Joint Reading between Black Head Start Children and Their Mothers

This study examined the behaviors of black Head Start children and their mothers around a series of experimental joint reading contexts in their homes. There were 2 specific objectives: (1) to examine the effects of text genre (narrative and expository) and text format (familiar and traditional) on mothers' teaching strategies while interacting with their children around reading tasks, and (2) to examine the effectiveness of mothers' teaching strategies in eliciting children's participation in the joint reading tasks. 13 mother-child dyads were videotaped in their homes while interacting around a series of texts in each genre and format. Results indicated that genre, not format, affected mothers' teaching strategies. Further, mothers adjusted their level of teaching to children's level of task competence. Results are discussed in terms of Vygotsky's notion of the zone of proximal development.     

Children''s Relationships with Caregivers: Mothers and Child Care Teachers

Infant, toddler, and preschool children's relationships with mothers and teachers were examined in this study. 110 children were observed with their mothers during child care arrivals and reunions. 403 children were observed with their teachers in child care. 3 categories of relationships were derived from these observations. Children in the secure relationship category experienced more teacher involvement than children in the avoidant or ambivalent relationship categories. Children in the ambivalent relationship categories experienced more teacher involvement than children in avoidant relationship categories. A subsample (n = 23) of children were seen with their mothers both during child care arrivals and reunions and in the Strange Situation. Relationship classifications were similar.     

Before Head Start: Income and Ethnicity,Family Characteristics,Child Care Experiences,and Child Development

The present study describes the early life histories of a large sample of three-year-old children from different ethnic backgrounds living in three levels of family income—poverty, near-poverty, and above-poverty. The study examined the developmental characteristics of children in the three groups and related them to family characteristics and experiences in child care. To no one's surprise, significant differences associated with income were found for most of the family measures. Poverty and near-poverty families were more likely to have mothers with lower education, less sensitivity, more depression, and lower HOME scores. Correlatively, for the child development measures, there was an upward progression associated with income. Poverty children consistently showed the greatest deviation from established norms for cognitive and social behavior. A striking finding, however, was the considerable variability found on all the measures—a pattern not sufficiently stressed in related research. This finding has major implications for curriculum planning in Head Start programs. The analysis also showed that child care experience cannot be disregarded as a significant aspect of the history of a prospective enrollee in Head Start or other intervention programs geared to low-income children. Fewer of these children are likely to have a child care history, as families that used at least 10 hours of child care per week were less likely to be either poor or near-poor and thus eligible for enrollment. While this may reflect selection factors associated with child care usage, it also indicates that availability of child care is essential for borderline families that try to stay out of poverty. Number of hours of care per week and age of enrollment did not predict developmental level when the full income sample was considered. However, when only poor and near-poor children in care for at least 20 hours a week were used in the analysis, higher quality of care was associated with more favorable developmental outcomes in the children.     

Before Head Start: Income and Ethnicity, Family Characteristics, Child Care Experiences, and Child Development

The present study describes the early life histories of a large sample of three-year-old children from different ethnic backgrounds living in three levels of family income—poverty, near-poverty, and above-poverty. The study examined the developmental characteristics of children in the three groups and related them to family characteristics and experiences in child care. To no one's surprise, significant differences associated with income were found for most of the family measures. Poverty and near-poverty families were more likely to have mothers with lower education, less sensitivity, more depression, and lower HOME scores. Correlatively, for the child development measures, there was an upward progression associated with income. Poverty children consistently showed the greatest deviation from established norms for cognitive and social behavior. A striking finding, however, was the considerable variability found on all the measures—a pattern not sufficiently stressed in related research. This finding has major implications for curriculum planning in Head Start programs. The analysis also showed that child care experience cannot be disregarded as a significant aspect of the history of a prospective enrollee in Head Start or other intervention programs geared to low-income children. Fewer of these children are likely to have a child care history, as families that used at least 10 hours of child care per week were less likely to be either poor or near-poor and thus eligible for enrollment. While this may reflect selection factors associated with child care usage, it also indicates that availability of child care is essential for borderline families that try to stay out of poverty. Number of hours of care per week and age of enrollment did not predict developmental level when the full income sample was considered. However, when only poor and near-poor children in care for at least 20 hours a week were used in the analysis, higher quality of care was associated with more favorable developmental outcomes in the children.     

