limitations. This study used data from the National Study of Child and Adolescent Well-being II (N = 1,385) to…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are at heightened risk for developing comorbid psychological disorders, including anxiety disorders, which may be further exacerbated by the presence of externalizing behaviors. Here, we examined how structural language and pragmatic language predicted anxiety and externalizing behaviors. Participants…

Background: Preterm infants are at high risk for adverse neurodevelopmental and behavioral outcomes. Family Nurture Intervention (FNI) in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is designed to counteract adverse effects of separation of mothers and their preterm infants. Here, we evaluate effects of FNI on neurobehavioral outcomes. Methods: Data…

Aim: General developmental outcome is known to be good in school-aged children who experienced febrile seizures. We examined cognitive and behavioural outcomes in preschool children with febrile seizures, including language and executive functioning outcomes. Method: This work was performed in the Generation R Study, a population-based cohort…

Research on differential susceptibility to rearing suggests that infants with difficult temperaments are disproportionately affected by parenting and child care quality, but a major U.S. child care study raises questions as to whether quality of care influences social adjustment. One thousand three hundred sixty-four American children from…

Objectives: Prenatal exposure to heroin may have long-term consequences for development during early and middle childhood. The present research studied the cognitive, social, and emotional functioning of adolescents exposed to drugs prenatally, and investigated the extent to which the early adoption of children exposed prenatally to drugs would…

Using three waves of data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, this study examines differences in cognitive, academic, and affective well-being of youth first placed in nonkinship foster care (N=259) and youth first placed in group care (N=89). To compare nonrandomized groups, propensity score matching was used. Results…

Utilizing a developmental-ecological framework, the purpose of this study was to understand the unique impact of multiple maternal risks across time on ethnically diverse, low-income, preschool children's cognitive skills, pro-social behaviors, and behavior problems. Additionally, this study sought to understand the variability of maternal risks…

This study examined the moderating effect of low birth weight on the effectiveness of an early intervention program to improve cognitive, language and behavioral outcomes for children prenatally exposed to cocaine. Participants included 293 primarily minority, low SES children who were enrolled in the intervention during their first year and…

Proximal environmental variables illustrate aspects of the environment that are experienced directly and specifically by the child. The current study examined the associations between three proximal environmental variables: (1) quality of the home environment, (2) regularity of family routines and (3) frequency of parenting daily hassles and…