The current study evaluated bidirectional associations between mother and father positive parenting and child effortful control. Data were drawn from 220 families when children were 3, 4, 5, and 6 years old. Parenting and effortful control were assessed when the child was 3, 4, and 5 years old. These variables were used to statistically predict…

Research Findings: Individual and contextual variables were examined in relation to children's ability to cope with socioemotional and academic challenges in a sample of typically developing (n = 51) and anxious (n = 72) children of elementary and middle school age. Anxious children had greater social difficulties than controls and showed…

Children from low-income families benefit remarkably from exposure to compensatory education that began with Head Start in 1965 and aimed to improve school readiness skills by design. While empirical evidence has supported more instructional time in elementary and secondary schools for low-income students, little is known that whether increasing…

This study investigated the extent to which learning readiness, prior-to-school experiences, and child and family characteristics influence children's literacy and numeracy achievement across the first year of primary school. A sample of 104 kindergarten children was recruited from 16 classrooms and followed from the beginning to the end of their…

Recent advances in methods and computer software for longitudinal data analysis have pushed researchers to more critically examine developmental theories. In turn, researchers have also begun to push longitudinal methods by asking more complex developmental questions. One such question involves the relationships between two developmental…

Premises about the effects of early engagement on achievement were investigated with 383 children who were followed from ages 5.5 to 13.5. Change and continuity in behavioral (cooperative-resistant classroom participation) and emotional (school liking-avoidance) engagement were assessed during Grades 1-3 and were examined within variable- and…

To reemphasize the dangers inherent in the misuse of testing instruments, a study of language and cognitive development in poverty preschoolers investigated 1) whether the interpretation of Peabody scores could be applied to this population, and 2) the contribution of the linguistic form of the Peabody to performance. (MS)