The majority of early education programs promote children's learning through a mix of experiences in child- and teacher-managed contexts. The current study examined time spent in child- and teacher-managed contexts and the nature of children's experiences with teachers in these contexts as they relate to children's skill development. Participants…

The majority of early education programs promote children's learning through a mix of experiences in child- and teacher-managed contexts. The current study examined time spent in child- and teacher-managed contexts and the nature of children's experiences with teachers in these contexts as they relate to children's skill development. Participants…

Preschoolers' (M[subscript age]=48.7 months) social breadth (the number of peer children interact with and the frequency of these interactions) and the relations between breadth and externalizing behaviors were examined using the Q-connectivity method. After considering age, sex, and classroom effects on social breadth, children's externalizing…

The developmental trajectories of attention focusing (by parents' and teachers' reports) and attentional and behavioral persistence (observed during a laboratory task)--2 indexes of effortful control--and externalizing problems from ages 5 to 10 years were examined for 356 children combined from a pair of 3-wave (2 years apart) longitudinal…

We examined the role of the teacher-child relationship quality (close, dependent, and conflictive) on preschoolers' (N=95) academic readiness for kindergarten, and we tested children's prosocial and aggressive behavior and peer group exclusion as mediators of this relation. A unique feature of this study is the ethnically and socio-economically…

Based on observation of 94 kindergartners and preschoolers for 3 months, this study examined changes in preschoolers' tendencies to play alone as a function of dispositional negative emotional intensity (DNEI) and changes in expressed negative emotions. Findings indicated higher emotional intensity, increased solitary play, and decreased…

Nonsocial play continues to be perceived as a behavior that is detrimental young children's development. The research evidence in this area is mixed but lends itself to a more positive view of nonsocial play. Despite the substantial amount of literature available, the terminology used fails to be consistent and may prove to be distracting and…

In this paper, we consider how concepts from dynamic systems (such as attractors, repellors, and self-organization) can be applied to the study of young children's peer relationships. We also consider how these concepts can be used to explore basic issues involving early peer processes. We use the dynamical systems approach called state space grid…

Guided by the heuristic model proposed by Eisenberg et al. [Psychol. Inq. 9 (1998) 241], we examined the relations of mothers' reported and observed negative expressivity to children's (N = 159; 74 girls; M age = 7.67 years) experience and expression of emotion. Children's experience and/or expression of emotion in response to a distressing film…

Examined children's emotional and behavioral regulation and emotional and prosocial responses to a crying infant. Found that children who could regulate their arousal were unlikely to become distressed and more likely than other children to talk to and comfort the crying infant. Girls were more responsive and engaged in more active responses than…

The unique relations of effortful control and impulsivity to resiliency and adjustment were examined when children were 4.5 to 8 years old, and 2 years later. Parents and teachers reported on all constructs and children's attentional persistence was observed. In concurrent structural equation models, effortful control and impulsivity uniquely and…

Explores the role of observed parental affect and encouragement in children's empathy-related responding and moral behavior, specifically cheating on a puzzle activity. Finds that (1) parents' affect and encouragement positively related to children's sympathy (not empathy) and (2) boys' cheating on the puzzle correlated to parents' affect and…

Examined differences in children's spontaneous use of emotion vocabulary during peer interactions and explored these differences in relation to children's likability as assessed by peers. Found that with increasing age, emotion vocabulary became more differentiated and complex, and children who used a larger number of emotion words were more liked…

The relations of children's internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors to their concurrent regulation, impulsivity (reactive undercontrol), anger, sadness, and fearfulness and these aspects of functioning 2 years prior were examined. Parents and teachers completed measures of children's (N = 185; ages 6 through 9 years) adjustment, negative…

Examined relation of different types of negative emotion and regulation and control to 55- to 97-month-olds' internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors. Found that children with externalizing problems, compared to children with internalizing problems and nondisordered children, were more prone to anger, impulsivity, and low regulation.…