This study examined variability of the home literacy environment (HLE) using multiple measures among families of low SES. The relations of the measures to each other and to children's early oral language skills and print knowledge were reported. Considerable variability of the self-reported HLE items and the Children's Title Checklist (CTC) but…

Research abounds on adolescent poverty and on gifted education, but these fields are seldom considered together. This study explores trajectories of aggressive behavior (i.e., weapon carrying) of impoverished, gifted youth. Results indicate that gifted students engage in lower levels of weapon carrying than non-gifted students. Gifted and…

Early mathematics knowledge is a strong predictor of later academic achievement, but children from low-income families enter school with weak mathematics knowledge. An Early Math Trajectories model is proposed and evaluated within a longitudinal study of 517 low-income American children from age 4 to 11. This model includes a broad range of math…

This study examined three competing models assessing the directional associations between the quality of children's relationships with teachers and friends (i.e., closeness and conflict) and their emotional and behavioral school engagement (i.e., the relationship-driven, engagement-driven, and transactional models). The additive contributions of…

Using an epidemiological sample (N = 1,117) and a prospective longitudinal design, this study tested the direct and indirect effects of preverbal and verbal communication (15 months to 3 years) on executive function (EF) at age 4 years. Results indicated that whereas gestures (15 months), as well as language (2 and 3 years), were correlated with…

The framework for this study used Tinto's (1975) theoretical framework for student persistence and incorporated the examination of high school wealth, the absence of poverty, as measured by the percentage of students receiving Federal Free and Reduced Lunch, along with North Carolina Department of Public School performance measures, academic…

Research Findings: The roles of child lexical diversity and maternal sensitivity in the development of young children's inhibitory control were examined in 100 low-income Hispanic Spanish-speaking children. Child communication utterances at age 2½ years were transcribed from 10-min mother-child interactions to quantify lexical diversity. Maternal…

Using large-sample, archival data from the state of South Carolina's juvenile justice agency, we examine the question of race differences in predictors of repeat offending for a sample of approximately 100,000 youth who had been referred for criminal offenses. Independent variables relating to background, adverse parenting, mental health,…

Sixty-one preschool children and their parents and teachers participated in a cross-sectional study of the social-emotional correlates of emergent literacy skills. The children's emergent literacy skills were assessed with the standard language and literacy tests: "Expressive Vocabulary Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test" (third…

Despite policy and theoretical support for mixed-age classrooms in early childhood, research examining associations between age-mixing and children's outcomes is inconclusive and warrants further investigation, particularly in preschools serving children who are at risk for poor adjustment to formal schooling. One recent study conducted in…

The detrimental effects of school violence on students' physical and emotional health are well studied, and research has shown that school violence affects students in every nation across the globe. However, few cross-national studies have compared direct, physical forms of school violence to indirect, emotional forms such as teasing. Using…

We examined developmental and individual differences in 6th and 8th graders' fraction arithmetic and overall mathematics achievement and related them to differences in understanding of fraction magnitudes, whole number division, executive functioning, and metacognitive judgments within a cross-sectional design. Results indicated that the…

Our goal was to investigate the role of body mass index (BMI) and motor competence (MC) in children's physical activity (PA) levels during physical education (PE) classes. We assessed PA levels of 5-to-10-year old children ("n" = 264) with pedometers in four PE classes. MC was assessed using the TGMD-2 and BMI values were classified…

Background/Context: Performance character consists of the qualities that allow individuals to regulate their thoughts and actions in ways that support achievement in a particular endeavor. Moral character consists of the qualities relevant to striving for ethical behavior in one's relationships with other individuals and communities. A sizable…

Home visiting is a child abuse prevention strategy that seeks to optimize child development by providing mothers with support, training, and parenting information. Research has consistently found high rates of depression in mothers participating in home visiting programs and low levels of obtaining mental health treatment in the community.…