This paper explores the association between children's difficulty in moving to secondary school and their family background. School transition difficulty is associated with a range of poor outcomes in young people, but studies have rarely taken a fully longitudinal perspective or looked in detail at inequalities in transition processes. This…

The present literature review examines the adverse role of poverty in children's cognitive development and school performance. Surveys selected in the present study include those related to the family stress model and family investment theory conducted on preschool, primary, secondary and high school students and their parents. This literature…

A socio-psychological analytical framework will be adopted to illuminate the relation between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. The framework puts the emphasis to incorporate micro familial factors into macro factor of the tracking system. Initially, children of the poor families always lack major prerequisite: diminution of cognitive…

The present study addressed girls' (N=127) early numerical and spatial reasoning skills, within the context of a critical environment in which these cognitive skills develop, namely their homes. Specifically, proximal links between distal family socioeconomic conditions and first-grade girls' arithmetic and spatial skills were examined (mean…

This evidence review synthesises the best available international evidence regarding approaches to behaviour in schools to: (1) Produce an overarching model or framework explaining why school pupils may misbehave (Review 1); (2) Review the effectiveness of classroom-based approaches to behaviour trialled in robust research studies (Review 2); and…

Background: The rearing environment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children is often compromised, putting these children at additional risks. Positive caregiving may ameliorate the impact of adverse circumstances and promote attachment security. The goal of the present study was to examine the attachment relationships of…

This longitudinal investigation focused on the language and literacy environments of 1046 children from low-income families across children's first three years of life. Children's language and cognitive abilities at 14, 24, and 36 months of age were examined in relation to the frequency of children's participation in literacy activities, the…

This paper estimates models of the evolution of cognitive and noncognitive skills and explores the role of family environments in shaping these skills at different stages of the life cycle of the child. Central to this analysis is identification of the technology of skill formation. We estimate a dynamic factor model to solve the problem of…

Analyzed genetic and environmental contributions to intellectual change in 258 adopted and 93 biological children of 3-14 years. The effect of genes and family environment was significant at the time of the first measurement, but only genes made an additional contribution between the first and the second. (RJC)

The Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scale has been shown to be a significant predictor of later cognitive outcomes in many cultures. Therefore identifying factors associated with HOME could be used to promote child development. Maternal psychological well-being is often overlooked although critical in the creation of…

Proximal environmental variables illustrate aspects of the environment that are experienced directly and specifically by the child. The current study examined the associations between three proximal environmental variables: (1) quality of the home environment, (2) regularity of family routines and (3) frequency of parenting daily hassles and…

In this article, we argue that policymakers in America should reference a coherent, comprehensive, and child-centered framework for children. That is, based on an extensive review of the empirical literature on the first two decades of life, we conclude that policies should address the needs of young people throughout the first two decades of…

A study examined differences in television viewing behaviors and attitudes across age groups of children in their home environment. Personal interviews were conducted with 162 children, ages 5 to 12, in a midwestern elementary school. The interview assessed home environment (1) television viewing relationships, including viewing companion and…

Changes in the mental development as assessed with the Griffiths Mental Development Scales, of 37 Down's syndrome infants (mean age 8.9 months at outset of study) over a 6-month period were correlated with scores obtained on the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory. (Author/PHR)

For a sample of families consisting of a teen mother and her infant and parents, examined grandmothers' influence on their grandchild and grandparents' indirect effect on their grandchild through their influence on the teen mother's nurturance and perceptions of family support. Found that grandfathers had a direct effect on their grandchild, and…