Motivation is a key factor for child development, but very few studies have examined child and family predictors of both child task and perceived motivation. Thus, the three aims of this 6-month longitudinal study in preschoolers with global developmental delays (GDD) were to explore: 1) differences between task and perceived motivation in…

Research Findings: Self-regulation is an important determinant of children's developmental outcomes, but little research has explored its different facets simultaneously. This study aims to explore a sample of Chinese children's behavioral, cognitive and emotional self-regulation characteristics by examining their gender and age differences,…

Parental engagement in stimulating activities and support in both formal and informal learning environments are important for early childhood development. However, little is known about how parental mental health and beliefs about early childhood development shape such investments. We draw on a sample of young children and their primary caregiver…

Research Findings: This study examined associations between observed emotion-focused teaching practices and preschool children's emotion expression, emotion-related behaviors, and learning behaviors. Four centers located in large midwestern and mid-Atlantic metropolitan areas participated in the study. Of these, one center was a Head Start…

Limited literature assessed the relation between family engagement in education and young children's socioemotional and behavioral functioning. This study investigated these associations longitudinally among urban and low-income, predominantly Latinx preschoolers (n = 69) and their mothers. Initial home-school conferencing predicted lower levels…

Parental education and child gender are related to learning and development during childhood and adolescence. The present study investigated the role of mother's education level and child gender for children's vocabulary and math skills in Norway. Children's vocabulary and math skills were assessed in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)…

Using a nationally representative dataset of young children in the United States (the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Birth Cohort), the purpose of this study was to test the associations between teachers' perceptions of preschoolers' (N = 3350) school readiness and actual academic readiness levels, as measured by math and reading assessments.…

Despite support for the importance of early language environments, little is known about the naturally occurring experiences children have in preschool settings. The current study sample included 91 children (M[subscript age] = 4.72 years; 56% male; 67% White) from 23 preschool classrooms and nearly 1500 h of language environment data from three…

Although teacher social-emotional competence (SEC) has been recognized as a crucial indicator of teacher professional development as well as an effective predictor of their psychological well-being, little is known about how teachers' SEC contributes to job burnout. The objectives of the present research were to explore the impact of SEC on job…

Objectives: The importance of breastfeeding exposure and children's development of self-regulation, independently, are well established. Each of these domains also has been linked to better cognitive development and academic achievement in children. However, little is known about how breastfeeding affects development of early self-regulation…

The present study examined the relationship between children's behavioral self-regulation (BSR) skills and the teacher-child relationship (TCR). Furthermore, this study investigated the contribution of TCR, child age, family monthly income, and child gender on children's BSR assessed by the Revised Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders. Participants consisted…

This study used the Family and Child Experiences Survey, 2009 cohort, to explore the levels of depression among a nationally representative sample of Head Start teachers at the beginning and end of the preschool year. Results showed that one in three Head Start teachers reported some depression either in fall or spring, and that change in…

Understanding predictors and effects of teacher well-being, including job satisfaction, is crucial for both teachers' and children's development. Research on teacher job satisfaction (TJS) has indicated that many individual and contextual factors may make a difference for teachers' professional well-being. However, against the backdrop of this…

Research Findings: This study aimed to investigate the developmental path of social skills in early childhood, the associated predictors, and its impact on later school performance. This prospective longitudinal study included 2,121 children, ages 3-5 at baseline, from the general population in a mid-sized Swedish municipality. Results show both…

Adults' behaviour in interactions with children is assumed to influence children's playfulness. However, little is known about how the quality of teacher-child interaction in early childhood education and care affects the development of children's playfulness, although the interaction quality has been identified as a strong predictor of children's…