The Buffering Toxic Stress (BTS) consortium included six sites in locations that varied widely in racial/ethnic composition and population density. Each site tested a promising parent-child intervention designed to supplement Early Head Start (EHS) services and prevent "toxic stress." To better understand family risk in a large and…

This study uses experimental and nationally representative Head Start Impact Study data to document the high incidence of multidomain household instability experienced by children eligible for the federal two-generation Head Start early childhood education program for low-income households. The study finds that household instability experienced…

This short-term longitudinal study examined how economically-impoverished children's moral reasoning predicts specific aggressive subtypes. Children (N = 106, M[subscript age] = 52.78 months, 51% boys, ethnically diverse backgrounds) from urban Head Start programs completed a structured story-interview pertaining to moral reasoning and judgement…

The "Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1.5-5" (CBCL/1½-5) has been widely used by researchers and clinicians in the field of special education and psychology. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the CBCL/1½-5 with a sample of preschool children from low-income families using the Rasch model.…

Teaching is one of the most stressful occupations, often due to the emotional investment of managing and caring for a classroom of students. In addition to environmental stressors, teacher wellbeing is impacted by relationships with students. While the relation between challenging student behaviors and adverse outcomes for both teachers and…

Trial-based functional analysis (TBFA) is a procedure for experimentally identifying the function of challenging behavior within applied settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a TBFA teacher-training package in the context of two Head Start centers implementing programwide positive behavior support (PWPBS). Four Head…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the longitudinal, bidirectional relations between receptive and expressive Spanish and English language and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in a sample of 97 preschool children from Spanish-speaking, homes who were enrolled in a U.S. Head Start program. Eight cross-lagged path…

Heterogeneity between and within people necessitates the need for sequential personalized interventions to optimize individual outcomes. Personalized or adaptive interventions (AIs) are relevant for diseases and maladaptive behavioral trajectories when one intervention is not curative and success of a subsequent intervention may depend on…

Growing up in poverty increases youth risk for developing aggressive behavior problems which, in turn, are associated with a host of problematic outcomes, including school drop-out, substance use, mental health problems, and delinquency. In part, this may be due to exposure to adverse school contexts that create socialization influences supporting…

In 2010, Congress authorized the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program by enacting section 511 of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 711, which also appropriated funding for fiscal years 2010 through 2014. Subsequently enacted laws extended funding for the program through fiscal year 2022. The program is…

Despite frequent reliance on teacher and parent ratings of children's behavior for multi-informant assessment, agreement between teachers' and parents' ratings is low. This study examined the predictive utility of teacher and parent ratings for children's self-regulatory outcomes (i.e., executive function, continuous performance task) in four…

For children with the most severe and persistent academic and/or behavioral challenges, parent and family involvement is vital. Student outcome data suggest that the current educational system does not adequately prepare students with the most intensive needs, particularly students with disabilities, for the world of college and work. Although the…

Preschool parent interventions may produce downstream benefits if initial intervention gains are sustained and improve later socialization experiences. This study explored associations between initial effects of the REDI (Research-based Developmentally Informed) Parent program and later benefits. A randomized trial involving 200 Head Start…

Research Findings: Emotion talk (ET) is an emotion socialization practice theorized to promote children's socioemotional competence. The present study examined parent and child ET in two subgroups of Chinese-heritage families in low-income communities: Chinese immigrant families in U.S. (CA) and Taiwanese families in Taiwan (TW). In a sample of 75…

Using the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014 (FACES 2014), this study examined the associations of Head Start children's behavioral challenges with teachers' well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, job commitment) and intent to leave, controlling for teacher characteristics. We sought to explore the direct…