This paper used a nationally representative sample of children from the United States to examine the extent to which physical activity and sports participation may promote growth in children's executive functions (EFs), attention, and social self-control over time. Using data from the ECLS-K:2011 (N = 18,174), findings indicated that regular…

There is now wide consensus that the quality of family relationships is involved in the development of child executive functioning (EF), a set of cognitive skills that bear critical importance for social and academic adjustment at school. This body of research has, however, focused almost exclusively on dyadic parent-child interactions and failed…

In Australia and many other countries, the provision of the healthiest possible start in life for all children has been a priority for government. Evidence to support the importance of the early years for future development has accumulated over the past two decades [1]. Patterns of childhood development predict health, wellbeing, learning and…

Preparing students for entry into kindergarten is a key priority within the educational sector. Research has shown that students with lower levels of cognitive and socio-emotional competencies are less prepared for kindergarten entry and consequently perform more poorly on assessments in later grades (Duncan et al., 2007; Ensey Hoever, 2014;…

Secondhand tobacco smoke is considered a developmental neurotoxicant especially given underdeveloped vital systems in young children. An ecological test of its negative influence on brain development can be made by examining the prospective association between early childhood household smoke exposure and later classroom behavior. Using a…

Popularity has been linked to heightened aggression and fewer depressive symptoms. The current study extends this literature by examining the unique contributions of same-sex and cross-sex popularity to children's development, as well as potential mediating processes. Third- and 4th-graders (212 boys, 250 girls) provided data at 3 time points over…

The present longitudinal study examined how relationships with teachers and peers jointly shape the development of children's behavioral engagement in late elementary school. A sample of 586 children (46% boys; M[subscript age] = 9.26 years at Wave 1) was followed throughout Grades 4, 5, and 6. A multidimensional approach was adopted,…

Identifying early precursors of body mass index (BMI) and sports participation represents an important concern from a public health perspective and can inform the development of preventive interventions. This article examines whether kindergarten child self-regulation, as measured by classroom engagement and behavioral regulation, predicts healthy…

Increasing attention is being given to the role of a positive school interpersonal climate in children's school functioning and social-emotional development. Children's perceptions are commonly used to measure the interpersonal school climate, but the individual and contextual characteristics that contribute to variation in children's perceptions…

This paper reports the findings of a longitudinal childhood resilience study which investigated the relationship between resilience-related beliefs and positive child development. Three waves of data collection (T1, T2, and T3) were completed in January 2005, July 2005, and January 2006 with a sample of 843 grade 4 pupils, drawn from six primary…

Widespread adoption of the Internet during the past two decades has produced the first generation of digital natives. Ninety-five children (M[subscript age] = 10.4 years) completed a questionnaire that measured three clusters of variables: 1) Internet use at home and school, 2) peer, school, and home self-esteem, 3) and cognitive abilities…

National educational achievement statistics show that academic underachievement is a significant problem for all students in the United States and for culturally diverse students in particular. The relationship of attachment and its interaction with traumatic stress has been proposed as an alternative explanation for the persistent…

We describe a large-scale regression study that examines the influence of lexical (word frequency, lexical neighborhood) and sublexical (feedforward and feedback consistency) variables on spelling accuracy among first, second, and third- to fifth-graders. The wordset analyzed contained 3430 French words. Predictors in the stepwise regression…

We explore the immediate and longer term consequences of different types of instruction about a central topic in middle school science: the "Control of Variables Strategy" (CVS). CVS represents the procedural and conceptual basis for designing simple, unconfounded experiments, such that unambiguous causal inferences can be made. CVS…

Behavioral descriptors were identified as variant or invariant predictors of perceived popularity in a sample of 516 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children located in 26 majority-Black or majority-White classrooms. Athletic ability, prosocial behavior, being "cool", social withdrawal, and "personal privilege" (i.e., having a lot of expensive…