This study assessed one center's interpretation of child-centered instruction in terms of children's daily activities, social affiliation, and classroom behavior. Staff interviews and classroom observations indicated that children: (1) spent less time engaging in focused learning activities; (2) sustained attention on one activity for smaller…

Examined stress and coping symptoms of 258 children whose parents were divorced. Found that, in the cross-sectional model, avoidance coping partially mediated the relations between negative events and symptoms; while active coping moderated between negative events and conduct problems. In the longitudinal model, significant negative paths were…

Describes ways of observing and interpreting children's peer social behavior based on the impression management perspective, which focuses on the social construction of a child's individual self-concept. Suggests that teachers and caregivers can use impression management strategies to observe and promote prosocial development in young children.…

Observed the playground behavior and social interaction of 27 kindergarten children in a university laboratory school, focusing on the children's ability to successfully negotiate social interactions. Found that communication skills, ability to recognize and understand others' emotions and needs, and self-confidence are critical to positive social…

This essay examines the development of individual differences in emotion regulation and the role that specific styles of emotion regulation and dysregulation play in affecting young children's interactive behavior with peers. It advances a general developmental pathway that conceptualizes individual variations in terms of both infant traits and…

Discusses the advantages of using developmentally appropriate guidance as a method of classroom management. Contrasts this method with traditional classroom discipline and clarifies the distinction between misbehavior and mistaken behavior. Analyzes the three levels of mistaken behavior and suggests that adults who approach children as individuals…

Examined environmental and gene-environment processes linking parenting (affect, control, responsiveness) and preschoolers' behavioral adjustment difficulties (noncompliance, conduct problems). Found that estimates of shared environmental variance and mediation were greatest for observational data, and estimates of child genetic variance and…

Assesses protocol for conducting a functional analysis of maintaining variables for children with selective mutism. A parent was trained in and later applied various behavior strategies designed to increase speech in an eight-year-old girl with selective mutism. Parent and child ratings of treatment were positive. Presents implications for future…

Reviews recent attachment-related studies of early aggression. Longitudinal attachment studies indicate that risk factors identified in cross-sectional studies of aggressive school-age children, such as family adversity, parental hostility, parental depression, and child cognitive deficits, are already evident in infancy and predictive of later…

Examined relationship between paternal roles and 3-year olds' well-being in low income, African-American families. Found that children's cognition, receptive language, behavior, and home environment were not related to father presence. Controlled for maternal age, education, and parenting satisfaction; found that paternal roles related to indices…

Explores fears and phobias of childhood from a behavioral perspective. Maintains that many childhood fears are mild, age-specific, and transitory, whereas others persist beyond normal developmental limits. Maintains that severe school phobia is difficult to manage. Notes that reports of successful behavioral treatments of fears/phobias are rare in…

Suggests that parents resolve disagreements about parenting and child behavior by: (1) listening to discover each other's normal way; (2) negotiating to find three alternatives to get unstuck; and (3) prioritizing to close the deal and reach a mutually agreeable solution. (DLH)

Despite increasing interest in the effects of parenting stress on children and families, many questions remain regarding the nature of parenting stress and the mechanism through which stress exerts its influence across time. In this study, cumulative parenting stress was assessed across the preschool period in a sample of 125 typically developing…

Young children develop social and emotional competence through interactions with others in the two major contexts in which they spend time: home and preschool. This study examined whether parenting stress in the home context is related to the children's behaviour while in preschool. Previous research has suggested that parenting stress negatively…

This investigation compared United States and New Zealand teachers' perceptions of classroom interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants read one of six vignettes describing a child with symptoms representative of ADHD. The number and type of symptoms were consistent across all vignettes. Next, teachers read a…