This study evaluated the impact of a parenting intervention on children's cognitive and socioemotional development in a group of caregivers and their 21-to-28-month-old children in a low-income South African township. A randomized controlled trial compared an experimental group (n = 70) receiving training in dialogic book-sharing (8 weekly group…

Social-emotional competence is a critical factor to target with universal preventive interventions that are conducted in schools because the construct (a) associates with social, behavioral, and academic outcomes that are important for healthy development; (b) predicts important life outcomes in adulthood; (c) can be improved with feasible and…

This meta-analysis reviewed 82 school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) interventions involving 97,406 kindergarten to high school students (M[subscript age] = 11.09 years; mean percent low socioeconomic status = 41.1; mean percent students of color = 45.9). Thirty-eight interventions took place outside the United States.…

This article reports the maintenance of one of the largest interventions conducted in St. Petersburg (Russian Federation) orphanages for children birth to 4 years using regular caregiving staff. One orphanage received training plus structural changes, another training only, and a third business as usual. The intervention produced substantial…

Enriching caregiving practices foster the course and outcome of child development. This study examined 2 developmentally significant domains of positive caregiving--cognitive and socioemotional--in more than 127,000 families with under-5 year children from 28 developing countries. Mothers varied widely in cognitive and socioemotional caregiving…

This article presents findings from a meta-analysis of 213 school-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students. Compared to controls, SEL participants demonstrated significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance that…

In this study, 85 maltreated foster children and 56 nonmaltreated community children (M age = 3-6 years) were assessed across kindergarten and first grade to examine the hypothesis that inhibitory control and caregiver involvement mediate associations between a history of maltreatment and foster placement and early school adjustment. Specifically,…

This study examined the effect of a mother-baby intervention on the quality of mother-child interaction, infant-mother attachment security, and infant socioemotional functioning in a group of depressed mothers with infants aged 1-12 months. A randomized controlled trial compared an experimental group (n = 35) receiving the intervention (8-10 home…

Thirty-two mother/infant dyads were randomly assigned to groups provided with routine well-child care and to discussions of either infant social development (intervention treatment) or accident prevention and nutrition (control). Findings revealed more sensitivity, cooperativeness, appropriateness of interaction, and appropriateness of play in the…

Key components of human behavioral genetics and Sandra Scarr's work of the past two decades are critically reviewed based on scholarship in animal neuropsychology and clinical and educational psychology. Scarr's opinion that interventions to enhance intellectual development are ineffectual for children from abuse- and neglect-free backgrounds is…

Takes the position, contrary to that of Sandra Scarr, that the details of socialization patterns are crucial to an understanding of normal and deviant development. Research is cited to support the argument that better than adequate parenting optimizes the development of both normal and vulnerable children and that parents' belief in their own…