We develop a unified empirical framework for child development which nests the key features of two previously parallel research programs, the Child Development literature and the Education Production Function literature. Our framework allows for mis-measured cognitive and non-cognitive skills, classroom effects, parental influences, and…

Parent-child relationships influence learning throughout a child's formal schooling and beyond. The quality of parenting children receive has a major influence on their learning and developmental capabilities. Parental influence is important in the early years of life and extends throughout a child's schooling. Parenting has a pervasive influence…

The "home education" as a term, represents educational impact of the family on children. It has been proved that in various family environments, children do acquire a variety of experiences, through performing various activities and is constantly exposed to a range of influence and expectations from the people he/she cohabits. In this…

Advances in understanding of the dynamic molecular interplay between DNA and its surrounding proteins suggest that epigenetic mechanisms are a critical link between early life experiences (e.g., prenatal stress, parent-offspring interactions) and long-term changes in brain and behavior. Although much of this evidence comes from animal studies,…

Many children, especially those from lower-income families, face considerable instability early in their lives. This may include changes in family structure, irregular family routines, frequent moves, fluctuating daycare arrangements, and noisy, crowded, or generally chaotic environments. Moreover, instability and chaos affect young children's…

The National Association for Gifted Children's Whole Gifted Child (WGC) Task Force was the Presidential initiative of Dr. George Betts (NAGC President 2015-2017). The WGC Task Force reflects a collective of expertise related to gifted children, gifted education, counseling the gifted, and talent development. Dr. Betts charged the Task Force…

Research has repeatedly proven that parental participation in the education of their children plays a major role in their academic performance and general development. Children whose parents and families in general stay engaged in their education have been shown to perform better than those who do not receive such family support. In Kenya, the…

Tyese Wright and Michelle Banks have very different lives; however, both women are independent, confident, and successful, and both were identified as deaf by the age of 18 months. Perhaps their success is partly a result of their upbringing. Both had parents who learned sign language and who became intimately involved in their education. In fact,…

It was a hot and humid afternoon in 2006, 3 months after the opening of the Children's House at the Infinity Children's School in Hong Kong. A 3-year-old boy selected a table-scrubbing activity. He moved erratically and without purpose, accidentally bumping into another child and spilling water on the floor. Meanwhile, a toddler girl strolled…

Kyle D. Pruett, MD, clinical professor of child psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, responds to questions about the importance of engaging men in the lives of children. Dr. Pruett discusses how men parent differently than women; how mothers and fathers can effectively co-parent; the impact of parenting on the marital relationship; and the…

Jeree Pawl, PhD, former clinical professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Francisco and past director of the Infant-Parent Program located at San Francisco General Hospital responds to questions about how parents and caregivers can support the development of self-esteem in very young children. Contrary to the idea that…

The authors examine the effects of poverty-related adversity on child development, drawing upon psychobiological principles of experiential canalization and the biological embedding of experience. They integrate findings from research on stress physiology, neurocognitive function, and self-regulation to consider adaptive processes in response to…

The "Theory of Planned Behavior" provided a specific theoretical framework to evaluate the impact of attitudes, norms, and controls on parental involvement in a local school district. The "new knowledge" that resulted from the measurement of these constructs affirmed that regardless of the perceived level of parental involvement, virtually all…

Traditional empirical studies on developmental processes in school tend to view contributions of teachers, peers, and the classrooms' social structure (and even parent effects) as if all were independent of one another. As this Special Issue demonstrates, however, these processes are more complex. When classroom interactions are seen as the…

Charlotte J. Patterson, winner of the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy, is cited as the world's expert on psychological research on children and youths raised by lesbian and gay parents. Her early analytic syntheses of the literature on the subject greatly influenced other researchers in child and family…