Being school-ready when transitioning to the primary school system has been associated with favourable outcomes during schooling and adult life. While children living in socio-economically disadvantaged areas may be at a higher risk of being less school-ready, research in the area has highlighted that not all children experience such a delay. This…

It is believed that parental behaviours play a critical role in the development of self-concept. Recent research studies have shown that parents' romantic attachments affect both their parental behaviours and their children's behaviours. The purpose of this research is to examine predictive levels of parents' level of dimensions of attachment…

The first year of a child's life has been considered important in shaping their cognitive development. The research literature has identified area-based socio-economic disadvantage as a possible risk factor for cognitive development but has suggested that various factors may facilitate children's resilience to socio-economic disadvantage. This…

Background: We investigated attachment behaviours of children with Down syndrome (DS) toward their preschool teacher and examined whether children's emotional expressivity predicted the incidence of attachment behaviours. We hypothesised that children with DS will show a low level of secure attachment to their teacher and that emotional competence…

This research aims to investigate the contributions of Turkish pre-school children's levels of positive/ conflicting relationships with their mothers and close/conflicting relationships with their teachers in predicting their adjustment to school. The sample of the study consists of 190 six-year-old children attending public pre-schools in Adana…

Shy children are less likely to interact with peers and teachers, ask questions, and participate in classroom activities. Children low in attention and inhibitory control also perform worse academically. Although research indicates children's relationships with teachers may be protective for children at risk for academic difficulties, less is…

Guided primarily by life history theory, this study was designed to identify how and why early exposure to caregiver intimate relationship instability uniquely predicts children's externalizing symptoms in the context of other dimensions of unpredictability characterized by residential and parental job transitions. Participants included 243…

Institutional rearing adversely affects children's development, but the extent to which specific characteristics of the institutional context and the quality of care provided contribute to problematic development remains unclear. In this study, 72 preschoolers institutionalised for at least 6 months were evaluated by their caregiver using the…

Research Findings: This study investigates the effect of the early home environment on self-regulation in preschoolers, and how self-regulation relates to later school achievement, while taking into account family resources. Participants were part of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth…

Attachment research suggests that children with secure attachments are more able to construct meaningful relationships with peers. Few studies, however, have attempted to map early attachment security to the formation and maintenance of preschool friendships. Special attention has been paid to affiliative relationships (particularly friendships)…

The aim of this prospective study was to identify preschool factors that are associated with children's classroom engagement during their 1st school year. The study was guided by a social-motivational process model that highlights the importance of parent-child and teacher-child relationships in promoting engagement. In preschool, parents and…

Background: Anxiety disorders are often present at preschool age. Research on older children and studies contrasting preschoolers with high versus low behavioral inhibition (BI) highlight several risk factors, but these have not been investigated in community samples of young children. Child, parent, and peer factors at age 4 were therefore…

The objective of the present study was to examine associations between children's attachment behavior at early school-age, dimensions of narrative performance, and behavior problems as assessed in middle childhood. Children's attachment patterns with mother were assessed at age 6 (N = 127) using the Main and Cassidy (1988) separation--reunion…

Research Findings: The teacher-child relationship can provide an important support to young children who exhibit developmental risk. This research studied the contribution of children's language skills, temperamentally based attributes (shyness, anger), and gender to closeness and conflict in the teacher-child relationship for 133 preschoolers…

Examined relationship between preschoolers' attachment security and child and mother problem-solving behaviors in laboratory tasks. Found that, compared to children with higher scores, children with lower security scores on the Attachment Q-Sort made more unnecessary help-seeking bids and inability statements, were more frustrated, and asked for…