Low cost, non-invasive instruments for the identification of high academic potential in early childhood education and care are scarce, and the complexity of cognitive development indicates that combinations of screening instruments are needed. This study investigates the reliability and validity of three instruments (individually and in…

The present article aims to show how to model longitudinal change in cohort sequential data applying latent true change models using Mplus' multi-group approach. The underlying modeling ideas are described and explained in this article. As an example, change in internalizing problem behaviors between the age of 8 and 13 years is modeled and…

We examined the predictive value of early spelling for later reading performance by analyzing data from 970 U.S. children whose spelling was assessed in the summer following the completion of kindergarten (M age = 6 years; 3 months). The word reading performance of most of the children was then tested after the completion of Grade 1 (age 7;5),…

Background: Child and adolescent psychopathology has been linked to increased sleep problems, but there has been less investigation of this relationship in younger samples with early-onset psychopathology. This study examined three specific but commonly observed aspects of sleep behaviors in young children--(i) Sleep onset latency, (ii) Refusal to…

This investigation examines the spread of problem behaviors (substance use and delinquency) between twin siblings. A sample of 628 twins (151 male twin pairs and 163 female twin pairs) drawn from the Quebec Newborn Twin Study completed inventories describing delinquency and substance use at ages 13, 14, and 15. A 3-wave longitudinal actor-partner…

Purpose: Measures of social networks assess the number and nature of a person's social contacts, and strongly predict health outcomes. We explored how social networks change following a stroke and analyzed concurrent and baseline predictors of social networks 6 months poststroke. Method: We conducted a prospective longitudinal observational study.…

Producing pronouns involves linguistic and social-cognitive knowledge because children must learn words and understand pronouns' changing referents. This study examined pronoun production longitudinally in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 15), whose social-cognition might impair pronoun use, and in typically developing (TD; n…

Links between positive and negative aspects of the parent-child relationship and child adjustment are undisputed. Scholars recognize the importance of parental differential treatment (PDT) of siblings, yet, less is known about PDT in the context of the shared (family-wide) parent-child relationship climate, or about the extent to which positivity…

The deleterious effects of maternal depression on child emotional and behavioral development are well documented, yet many children exposed to maternal depression experience positive outcomes. The aim of this study was to identify psychosocial factors associated with the emotional-behavioral resilience of four-year-old children of first-time…

Students become increasingly disconnected from their schools across the middle school years, but little is known about the factors contributing to changes in school connectedness. This study examined the time-invariant and time-varying roles of depressive symptoms and externalizing problems in trajectories of student-perceived school connectedness…

Behavioral regulation is an important school readiness skill that has been linked to early executive function (EF) and later success in learning and school achievement. Although poverty and related risks, as well as negative parenting, have been associated with poorer EF and behavioral regulation, chaotic home environments may also play a role in…

The present paper (1) examined variables, which could predict traditional bullying, cyberbullying, traditional victimization and cybervictimization and (2) looked at persons to examine whether academic, socio-emotional and demographic characteristics differed between traditional, cyber and mixed bullies, victims and bully-victims. A sample of…

The objective of this study is to examine the trajectory of internalizing problems across middle childhood among a population sample of Australian children, and to understand the timing of explanatory factors related to children's development of internalizing problems, by using multiple-indicator latent growth curve modeling. Participants were…

Many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) struggle with reading comprehension. Linguistic comprehension is an important predictor of reading comprehension, especially as children progress through elementary school and later grades. Yet, there is a dearth of research examining longitudinal relations between linguistic comprehensions in…

As a way to raise attainment, schools are encouraged to form ability groups across classes for particular subjects. There is limited evidence however about the relationship between setting and primary school children's characteristics and how teachers perceive them. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between set positioning for…