Scholars theorize that "opportunity gaps" drive achievement disparities between children born into poverty versus affluence. In a 26-year longitudinal study (N = 814), we examine (a) economic disparity in children's accumulation of opportunities--from birth through high school--at home, childcare, school, afterschool, and in the…

Research Findings: Parents' academic socialization of their young children is a critical yet understudied area, especially in the context of vulnerable parent-child dyads. The current longitudinal study examined factors that informed mothers' beliefs and practices concerning children's kindergarten readiness in a sample of 204 Mexican-origin…

Research Findings: Immigrant families who represent a growing share of the early schooling population face unique challenges related to involvement in their children's education. This study examined whether and to what extent home-based parent involvement and parental warmth are associated with the socio-emotional and academic outcomes of children…

There is no relationship more vital than the one a child shares with their primary caregivers early in development. Yet many children worldwide are raised in settings that lack the warmth, connection, and stimulation provided by a responsive primary caregiver. In this study, we used data from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), a…

We investigated the continuity and stability of imitative episodes (IMEs) to shed light on the nature of early infant imitative ability. We observed and analyzed interactions of 27 mother-infant pairs as they played in their homes at one and 10 months. We coded the initiator, frequency, duration, kind, structure, and affect of IMEs. At 10 months,…

This document describes plans for the analysis of the Mother and Infant Home Visiting Program Evaluation (MIHOPE) follow-up data collected when participating children were in kindergarten or first grade. The overarching goal of MIHOPE is to provide information about whether families and children benefit from Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood…

In recent years, many policies have been formulated and strongly promoted to improve the quality of early childhood education. In 2012, the Taiwanese government enacted a new national curriculum framework for early childhood education to enhance the quality of early childhood education programs. This new framework is key competence-oriented,…

Personal narrative is decontextualized talk where individuals recount stories of personal experience about past or future events. As an everyday discursive speech type, narrative potentially invites parents and children to explicitly link together, generalize from, and make inferences about representations--that is, to engage in higher-order…

Personal narrative is decontextualized talk where individuals recount stories of personal experiences about past or future events. As an everyday discursive speech type, narrative potentially invites parents and children to explicitly link together, generalize from, and make inferences about representations--i.e., to engage in higher-order…

Uruguay is making great progress in improving the lives of its youngest children. A national longitudinal early childhood-focused household survey has been, and will continue to be, an important tool for identifying concerns and targeting interventions. In a study of the home environment, the authors found that children from lower income…

This study examined the interrelated and longitudinal impacts of parent-child shared book reading, parenting stress, and early relational health, as measured by both parental warmth and parent sensitivity, from infancy to toddlerhood. To extend findings from previous studies of collateral effects that have been conducted in parenting…

There is little evidence regarding the benefits of early center-based care attendance (before three years old) for child development and most studies have focused on developed countries. Addressing this gap, this study examines the relationship between center-based care attendance during toddler years and children's cognitive outcomes. Research…

We compared the structure and the content of mothers' and fathers' infant-directed speech as a function of infant birth order. Seven first-born and four second-born infants were video-recorded during their natural dyadic interactions with their mothers and fathers at home from the second to the sixth month after birth at 15-day intervals.…

Large gaps in cognition and language on the Bayley-III between the top and bottom household wealth quartiles in 1,330 children aged 6-42 months in a representative sample of low- and middle-income families in Bogota were previously shown. Maternal education and the home environment mediated these wealth effects, whereas height-for-age mediated a…

Children's development is fostered by both high quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings and high quality home learning environments. As we know little about the interrelations between these two environments, we examine whether the child's attendance in a high quality ECEC arrangement relates to the quality of her home learning…