An intervention for relational and physical aggression in early childhood: A preliminary study

A preventive intervention for reducing physical and relational aggression, peer victimization, and increasing prosocial behavior was developed for use in early childhood classrooms. Nine classrooms were randomly assigned to be intervention rooms (N = 202 children) and nine classrooms were control rooms (N = 201 children). Classroom was the unit of analysis and both observations and teacher-reports were obtained at pre and post-test. Focus groups were used to develop the initial program. The 6-week program consisted of developmentally appropriate puppet shows, active participatory sessions, passive concept activities and in vivo reinforcement periods. Preliminary findings suggest that the “Early Childhood Friendship Project” tended to reduce physical and relational aggression, as well as physical and relational victimization and tended to increase prosocial behavior more for intervention than control classrooms. Teachers and interventionists provided positive evaluations of the program and there is evidence for appropriate program implementation.     

A longitudinal study of negative emotional states and adjustment from early childhood through adolescence

The relations among various negative emotional and behavioral characteristics (e.g., aggression, anxiety, undercompliance, depressive mood) and adjustment were examined through use of data from the 31-year-old New York Longitudinal Study. 75 white, middle-class children were rated on these negative characteristics from infancy to adolescence. Measures of family, peer, and personal adjustment were also obtained. Because of the longitudinal nature of the data, we were able to use structural equation models to address the following questions: (1) How stable are these negative behaviors from early life through adolescence? (2) What is the degree of relation between these emotional characteristics and adjustment in childhood and adolescence? and (3) To what degree do these emotional characteristics differentially predict multiple adjustment dimensions in adolescence? 2 factors of negative emotional behavior, labeled as Aggression and Affect, respectively, were identified in early and late childhood and were found to have relatively high stability of individual differences. Aggression significantly predicted adolescent maladjustment, whereas Affect had no independent prediction of maladjustment. Moreover, emotional problems provided better prediction of adolescent adjustment problems than did earlier childhood adjustment ratings.     

Individual differences in undergraduate essay-writing strategies: A longitudinal study

Analysis of questionnaire responses describing thewriting processes associated with a total of 715essays (term papers) produced by undergraduatepsychology students identified four distinct patternsof writing behaviour: a minimal-drafting strategywhich typically involved the production of one or atmost two drafts; an outline-and-develop strategy whichentailed content development both prior to and duringdrafting; a detailed-planning strategy which involvedthe use of content-development methods (mindmapping,brainstorming or rough drafting) in addition tooutlining, and a ``think-then-do' strategy which,unlike the other three strategies, did not involve theproduction of a written outline. The minimal-draftingand outline-and-develop strategies appeared to producethe poorest results, with the latter being more timeconsuming. The detailed-planning and ``think-then-do'strategies both appeared to result in better qualityessays, although differences were small. We analysedthe writing strategies for a subset of these essaysproduced by a cohort of 48 students followed throughthe three years of their degree course. We found someevidence of within-student consistency in strategy usewith on average two out of every three of a student'sessays being written using the same type of strategy.There was no evidence of systematic change in writingstrategy from year to year.     

Chronic neglect and aggression/delinquency: A longitudinal examination

Neglect is the most common form of maltreatment in the United States, yet its impact on development remains understudied, especially for chronic neglect. Chronic neglect is also one of the most costly burdens on child welfare systems. This study examines the effects of chronic neglect, including two subtypes (Failure to Provide and Lack of Supervision) on adolescent aggression and delinquency using a diverse longitudinal sample of youth. Chronic neglect and chronic failure to provide (ages 0–12) predicted aggression/delinquency (age 14) even after controlling for the effects of other maltreatment (ages 0–12). Chronic lack of supervision, however, did not. Gender significantly moderated these effects, suggesting that males are more likely to respond to neglect by becoming aggressive/delinquent. Finally, social problems (age 12) partially mediated for boys, and fully mediated for girls, the connections between chronic neglect and aggression/delinquency, bolstering theorizing that neglect impairs social functioning broadly. Implications include the need for further research on chronic neglect, especially in providing guidance for child welfare systems. Interventions for chronically neglected youth should include social skill development.     

The early childhood aggression curve: development of physical aggression in 10- to 50-month-old children

This study examines the prevalence, stability, and development of physical aggression, as reported by mothers and fathers, in a sample of children initially recruited at 12, 24, and 36 months (N=2,253) and in a subsample followed up 1 year later (n=271) in a cross-sequential design. Physical aggression occurred in 12-month-olds, but significantly more often in 24- and 36-month-olds. The rates of physically aggressive behaviors increased in the 2nd year of life, and declined from the 3rd birthday onward. Stabilities were moderate for 12-month-olds and high for 24- and 36-month-olds. At the ages of 24 and 36 months, boys were more aggressive than girls. The results confirm and extend R.E. Tremblay's (2004) hypothesis about the early development of physical aggression.     

