This paper presents causal evidence on the impact of parenting practices on early child development. We exploit exogenous changes in nurturing care induced by a parent training intervention to estimate the impact of nurturing parenting practices on child outcomes. We find a large and significant impact measured at age two; in contrast, at age four…

Children's white matter development is driven by experience, yet it remains poorly understood how it is shaped by attending formal education. A small number of studies compared children before and after the start of formal schooling to understand this, yet they do not allow to separate maturational effects from schooling-related effects. A clever…

Delays in autism spectrum disorder identification/services could impact developmental outcomes. Although trends are encouraging, children from historically underrepresented minority backgrounds are often identified later and have reduced engagement in care. It is unclear if disparities exist throughout the screen-evaluate-treat chain, or if early…

The main objective of the research is to examine the impact of regular implementation of Education Program made of CATCH Program Movement Activities on the locomotor and manipulative skills of preschool children. Implementation of Education Program made of CATCH Program Movement Activities was carried out in an independent preschool located in…

Background: Children's early experiences with their parents have a profound effect on their lifelong outcomes. Responsive caregiving includes parenting behaviors like serve and return interactions, rich and varied language inputs, and positive affect (Landry et al., 2001). There is evidence that interventions can help parents improve these skills…

Over 5 million American children under the age of 18 years, a disproportionate number of whom are Black or Latino, have had a residential parent jailed or incarcerated. While a number of existing studies identify parental incarceration as a key risk factor for poor child and family outcomes, there is more limited information describing programs…

Governments around the world are increasing investments in early childhood education as a way to promote children's learning and development. As research grows on the longer-term effects of early educational programs, some have hypothesized that sustained impacts may depend on the quality of children's subsequent classroom environments and may be…

This paper examines the child development outcomes of two cohorts of children who were exposed to the same intervention at different points in time. One cohort was eligible to access playgroups during the first year of a five-year project cycle, beginning at age four. The other cohort became eligible to access these services during the third year…

This paper uses meta-analytic techniques to estimate the separate effects of the starting age, program duration, and persistence of impacts of early childhood education programs on children's cognitive and achievement outcomes. It concentrates on studies published before the wide scale penetration of state-pre-K programs. Specifically, data are…

Using data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2014), this research brief describes the family background and developmental progress of Head Start children as they complete a program year (from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015). This brief highlights descriptive information from the FACES 2014-2015 Data Tables and Study Design…

This research brief provides a national portrait of the characteristics, development, and well-being of children and families at the beginning of the Head Start program year, using recent data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2014). This brief highlights descriptive information from the Fall 2014 Data Tables and Study…

Children from low-income families are more likely than those from higher income families to have poor social, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes. One approach that has helped parents and their young children is home visiting, which provides information, resources, and support to expectant parents and families with young…

Challenge seeking is an important component of children's personal and academic development. Defined in this paper as a set of beliefs and behaviors that propels individuals to initiate and persist at difficult ventures, challenge seeking is a key indicator of mastery goal orientation. This orientation has been linked with a number of positive and…

Although still a matter of some debate, there is a growing body of research supporting Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention as the intervention of choice for children with autism. Learning rate is an alternative to change in standard scores as an outcome measure in studies of early intervention. Learning rates can be displayed graphically…

Background: Depression in adolescence is common and early onset predicts worse outcome in adulthood. Studies in adults have suggested a link between higher total 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations and lower risk of depression. Objectives: To investigate (a) the association between serum 25(OH)D[subscript 2] and 25(OH)D[subscript 3]…