This study evaluated the impact of a parenting intervention on children's cognitive and socioemotional development in a group of caregivers and their 21-to-28-month-old children in a low-income South African township. A randomized controlled trial compared an experimental group (n = 70) receiving training in dialogic book-sharing (8 weekly group…

Positive youth development (PYD) deserves more empirical attention, particularly among children of diverse racial-ethnic backgrounds. Given the need among families for monitoring and supervision during out-of-school time, community-based afterschool is a potentially promotive ecological setting. This study explores the quality of afterschool…

Grounded in person-environment fit theory, this study examined whether low-income mothers' preferences for education moderated the effects of employment- and education-focused welfare programs on children's positive and problem behaviors. The sample included 1,365 families with children between ages 3 and 5 years at study entry. Results 5 years…

Based on theoretically driven models, the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) targeted low-income children's school readiness through the mediating mechanism of self-regulation. The CSRP is a multicomponent, cluster-randomized efficacy trial implemented in 35 Head Start-funded classrooms (N = 602 children). The analyses confirm that the CSRP…

Using data collected up to age 26 in the Chicago Longitudinal Study, this cost-benefit analysis of the Child-Parent Centers (CPC) is the first for a sustained publicly funded early intervention. The program provides services for low-income families beginning at age 3 in 20 school sites. Kindergarten and school-age services are provided up to age 9…

This study examined the effect of a mother-baby intervention on the quality of mother-child interaction, infant-mother attachment security, and infant socioemotional functioning in a group of depressed mothers with infants aged 1-12 months. A randomized controlled trial compared an experimental group (n = 35) receiving the intervention (8-10 home…

The hypothesis was investigated that alleviation of negative motivational factors underlies much of the 10-point IQ increase commonly found in economically disadvantaged children's performance following a preschool intervention program. Head Start and non-Head Start groups were tested on IQ and motivational measures three times before and during…

Studied the effects of experimentally manipulated maternal social support on the development of infant attachment in low SES mothers. Examined the possibility that the influence of maternal support varies depending on infant irritability and maternal ego level. Findings provide experimental evidence regarding the importance of social support on…

Infants of depressed mothers who were visited at home outperformed infants of depressed mothers who received no intervention services by an average of 10 points on the Bayley Mental Scale and were twice as likely to be classified as securely attached. Unserved, high-risk infants showed a high rate of insecure-disorganized attachments. (RH)

Examined the quality of care provided to children from low-income families, using data from a nationally representative survey of child care centers and a five-site observational study of centers. Found that the quality of care in centers serving predominantly low-income families was better than centers serving middle-income families. (MDM)