Adverse childhood experiences and adjustment: A longitudinal study of street-involved youth in Brazil

Most research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has been conducted in high-income countries in the global North. The current longitudinal study examined the prevalence, overlap, and impact of ACEs in a sample of Brazilian children and adolescents who use city streets as spaces for socialization and survival (i.e., street-involved youth). Participants (N = 113; M age = 14.18 years) were recruited in three cities following standardized procedures. Most youth were male (80.5%) and non-White (91%). Lifetime exposure to ACEs was assessed at the first study time point; six indicators of psychological, behavioral, and physical adjustment were assessed 6 months later. Analyses addressed three research goals. First, the prevalence of seven ACEs was examined. Youth reported an average of 4.8 ACEs (SD = 1.25); no significant age or gender differences were found in ACEs exposure (all ps > .05). Second, the overlap between different ACEs was explored. Family dysfunction was correlated with family disruption and physical abuse; poverty and physical abuse were related (ps < .05). Third, prospective associations between ACEs and adjustment were tested. Total number of ACEs was not significantly correlated with any outcome, but several associations emerged for specific ACEs. For example, death of a close friend or family member was prospectively associated with negative affect; sexual abuse was associated with illicit drug use and physical health symptoms (ps < .05). Findings highlight the prevalence of ACEs in this vulnerable population and underscore the value of extending research on ACEs into novel populations and contexts.     

A study of conceptual development in early childhood

This paper reports part of a study which investigated young children's conceptions of scientific and technological phenomena and the conceptual change that occurs during the teaching of science in pre-school, Transition/Year One and Year Two/Three classrooms. Science lessons from each school/centre were audio and video taped for a period of six months. Informal interviewing of teachers occurred in direct response to lessons observed. Informal interviewing of children was conducted to determine current scientific thinking in relation to the science lessons presented by the teacher. Two main elements emerged. First, different types of teacher-child interactions were evident during the science lessons observed and it was found that specifically focused interactions led to conceptual development in young children. Second, children's views (whether scientific or not) were maintained over a three month period.     

Family process and peer deviance influences on adolescent aggression: longitudinal effects across early and middle adolescence

Beginning in sixth grade at an average age of 11.9 years, 416 adolescents and their parents participated in 4 waves of data collection involving family observations and multiple‐reporter assessments. Ecological theory and the process‐person‐context‐time (PPCT) model guided the hypotheses and analyses. Lagged, growth curve models revealed that family hostility and peer deviance affiliation predicted adolescent aggression in the subsequent year. Family warmth played only a minor role in protecting against adolescent aggression. In hostile or low‐warmth families, peer deviance affiliation linked to a declining aggression trajectory consistent with the arena of comfort hypothesis. The longitudinal findings suggest a nonadditive, synergistic interplay between family and peer contexts across time in adding nuance to understanding the adolescent aggression.     

The influence of early science experience in kindergarten on children's immediate and later science achievement: Evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study

This study explores the impacts of selected early science experiences in kindergarten (frequency and duration of teachers' teaching of science, availability of sand/water table and science areas, and children's participation in cooking and science equipment activities) on children's science achievement in kindergarten and third grade using data for 8,642 children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten cohort (ECLS‐K). A theoretical model that depicts the relationships between the study variables was developed and tested using structural equation modeling. Results demonstrated that availability of science materials in kindergarten classrooms facilitated teachers' teaching of science and children's participation in science activities. Likewise, the frequency and the duration of kindergarten science teaching was a significant predictor of children's science activities but not of the children's end of kindergarten science achievement scores. Children's engagement with science activities that involved using science equipment also was not a significant predictor of their end of kindergarten science achievement. However, children's participation in cooking activities was. Children's prior knowledge, motivation, socio‐economic status, and gender were all statistically significant predictors of their science achievement at the end of kindergarten and end of third grade. Results of this study indicate that early science experiences provided in kindergarten are not strong predictors of children's immediate and later science achievement. Findings of the study suggest that the limited time and nature of science instruction might be related to the limited effect of the science experiences. Implications for teacher education programs and educational policy development are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 217–235, 2011     

Family strategies to support and develop resilience in early childhood

Early childhood is an important time for the development of resilience. A recently completed study has followed three cohorts of resilient children and young people living in disadvantaged areas in Victoria, Australia, through different transitions in their educational careers. This paper focuses on the early childhood cohort, where we have followed children from kindergarten/preschool into primary school. Using data gathered primarily through interviews with parents (mothers in each case), this paper presents a qualitative naturalistic sub-study that used deductive thematic analysis to explore the different strategies used by families to support their child’s resilience. Our findings highlight that resilience was a salient concept for all of the mothers in the study and each mother articulated a range of strategies they used within the family to try and support their child’s development and resilience. These strategies were constrained by the settings in which the families lived.     

