Research findings: This study uses newly available data on low-income children and their teachers in a mixed-delivery, publicly funded early care and education (ECE) system to document the prevalence of personal and economic stressors that ECE teachers experience. We go on to explore whether these stressors are associated with child academic,…

Research Findings: Emotion knowledge (EK) enables children to identify emotions in themselves and others, and its development facilitates emotion recognition in complex social situations. Sociocognitive processes, such as theory of mind (ToM), may contribute to developing EK by helping children realize the inherent variability associated with…

Makes two assumptions in examining the transition to kindergarten: (1) multiple risk factors are expected to predict early school social and academic success or failure; (2) classroom and playground experiences will exacerbate or mitigate the effects of those risk factors. Notes the importance of identifying child, family, child care, and…

Proposes and briefly discusses several hypotheses concerning the unique developmental status of peer relations in the first three years of life. Analyzes the meaning of individual differences in very early peer competencies. Suggests that developmental differences in peer relations might translate into hypotheses regarding early individual…