The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics' primary mission is to enhance data collection and reporting on children and families. "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2015" provides the Nation with a summary of national indicators of children's well-being and monitors changes in these indicators.…

This study set out to examine the impact of a health and personal development programme (the Social, Personal and Health Education Programme) which had been "enhanced" by the addition of a mental health promotion component. Students aged 12-16 years attending 17 secondary schools were randomly allocated as clusters to participate in…

Most children in the U.S. today will experience one or more changes in family structure. The present study explores the implications of this trend for child development by investigating the conditions under which family structure changes matter most to child well-being. Using data from the Maternal and Child Supplement of the National Longitudinal…

This study exploits a randomized trial of two light-touch elementary school interventions to estimate long-run impacts on postsecondary attendance and attainment. The first is a classroom management technique for developing behavioral skills in children. The second is a curricular intervention aimed at improving students' core reading skills. We…

This article reports the development and evidence for validity and application of the Adjustment Scales for Early Transition in Schooling (ASETS). Based on primary analyses of data from the Head Start Impact Study, a nationally representative sample (N = 3077) of randomly selected children from low-income households is configured to inform…

Structural equation modeling was used to simultaneously examine maternal psychological distress and social support as mediators linking maternal childhood trauma (MCT) to both maternal and child-reported behavior at 9 years of age in 231 birth mother-child dyads, who were primarily poor, urban, and African American. One half of the mothers…

Research Findings: We examined relations among preschoolers' behavioral regulation, gender, and school readiness outcomes in preacademic and classroom skills using a sample of South Korean preschoolers aged 3-5 ("N" = 229). Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task, which requires…

Because students spontaneously exhibit aesthetic and rhythmic acts in the classroom and human beings across the world have engaged in the arts for thousands of years, this study argues that artful behavior represents an inherent and significant human proclivity. Exploring the tension between the human predisposition and the physical and mental…

Objectives: We evaluated a new attachment-oriented intervention aimed at improving parental mind-mindedness, promoting positive parent-child relationships, and reducing child psychopathology in families with adopted children. Method: The sample consisted of 20 families with adopted children (2-5 years of age). After the pretest, the intervention…

The purpose of the current study is to contribute to the knowledge base on the use of family education and support (FES) services by examining the longitudinal trajectories of FES receipt and multiple domains of child and family functioning. Using an extant data set of more than 9,000 youth and their caregivers, results indicate that families who…

This study had three goals: (a) assessing the predictive association of externalizing and internalizing behaviors during childhood with sexual onset during early adolescence; (b) examining the interactive link of externalizing and internalizing behaviors with early sexual onset; and (c) investigating the moderating effect of gender in this…

Children and youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or emotional and behavioral disabilities (E/BD) often exhibit challenging behavior including aggression, self-injury, non-compliance, or property destruction (Kamps, Kravits, Rauch, Kamps, & Chung, 2000; National Autism Center, 2009). As a result, students with ASD or E/BD often miss out…

The authors examine the effects of poverty-related adversity on child development, drawing upon psychobiological principles of experiential canalization and the biological embedding of experience. They integrate findings from research on stress physiology, neurocognitive function, and self-regulation to consider adaptive processes in response to…

This study examined the adjustment of siblings of children with mental health problems. The participants had brothers or sisters receiving treatment at a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service within the Hunter New England Health Service, New South Wales, Australia. Seventy-five siblings completed questionnaires on their self-concept, quality…

The current study investigated psychometric properties of the Family Affective Attitude Rating Scale (FAARS) for assessing parents' thoughts and feelings about their child, coded from a 5-min speech sample. Parental affective attitudes derive from previous experiences of parenting and child behavior, representations of the parent-child…