Development of an individualized risk calculator for poor functioning in young people victimized during childhood: A longitudinal cohort study

BackgroundChildhood victimization elevates the average risk of developing functional impairment in adulthood. However, not all victimized children demonstrate poor outcomes. Although research has described factors that confer vulnerability or resilience, it is unknown if this knowledge can be translated to accurately identify the most vulnerable victimized children.ObjectiveTo build and internally validate a risk calculator to identify those victimized children who are most at risk of functional impairment at age 18 years.ParticipantsWe utilized data from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative birth cohort of 2232 UK children born in 1994–95.MethodsVictimization exposure was assessed repeatedly between ages 5 and 12 years along with a range of individual-, family- and community-level predictors. Functional outcomes were assessed at age 18 years. We developed and evaluated a prediction model for psychosocial disadvantage and economic disadvantage using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regularized regression with nested 10-fold cross-validation.ResultsThe model predicting psychosocial disadvantage following childhood victimization retained 12 of 22 predictors, had an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.65, and was well-calibrated within the range of 40–70% predicted risk. The model predicting economic disadvantage retained 10 of 22 predictors, achieved excellent discrimination (AUC = 0.80), and a high degree of calibration.ConclusionsPrediction modelling techniques can be applied to estimate individual risk for poor functional outcomes in young adulthood following childhood victimization. Such risk prediction tools could potentially assist practitioners to target interventions, which is particularly useful in a context of scarce resources.     

Insomnia symptom trajectories among adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse: A longitudinal study

BackgroundChildhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with sleep disturbances in adulthood. However, longitudinal studies have yet to identify among CSA-survivors subgroups distinguished by the trajectory of their insomnia severity, or predictors of subgroup membership.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine longitudinal insomnia symptom trajectories, as well as predictors and correlates of the identified trajectories, over a 4 year study period in a sample of adult, mainly female CSA-survivors.Participants and settingThe sample comprised 533 adult survivors of CSA (94.9% women, mean age 39.2 years, mean age of abuse onset 6.5 years), recruited from support centers for sexual abuse survivors in Norway.MethodsLatent class growth analyses were used to identify insomnia symptom trajectories.ResultsThree distinct trajectories of insomnia symptoms were identified; one characterized by high insomnia symptom scores minimally decreasing over the study period (‘high and decreasing’, 30.6%), one characterized by stable intermediate insomnia symptom scores (‘intermediate and stable’, 41.5%), and one characterized by stable low insomnia symptom scores (‘low and stable’, 27.9%). Predictors of belonging to the high and decreasing trajectory (using the low and stable trajectory as a reference), was lower age of abuse onset (expotentiated coefficient (EC): 0.93, p = 0.026), abuse involving penetration (EC: 2.36, p = 0.005), threats (EC: 3.06, p < 0.001) or physical violence (EC: 3.29 p < 0.001), a higher score on a composite variable comprising multiple other abuse and perpetrator aspects (EC: 2.55, p < 0.001), as well as scoring above a clinical cut-off on a measure of posttraumatic stress symptoms (EC: 12.17, p < 0.001). Those belonging to the high and decreasing trajectory also reported lower levels of perceived social support and higher levels of subjectively experienced relational difficulties compared to those belonging to the two other trajectories.ConclusionsWe conclude that different longitudinal insomnia trajectories exist among adult CSA survivors. The overall results, as well as the significant predictors, are discussed alongside their potential clinical implications.     

The knowledge base and text recall: Evidence from a short-term longitudinal study

In a short-term longitudinal study, we investigated how domain-specific knowledge in soccer influences the amount of text recall and comprehension in elementary school and junior high school children of high and low overall aptitudes. Both level of soccer knowledge and overall aptitude were varied in a factorial design. Third, fifth, and seventh grade children were given several measures of text recall and comprehension and were retested on these measures about 1 year later. Performance was more a function of soccer knowledge than of aptitude level.     

Kindergarten standardized testing and reading achievement in the U.S.: Evidence from the early childhood longitudinal study

Drawing from data use theory (i.e., a theory for making data-driven educational decisions), the present study sought to understand how frequency of standardized testing is related to student learning, mediated by reading instruction, after controlling for child-level (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity) and school-level covariates (e.g., private/public, proportion of students eligible for free lunch). Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort of 2010–2011, the sample included 12,241 children attending 1067 kindergartens in the U.S. findings from a multilevel structural equation mediation model suggest that the frequency of state/local standardized testing in kindergarten did not have a direct effect on reading achievement near the end of kindergarten, after controlling for covariates. However, the amount and type of reading instruction mediated the relationship between the frequency of testing and reading achievement, after controlling for covariates. The implications for policy and practice on the use of standardized tests in kindergarten are discussed.     

