We investigated the extent to which parents' prosocial talk and negations relate to the quantity and diversity of parents' spatial language production. We also examined similar associations among children. Participants included 51 children of ages 4-7 years and their parents recruited from South Florida. Most of the dyads included mothers and were…

Discrepancies between teacher and parent reports of children's externalizing behaviors are well documented. However, less research has examined the associations these different ratings have with objective indicators of functioning in other domains. The goal of this study was to compare the strength of association of parent and teacher reports of…

Direct experiences in nature enable us learn and form environmental attitudes. Being influenced by nature as children is thought to help form a connection to nature that can lead to a lifetime of pro-environmental behaviors. A survey of adults in a watershed with a damaged estuary, however, suggests that concern and environmental identity were…

Children's socioemotional and cognitive traits may hinder or support reading comprehension based on models of risk and resilience. Effortful control, attention, and positive affect were examined as promotive factors, and general and test anxiety as risk factors. Participants included 197 twin children (115 girls; M[subscript age] = 13.6 years)…

Despite schools increasingly adopting multitiered systems of support (MTSS) for prevention and intervention of mental health concerns, many are slow to adopt universal mental health screening (UMHS), a core MTSS feature, due to concerns about their limited capacity to meet the needs of all identified. In this study, we examined differences in the…

In this study, we (a) describe patterns of challenging student behaviors (classwide and for a target student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) and teacher behaviors (i.e., praise, commands, and responses to challenging behavior) in kindergarten through Grade 5 classrooms, (b) examine the relations between these behaviors, and…

This paper introduces a new observation system that is designed to investigate students' and teachers' talk during literacy instruction, "Creating Opportunities to Learn from Text" (COLT). Using video-recorded observations of 2nd-3rd grade literacy instruction (N=51 classrooms, 337 students, 151 observations), we found that nine types of…

Traumatic events are becoming more prevalent in youth, especially considering the increase in disaster exposure, impacting the wellbeing and mental health of youth. Youth in rural communities are more adversely impacted due to a lack of access to available support and services. Interventions geared toward treating traumatic stress are needed for…

Challenging behavior in preschool can lead to harmful outcomes for some children. While interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing or eliminating challenging behavior, evidence suggests that young children with challenging behavior are under-identified for services, increasing their risk for expulsion from early childhood programs.…

The aim of this study was to determine if adolescents' scores on a 2-item underage alcohol use screener predict risky consequences of past-year alcohol use and other health risk behaviors in a nonclinical, school-based sample of adolescents. A predominantly minority sample of 756 middle and high school students completed in-school tablet-based…

Previous studies have supported a connection between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and negative outcomes in adulthood. Fewer studies have examined the connection between ACEs and parenting behaviors, however. The study described in this article examined the relationships among ACEs, reflective functioning, and negative parenting behaviors…

Little is known about the correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior in Hispanic adolescents. This study examined at baseline and 2-year follow-up: (1) the relationship between self-efficacy for physical activity and physical activity, (2) the association of weight perception with physical activity and sedentary behavior, and (3)…

Changing individuals' behaviors is a critical challenge for Extension professionals who encourage good irrigation practices and technologies for landscape water conservation. Multiple messages were used to influence two predictors of behavioral intent informed by the theory of planned behavior, Florida residents' (N = 1,063) attitude and perceived…

Hookah tobacco smoking is increasing among US college students, including those who would not otherwise use tobacco. Part of hookah's appeal is attributed to the perception that hookah is less harmful than cigarettes. The aims of this study were to assess knowledge of harmful exposures associated with hookah smoking relative to cigarette smoking…

This article analyzes the role that individual differences in children's cognitive, Spanish competence, and socio-emotional and behavioral skills play in predicting the concurrent and longitudinal acquisition of English among a large sample of ethnically diverse, low-income, Hispanic preschool children. Participants assessed at age 4 for language,…