Temperament and Interparental Conflict: The Role of Negative Emotionality in Predicting Child Behavioral Problems

This study examined temperamental irritability and fearful distress as moderators of the association between interparental conflict and child behavior problems in a disadvantaged sample of two hundred and one 2‐year‐old children and their mothers. Using a multimethod, prospective design, findings revealed that the relation between interparental conflict and changes in child behavior problems over a 1‐year period were moderated by temperamental irritability. Consistent with differential susceptibility theory, children high in irritable temperament not only exhibited poorer outcomes in contexts of high interparental conflict but also better adjustment in contexts of low levels of interparental conflict. Mediated moderation analyses revealed that fearful reactivity partly accounted for the greater susceptibility of irritable children, particularly in explaining why they fared better when interparental conflict was low.     

Ethnic Variation in the Association Between Family Structures and Practices on Child Outcomes at 36 Months: Results From Early Head Start

Research Findings: This study analyzed data from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Study (EHSRES) to examine whether the association between family structural characteristics (maternal education, number of parents, employment status, and number of children), parenting practices (sensitive and negative parenting, cognitively stimulating home environment, authoritarian parenting), and children's outcomes (receptive language, cognitive development, and problem behaviors) differ across ethnicity. A sample of 2,777 low-income families included 39% European Americans/Whites, 36% African Americans, and 25% Hispanics. Results indicated ethnic differences in some family structural characteristics, parenting practices, and child outcomes. With the exception of employment status, there was limited evidence that ethnic differences in family structural characteristics were related to differences in child outcomes. Though there were also ethnic differences in parenting practices, there was no evidence that ethnicity moderated the relation between parenting practices and children's language, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes at 36 months. Practice or Policy: The implication of this study is the need to foster and focus on positive parenting practices, rather than negatives ones, because of their importance to children's language, cognitive development, and behavior management. Ethnic differences may matter, but they may not in the face of other stressors such as economic fears, job instability, health concerns, and neighborhood safety.     

Are Head Start Effects Sustained? A Longitudinal Follow-up Comparison of Disadvantaged Children Attending Head Start, No Preschool, and Other Preschool Programs

This study investigates the sustained effects into kindergarten and grade 1 of Project Head Start for disadvantaged black children. Participation in generic Head Start programs was compared to both no preschool and other preschool experience for disadvantaged children in two American cities in 1969-1970. Incorporating both pretest/posttest and comparison group information, the study has advantages over other Head Start impact studies. Both preprogram background and cognitive differences were controlled in a covariance analysis design, using dependent measures in the cognitive, verbal, and social domains. Children who attended Head Start maintained educationally substantive gains in general cognitive/analytic ability, especially when compared to children without preschool experience. These effects were not as large as those found immediately following the Head Start intervention. Findings suggest an effect of preschool rather than of Head Start per se. Initial findings of greater effectiveness of Head Start for children of below average initial ability were reduced but not reversed. The diminution of effects over time, especially for low-ability children, may reflect differences in quality of subsequent schooling or home environment.     

The Relationship between Fathers' and Children's Communication Skills and Children's Behavior Problems: A Study of Head Start Children

This study focused on the communicative interaction of fathers with their Head Start children and the relationship of fathers' and children's communicative skills and child behavior problems early and late in the school year. The results indicate a relationship between children's communicative competence and social behavior. The structural models for externalizing and internalizing behavior confirm the hypothesis that father communication is linked to child communication skills and child communication is linked to behavior problems. The findings also suggest that children's communicative competence may have an ongoing direct effect on children's social behavior that transcends the impact that earlier social behavior has on later social behavior.     

Family Conflict and Children's Behavior Problems: The Moderating Role of Child Temperament

Child temperament was examined as a moderator of the link between family conflict and child behavior problems. Temperament assessed in early childhood was used to predict the relation between family conflict and externalizing behavior problems measured during the early elementary school years. For children with difficult temperament, a strong association between subsequent family conflict and behavioral adjustment was predicted; for children with easy or intermediate temperaments, low to moderate associations were predicted. These hypotheses were tested across 3 temperament groups (easy, intermediate, and difficult). Data were collected from 108 children and families participating in the Fullerton Longitudinal Study at ages 3 through 10 years. Consistent with the hypotheses, the data provided support for the moderating role of temperament in predicting the association between family conflict and child externalizing behavior problems. These findings suggest that temperamental difficultness operates as a vulnerability factor with respect to the development of children's behavior problems in families with high conflict.     