Associations between maternal childhood maltreatment and psychopathology and aggression during pregnancy and postpartum

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the association between maternal childhood maltreatment and psychopathology and aggression in intimate relationships during pregnancy and the postpartum period. METHOD: Forty-four pregnant women who were recruited from an obstetric clinic and local advertising periodical completed questionnaires about childhood maltreatment and psychopathology during their first trimester of pregnancy. Approximately 1 year after the birth of the child, 32 of the original participants completed these same questionnaires. Regression models were used to test the relationship between childhood maltreatment and psychopathology and aggression during pregnancy and 1 year postpartum. RESULTS: Sexual abuse and emotional neglect were related to psychopathology during pregnancy, and emotional neglect and physical abuse and neglect predicted poorer maternal outcomes 1 year postpartum. Contrary to expectations, physical abuse was related to less aggression during pregnancy, and emotional abuse was associated with less pathology postpartum. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that childhood maltreatment is associated with poorer maternal mental health during pregnancy and 1 year postpartum and points to the need to improve targeting and treatment of psychopathology during this time.     

疫情背景下幼儿教育社会支持策略初探

幼儿教育不仅仅是单纯的在幼儿园的教育,更是在家庭与社会的教育,只有三者协调发展,幼儿教育才能健康发展。在疫情大背景下,合理的社会支持策略有利于幼儿健康成长。此次疫情使得幼儿家长在幼儿教育方面的问题突显:不了解社会支持、轻视社会支持、教育信息良莠不齐等等。新媒体时代为幼儿教育带来机遇与挑战,社区更有利于为幼儿提供线上与线下一体化服务,合理的社会支持网络利于幼儿教育的推进。     

A longitudinal study of religious identity and participation during adolescence

To examine the development of religious identity during the teenage years, adolescents (N = 477) from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds completed questionnaires in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades (10th grade age: M = 15.81, SD = 0.36). Results indicated that religious identity remained stable across high school whereas religious participation declined. Even after controlling for ethnic differences in religious affiliation, socioeconomic background, and generational status, adolescents from Latin American and Asian backgrounds reported higher levels of religious identity and adolescents from Latin American backgrounds reported higher rates of religious participation. Within individual adolescents, changes in religious identity were associated with changes in ethnic and family identities, suggesting important linkages in the development of these social identities during adolescence.     

Purposeful pauses: teacher talk during early childhood mathematics activities

This paper describes how early childhood teachers' incorporation of pauses raises the quality of talk-in-interaction during play-based mathematics activities. Responses of both children and teachers are shown to be more contingent and expansive when conversations include protracted pauses than during interactions in which pauses are largely absent. Pauses provided children with opportunities to initiate topics and facilitated more equitable access to discourse moves for children. By pausing before responding to a child's conversational gambit, teachers gained opportunities to assess children's demonstrated numeracy-related skills and understanding, and could thus provide authentic, individualised scaffolding. Pauses were not necessarily silent: a pause in an interaction with one child could be used strategically to model the learning interaction with a second child before returning to the first child in order to continue the discourse sequence.     

A cross-cultural study of parents' perceptions of early childhood programs

Cross-cultural studies in early childhood education assist in expanding perspectives and gaining increased understanding and appreciation of programs in other countries. Because both Sweden and the United States are interested in parent involvement in early childhood programs, a survey was conducted to assess parent's perceptions of these programs. Following a review of family life and early childhood education in Sweden and the United States are the specific components of the cross-cultural study. A stratified random sample of parents whose children were involved in early childhood programs was done in St. Louis County, MN, United States, and Kronobergs Lan, Småland, Sweden. In the first section of the five-part survey, parents indicated the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with statements about such areas as governmental support of children and families. Parents in Sweden felt more support of the government, whereas parents in the United States used early childhood programs as a support mechanism to increase their confidence. In the other four sections of the survey, parents rated the importance of various types of parental involvement and the importance of various materials, activities, and caregiver actions in their children's programs. In general, parents in Sweden valued informal contact and inner-directed creative materials and activities. Parents in the United States valued more confining activities such as rote counting, community-based experiences, and compliance with adult expectations. The influence of the macro-society on parents' perceptions as well as microsystem interactions and environments is evident in this study. As early childhood educators learn about and adapt new ideas to their own programs, the potential of cross-cultural studies becomes realized in improved opportunities for young children and their families.     

Mainstreaming during the early childhood years.

Issues surrounding the implementation of the integration imperative during infancy and early childhood present formidable challenges to education and community providers. Key among these issues is how professionals provide high-quality services to young children with disabilities in mainstream environments. This article explores current issues related to integration and reexamines the concept of "best practices" as it applies to mainstreaming during the early childhood years. The author recommends an integrated set of indicators for high-quality programs and describes an outcomes-based process for making administrative and pedagogical decisions.