Young children in poor communities are spending more hours in nonparental care because of policy reforms and expansion of early childhood programs. Studies show positive effects of high-quality center-based care on children's cognitive growth. Yet, little is known about the effects of center care typically available in poor communities or the…

The current study examined how individual differences in children's temperament and motivation relate to attention skills in children from economically disadvantaged families. A total of 73 motherchild dyads participated in this study. Children were between the ages of 3 and 5, and all attended a Head Start program. Using multiple hierarchical…

Effects of the Mother-Child Home Program (MCHP) were evaluated with a broad range of measures on cognition, social behavior, and emotion. Findings indicated that children in Bermuda scored above U.S. norms on cognitive tests and were functioning well in the preschool period. The MCHP had few demonstrable effects on any segment of the sample. (RH)

In the follow-up study, most of the initial gains in IQ resulting from program participation were retained. (Authors/MB)

Competing models of the factorial structure of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (PSPCSA) were tested for fit using multisample confirmatory factor analysis. The best fitting model was tested for invariance (a) across samples of middle-class (n251) and economically disadvantaged (Head Start, n=117) kindergarten…

Findings are discussed in the light of social-learning theory. (Authors)

Used a hierarchical linear model to examine contributions of neighborhood disadvantage, collective socialization, and parenting to African American 10- to 12-year-olds' affiliation with deviant peers. Found that community disadvantage had a significant positive effect on deviant peer affiliations. Nurturant/involved parenting and collective…

Tested a conceptual model developed explaining the link between kinship support and the psychological well-being of economically disadvantaged African American families. Found that kinship social support to mothers or female guardians was positively associated with adolescent psychological well-being, maternal well-being, and more adequate…

Examined parental correlates of child attachment in preschool-aged, economically disadvantaged, urban, African-American sample. Found that 61% were securely attached, with girls more likely to be securely attached than boys. Parents of securely attached children were rated as more warm and accepting, less controlling, and less likely to use…

Using longitudinal data collected over 2 years on a sample of 2,745 urban elementary school children (1st-6th graders, ages 6-11 years) from economically disadvantaged communities, effects of stressful experiences within 3 contexts (school, family, neighborhood), cumulative stress, and multiple context stress on 3 indices of children's adjustment…

Patterns of speech from lower socioeconomic status mothers to their infants were analyzed to determine correlations with infant risk of mental retardation. Measures of maternal language included sentence form, amount of speech, and syntactic complexity. The proportion of imperatives was positively correlated with risk status and negatively…

Identified groups of economically disadvantaged children showing high externalizing behavior in first grade that persisted (persistent) or decreased (improver) in third grade, or low first- grade levels that were stable (unproblematic) or increased (new problem) in third grade. Found that verbal ability, behavioral impulsivity, parent…