Congruence between Mothers' and Fathers' Differential Treatment of Siblings: Links with Family Relations and Children's Well-Being

We studied patterns of mothers' and fathers' differential treatment of firstborn (average age 10.5 years) and secondborn (average age 8 years) school-age siblings, and we examined the links between parents' differential treatment and children's well-being and dyadic family relationships. Mothers, fathers, and both siblings in 110 families were interviewed in their homes. For each dimension of parental behavior that we assessed (i.e., differential affection and discipline) we created groups of families that reflected mothers' and fathers' levels of differential treatment (e.g., discipline the firstborn more, equal treatment, discipline the secondborn more). Although we detected substantial correspondence between the 2 parents' differential treatment, we found a sizable group of families in which parents' reports were incongruent (i.e., 1 parent reported equal and the other differential treatment). Parental patterns were linked to differences between the siblings' well-being and both sibling and parent-child relationships, with younger siblings exhibiting greater vulnerability to differential treatment. Incongruence in differential warmth was associated with marital distress.     

Preliminary investigation of an early mental health intervention for Head Start programs: Effects of Child Teacher Relationship Training on children's behavior problems

Head Start teachers and their aides (n = 24) were assigned to either the experimental or active control treatment in this preliminary investigation on the effects of Child Teacher Relationship Training (CTRT) on 52 disadvantaged preschool children identified with behavioral problems. CTRT is based on the principles and procedures of Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT), a structured, time‐limited approach that trains young children's caregivers to be active participants in an early mental health delivery system. Analysis of pre‐ to mid‐ to posttest findings revealed that, compared to the active control, CTRT demonstrated a large treatment effect on reducing children's externalized behavior problems; furthermore, the between‐group difference over time was statistically significant. The statistical, practical, and clinical significance of findings provide preliminary support for CTRT as a developmentally responsive school‐based intervention for at‐risk preschool children exhibiting clinical levels of behavioral problems. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Head Start and Unintended Injury: The Use of the Family Map Interview to Document Risk

Much is known about how to provide safe environments for preschool children (3–5 years-of-age); however, many preschool children still experience preventable injuries—particularly children living in poverty. This study examined the use of an assessment tool used to identify children at risk for unintended injury in two large, federally funded Head Start programs during home visits. Families of preschool children in two multi-center Head Start programs (N = 499 and N = 228) were screened by teachers for risks related to safety in their home and parenting environment during mandatory Head Start home visits in the fall and spring. The safety screening tool was part of an established, broader interview assessment called the Family Map, which was designed to help Head Start programs meet mandatory performance standards related to the identification of risk and strengths in the family. Study results indicated that a large number of preschool children from low-income backgrounds were at risk for a variety of risks related to unintentional injury. Further, in some areas Head Start families increased their safety related parenting behaviors by the second assessment with different areas noted in the two programs. This study demonstrated that, beyond the use of the tool to identify families in need of intervention services, it can be used by childcare providers to effectively monitor family need and for program self-assessment.     

Defining Family-centered Early Education: Beliefs of Public School, Child Care, and Head Start Teachers

Reform efforts in early childhood education include recommendations to adopt more family-centered approaches to practice, including greater family support functions. In this study the beliefs of 280 early childhood teachers regarding aspects of family-centered programming were assessed using the written Family Involvement Survey (FIS). Teacher beliefs were compared across public school, child care, and Head Start settings. Results revealed that public school early childhood teachers reported significantly less positive beliefs about parents' childrearing interests and abilities, along with lower self-perceived competence in relating to families, than either child care or Head Start teachers. As compared to Head Start teachers, both public school and child care teachers reported significantly more conflict about providing support services to families through their early education programs. These results were interpreted, in part, as evidence of the need for more in-depth knowledge about the separate professional cultures that characterize various sectors of the early education field.     

Defining Family-centered Early Education: Beliefs of Public School,Child Care,and Head Start Teachers

Reform efforts in early childhood education include recommendations to adopt more family-centered approaches to practice, including greater family support functions. In this study the beliefs of 280 early childhood teachers regarding aspects of family-centered programming were assessed using the written Family Involvement Survey (FIS). Teacher beliefs were compared across public school, child care, and Head Start settings. Results revealed that public school early childhood teachers reported significantly less positive beliefs about parents' childrearing interests and abilities, along with lower self-perceived competence in relating to families, than either child care or Head Start teachers. As compared to Head Start teachers, both public school and child care teachers reported significantly more conflict about providing support services to families through their early education programs. These results were interpreted, in part, as evidence of the need for more in-depth knowledge about the separate professional cultures that characterize various sectors of the early education field.     

