Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is considered to be a key factor in the development of emotion regulation in children, which in turn plays an important role in their psychosocial functioning. This study aimed to explore the mediating role of children's emotion regulation in the relationship between parental reflective functioning and…

Guided by the ecological model of civic development, this study examined the extent to which the growth in children's self-control during middle childhood predicted their civic engagement at age 26 directly and indirectly via their prosociality at age 15. We used data from 1,042 children (50% female, 77% White) in the NICHD Study of Early Child…

Background: Many children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) demonstrate impairment in social skills. However, ADHD rarely occurs in isolation, with approximately one-third of children with ADHD having one additional disorder, and another third having two or three comorbidities. Few studies have considered the global and specific…

Research suggests that the quality of interactions and relationships teachers share with students and students' social skills are interrelated, but it is less clear if this relationship is bidirectional or consistent across elementary school. The purpose of this research study was to estimate the possible longitudinal and reciprocal effects of…

At school entry, girls are rated by teachers as more competent on measures of social skills than boys. It is less clear if this higher rating is stable or grows over time. To address this question, multiple group curve of factors models investigated gender-specific growth trajectories across seven waves of measurement in a large, longitudinal…

Developmental theories and previous research have emphasized the significance of cooperation and self-control in middle childhood. The present study extends previous research by examining (a) the growth of cooperation and self-control as well as the relations between them in middle childhood (third to sixth grade) and (b) the extent to which…

Though considerable research links both a lack of self-control and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to a variety of negative health and behavioral outcomes, few studies to date have explored whether ACEs are associated with deficits in self-control. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCW; n = 3,444) and a life…

This study tested child characteristics (temperamental executive control and negative reactivity) and maternal characteristics (parenting behaviors and maternal depressive symptoms) as predictors of a mother's emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs). Further, parenting behaviors and ERSBs were examined as predictors of children's emotion…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether gender would moderate the association between teacher--child relationship and children's social skills in a sample of preschool children. Classroom teachers (N = 32) rated the quality of the teacher--child relationship (Student--Teacher Relationship Scale; STRS) and children's social skills (Social…

This chapter documents changes in school readiness among entering kindergarteners across the years 1998-2010, a period characterized by dramatic changes to the early childhood landscape. I use a broad definition of school readiness that includes not only academic skills such as reading and math knowledge but also social and emotional skills and…

This study aimed to assess physiological arousal and behavioral regulation of emotion in the context of frustration in 29 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and 45 typically developing children (41-81 months). Heart rate was continuously measured and emotion strategies were coded, during a locked-box task. Results revealed increases in…

The present study examined the early parenting and temperament determinants of children's antisocial and positive behaviors in a low-income, diverse ethno-racial sample. Participants were from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, which included 960 European American (initial M age = 15.00 months; 51.2% female) and 880 African…

Investigating heterogeneity in antisocial behavior early in life is essential for understanding the etiology, development, prognosis, and treatment of these problems. Data from the longitudinal National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) study of Early Child Care were used to identify homogeneous groups of young antisocial children…