Extant literature suggests that oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors in childhood and adolescence are associated with distinct patterns of psychophysiological functioning, and that individual differences in these patterns have implications for developmental pathways to disorder. Very little is known about the…

Early academic achievement has been shown to predict high school completion, but there have been few studies of the predictors of early academic success focused on Latino students. Using longitudinal data from 750 Mexican and Dominican American families, this study examined a cultural model of parenting and early academic achievement. While Latino…

In 1959, Campbell and Fiske introduced the use of multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrices in psychology, and for the past 4 decades confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has commonly been used to analyze MTMM data. However, researchers do not always fit CFA models when MTMM data are available; when CFA modeling is used, multiple models are available…

Learning-related behaviors are important for school success. Socioeconomic disadvantage confers risk for less adaptive learning-related behaviors at school entry, yet substantial variability in school readiness exists within socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Investigation of neurophysiological systems associated with learning-related…

The quality of children's relationships with teachers in early elementary grades has implications for their academic and behavioral outcomes in later grades (e.g., Hamre & Pianta, 2001). The current study uses data from the NICHD SECCYD to extend work from a recent study of first grade (Rudasill & Rimm-Kaufman, 2009) by examining connections…

A secondary analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Sample (N = 17,401) was conducted to determine the factors that are most strongly associated with math achievement during kindergarten, first grade, and third grade. Factors from the following three categories were considered: antecedent factors (e.g., family…

The effects of geographic variations in cost of living and family income on children's academic achievement and social competence in first grade (mean age = 86.9 months) were examined, mediated through material hardship, parental investments, family stress, and school resources. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten…

The present study investigated the role of low academic competence in the emergence of depressive cognitions and symptoms. Structural equation modeling was conducted on a longitudinal sample of African American boys (n = 253) and girls (n = 221). Results supported the hypothesized path models from academic competence in 1st grade to depressive…