This dissertation consists of three independent chapters in applied microeconomics. In the first chapter, I study the causal effect impact of early life circumstances on adult psychological well-being using the property reform in China as a positive and policy driven change in economic resources in early life. Exploiting the staggered adoption of…

This longitudinal study examined the development of narrative micro- and macrostructure in Japanese-English bilingual returnee children. Returnees are children of immigrant families who move to a foreign country, spending a significant portion of their formative developmental years in the foreign majority language context before returning to their…

Since Head Start's inception, mental health has been an important component of their service delivery. The Head Start Performance Standards provide a foundation for programs to design and deliver mental health services. Mental Health Consultants are the professionals who provide these services. Head Start has a robust history of building…

In this article, Mark Freado and Howard Bath present the case of an 11 year boy who had been arrested and charged with the murder of his two-year-old cousin. Because of the severity of the criminal charge against this boy, and despite his age, a transfer hearing was set to determine whether he would be tried as a juvenile or an adult. Such…

Using nationally representative samples of 45,964 two- to nine-year-old children and their primary caregivers in 17 developing countries, this study examined the relations between children's cognitive, language, sensory, and motor disabilities and caregivers' use of discipline and violence. Primary caregivers reported on their…

The aim of this study was to assess whether children's development benefited from teacher-and child-managed academic activities in the preschool and kindergarten classroom. Extensive systematic observations during four half-days in preschool ("n"?=?8) and kindergarten ("n"?=?8) classrooms revealed that classrooms differed in…

This article discusses the current knowledge on the developmental characteristics and contexts of care for infants and toddlers who are growing up in bilingual environments at home and in their early care settings in the united States. The authors highlight relevant findings from the work of the Center of Early Care and Education Research-Dual…

Body image research with young children has typically examined their body satisfaction and overlooked developmental theories pertaining to their emergent body-knowledge. Though existing research suggests that preschoolers do demonstrate anti-fat attitudes and weight-related stigmatisation, body dissatisfaction can be difficult to assess in…

Studies of rats and some primates show that rough-and-tumble play among juveniles improves social competence, cognition, and emotional regulation later in life. Most critically, such play makes animals better able to respond to unexpected situations. But not all animals engage in play, and not all animals that play appear to gain these benefits.…

Being able to see a talking face confers a considerable advantage for speech perception in adulthood. However, behavioural data currently suggest that children fail to make full use of these available visual speech cues until age 8 or 9. This is particularly surprising given the potential utility of multiple informational cues during language…

Social-emotional (SE) skills in the early developmental years of children influence outcomes in psychological, behavioral, and learning domains. The adult ratings of a child's SE skills can be influenced by sex stereotypes. These rating differences could lead to differential conclusions about developmental progress or risk. To ensure that…

We studied identity development during 5 years in seven deaf adolescents who attended a school for deaf children in the highest level of regular secondary education (age between 14 and 18 years), administering identity interviews every year. Identity development is conceptualized as the processes of exploration and commitment formation (Bosma,…

This study investigated the relationship between children's attendance at different types of early childhood education and care programmes and their mathematical and verbal skills. Analyses of data from 1314 children participating in an Australian longitudinal study, the E4Kids project, revealed no relationship between children's verbal ability…

Ferguson, Missouri, has been characterized as an archetype of structural inequality and segregation. Several questions guide this investigation of Ferguson and its surrounding region. How did policies, practices, and folkways help to create the conditions in Ferguson and the broader metropolitan region? The regional segregation regime's history…

Research Findings: This study investigated the association between Mexican American maternal education and socioeconomic status (SES) and child vocabulary as mediated by parental reading beliefs, home literacy environment (HLE), and parent-child shared reading frequency. As part of a larger study, maternal reports of education level, SES, HLE, and…