Home-Based Head Start and Family Involvement: An Exploratory Study of the Associations Among Home Visiting Frequency and Family Involvement Dimensions

Since 1965, Head Start has stood as a model, two-generational program for promoting developmental competencies among children living in socioeconomic disadvantage for the US and international communities. The cornerstone of Head Start is the promotion of caregivers’ involvement in their young children’s development and early learning. In accomplishing this ambitious goal, Head Start operates from a variety of programming options, one of which is home-based. The home-based Head Start program can occur alone or be combined with a classroom-based program. Relative to its classroom-based counterpart, the home-based program has received little empirical attention. To this end, this study explores the association of home visiting frequency to caregiver involvement as it occurs naturally in a combined Head Start program serving families in small urban communities. The interrelationships of child and family demographics to caregiver involvement as well as participation in the home-based program were also examined. Consistent with prior studies, two-parent families reported greater involvement in the children’s preschool education than other family structures. Additionally, home visiting frequency was higher for Hispanic families relative to African American and Caucasian families. Notably, home visiting frequency did not correspond with families’ report of their involvement with their child at home or preschool or their communication with classroom teachers. Although the exploratory nature of this study does not yield conclusions, it does call attention to the need to empirically investigate the development and integration of evidence-based caregiver involvement interventions in the home-based Head Start program.     

Verbal Aggression in Romantic Relationships: The Influence of Family History,Destructive Beliefs About Conflict,and Conflict Goals

This article aimed to achieve two complimentary goals. First, this study examined verbal aggression in romantic relationships as a function of exposure to family verbal aggression in childhood and beliefs about the destructive nature of conflict. Second, this study considered the influence of conflict goals on the use of verbal aggression in romantic relationships. As predicted, history of family verbal aggression was negatively associated with destructive beliefs about conflict, and destructive beliefs about conflict partially mediated the association between history of family verbal aggression and verbal aggression in current romantic relationships. In addition, destructive beliefs about conflict were negatively associated with verbal aggression in current romantic relationships at high levels of importance of revenge-motivated goals; destructive beliefs about conflict were not significantly associated with verbal aggression in current romantic relationships at moderate or low levels of revenge-motivated goals.     

家庭结构与功能的变革对儿童发展与教育的影响

家庭在规模、结构、成员关系状况以及功能等方面发生相应变迁会对儿童的发展与教育过程产生一定的影响,与家庭密切关联并直接影响家庭功能的公共教育、大众媒介等领域发生相应的变革,对儿童发展与教育产生新的影响。     

Supporting optimal child development through Early Head Start and Head Start programs: Reflections on secondary data analyses of FACES and EHSREP

We are delighted to reflect on the 10 papers highlighted in this important special issue of Early Childhood Research Quarterly devoted to recent secondary data analyses of the FACES and EHSREP datasets. First, we provide some background on Head Start research and give an overview of the large-scale Head Start and Early Head Start datasets that are available for researchers to analyze. Then, we comment on the papers in this special issue from a methodological and statistical standpoint. Finally, we reflect on themes that stood out across the various papers. Throughout, we make recommendations for future large-scale data collection efforts and future research on Head Start and Early Head Start programs.     

Unresponsiveness in Children with Severe Disabilities: Potential Effects on Parent‐Child Interactions

This paper examines the potential effects on parent‐child interactions when children, because of severe mental and physical impairments, are unable to exhibit most social responses. A model is proposed to explain why a child is perceived to be responsive or unresponsive by parents and caregivers; the former applies only if the child's behaviour is recognized and valued by the observer. It is also proposed that: (a) perceived unresponsiveness may be more critical than the disability per se;(b) intense interactions early in the disabled child's development, commonly described by observers as controlling, intrusive behaviour, may be due to high levels of caregiver motivation and extinction burst effects; and (c) reductions in the amount of some caregiver‐child interactions may be the outcome of previously unrewarded interaction attempts and decreased expectancy levels.     

Family Structure,Family Instability,and Child Psychological Well-Being in the Context of Migration: Evidence From Sequence Analysis in China

This study conceptualizes parental migration as a dynamic family process that exposes children to parental absence and family instability. Using detailed migration histories, this study identifies the left-behind trajectories of rural Chinese children throughout childhood (age 1–12) and examines the impact on psychological well-being (N = 3,961). Results indicate heterogeneity in children’s experience of parental migration, which is characterized by both persistence (prolonged parental absence) and instability (repeated parental migration). A quarter of rural children experienced prolonged parental migration, and for half of these, by both parents. Another 50% of rural children experienced repeated parental migration. Children continuously left behind by both parents and children who experienced substantial family instability both fared worse in psychological development than those in stable two-parent families.