While research suggests that social emotional competencies (SECs) influence students' disciplinary outcomes, less is known of their potential to explain racial disparities or grade level differences in those outcomes. This study used survey and administrative data from 30,494 students in grades 3-12 to examine the degree to which SECs were related…

This study examined the unique and interactive effects of teacher-child relationships and classroom quality on PreK to Grade 1 children's reading and math achievement, social skills, and problem behaviors, as well as whether these relationships differed by children's race and ethnicity. Based on data from 192 children (18.23% Black, 8.33% Latine…

The purpose of the study was to explore whether gender or ethnicity moderated the links between language skills and teacher ratings of problem behaviour and between language and social skills in 386 English-speaking Hispanic and European American preschool children from low-income families. The "Preschool Language Scale-4" was…

Parents and teachers provide complimentary information in the assessment of preschoolers so it is important to understand parent-teacher agreement, especially for children with autism. Parents and teachers rated an ethnically diverse sample of preschoolers with autism (N = 257; 67% Latino) on the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (LeBuffe and…

Approximately one in 10 children in the United States is diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a disability that can negatively affect academic achievement, yet relatively few children with ADHD are in special education. To better understand factors that determine which students with ADHD are in special education, we…

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy is an empirically based, behavioral parent training program for young children exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Parent--Child Interaction Therapy shows promise for treating disruptive behaviors in children with autism spectrum disorder. Treatment processes (i.e. treatment length and homework compliance), parenting…

Over the last decade, there has been increased interest in measuring life satisfaction among children and adolescents as an indicator of broad well-being and happiness. Although limited, existing research with students with social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) problems indicates they experience lower life satisfaction compared with their…

The present study examined the early parenting and temperament determinants of children's antisocial and positive behaviors in a low-income, diverse ethno-racial sample. Participants were from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, which included 960 European American (initial M age = 15.00 months; 51.2% female) and 880 African…

Parent-teacher rating discrepancies in rating of children's social skills were examined in a low-income, ethnically diverse preschool sample, using the Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales [Gresham, F. J. & Elliott, S. N. (2008). "Social Skills Improvement System-Rating Scales." Minneapolis, MN: Pearson Assessments].…

Background: Children with intellectual disability (ID) are at risk for maladaptive development of social relatedness. Controversy exists whether Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) takes precedence over disordered attachment for describing maladaptive social behaviour. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of disordered attachment…

Many of the social and emotional needs that have historically been associated with gifted students have been questioned on the basis of recent empirical evidence. Research on the topic, however, is often limited by sample size, selection bias, or definition. This study addressed these limitations by applying linear regression methodology to data…

Using a large, longitudinal data set that represents 701 state-funded pre-k classrooms and over 2,900 children enrolled in 11 states, the current study examined two hypotheses: (1) children would be perceived to be better adjusted at the beginning of pre-k when rated by a same-race teacher than by a different-race teacher, and (2) children would…

Demographic and clinical factors may influence assessment of autism symptoms. This study evaluated these correlates and also examined whether social communication and interaction and restricted/repetitive behavior provided unique prediction of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. We analyzed data from 7352 siblings included in the Interactive…

This study tests the predictive associations between externalizing behaviors and internalizing symptoms and examines the mediating roles of social competence, parent-child conflicts, and academic achievement. Using youth-, parent-, and teacher-reported longitudinal data on a sample of 523 boys and 460 girls from late childhood to early…

Previous research has demonstrated that informant disagreement is common with the use of rating scales to assess problem behavior in school-age populations. However, much less is known about this phenomenon in preschool populations. This is important because the accurate assessment of problem behavior in preschool is complex due to the rapid…