Do more hours in center-based care cause more externalizing problems? A cross-national replication study.

Whether high quantities of center-based care cause behavior problems is a controversial question. Studies using covariate adjustment for selection factors have detected relations between center care and behavior problems, but studies with stronger internal validity less often find such evidence. We examined whether within-child changes in hours in center-based care predicted changes in externalizing problems in toddlers and preschoolers (N = 10,105; 49% female; data collection 1993-2012) in seven studies, including from Germany, Netherlands, Norway, two from Canada and two from the U.S. Race/ethnicity data were only collected in the United States (57% and 80% White; 42% and 13% African-American; 1.2% and 5% Latinx). Meta-analyses showed no association (r = .00, p = .88) between hours in center-based care and externalizing problems.

Classroom Quality at Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten and Children's Social Skills and Behavior Problems.

Focusing on the continuity in the quality of classroom environments as children transition from preschool into elementary school, this study examined the associations between classroom quality in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten and children's social skills and behavior problems in kindergarten and first grade. Participants included 1175 ethnically-diverse children (43% African American) living in low-wealth rural communities of the US. Results indicated that children who experienced higher levels of emotional and organizational classroom quality in both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten demonstrated better social skills and fewer behavior problems in both kindergarten and first grade comparing to children who did not experience higher classroom quality. The examination of the first grade results indicated that the emotional and organizational quality of pre-kindergarten classrooms was the strongest predictor of children's first grade social skills and behavior problems. The study results are discussed from theoretical, practical, and policy perspectives.

Early executive function predicts reasoning development.

Analogical reasoning is a core cognitive skill that distinguishes humans from all other species and contributes to general fluid intelligence, creativity, and adaptive learning capacities. Yet its origins are not well understood. In the study reported here, we analyzed large-scale longitudinal data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to test predictors of growth in analogical-reasoning skill from third grade to adolescence. Our results suggest an integrative resolution to the theoretical debate regarding contributory factors arising from smaller-scale, cross-sectional experiments on analogy development. Children with greater executive-function skills (both composite and inhibitory control) and vocabulary knowledge in early elementary school displayed higher scores on a verbal analogies task at age 15 years, even after adjusting for key covariates. We posit that knowledge is a prerequisite to analogy performance, but strong executive-functioning resources during early childhood are related to long-term gains in fundamental reasoning skills.

Preschool center quality and school readiness: quality effects and variation by demographic and child characteristics.

This article examines associations between observed quality in preschool center classrooms for approximately 6,250 three- to five-year-olds and their school readiness skills at kindergarten entry. Secondary analyses were conducted using data from four large-scale studies to estimate the effects of preschool center quality and interactions between quality and demographic characteristics and child entry skills and behaviors. Findings were summarized across studies using meta-analytic methods. Results indicate small, but statistically significant associations for preschool center quality main effects on language and mathematics outcomes with little evidence of moderation by demographic characteristics or child entry skills and behaviors. Preschool center quality was not reliably related to socioemotional outcomes. The authors discuss possible explanations for the small effect sizes and lack of differential effects.

Maternal role attainment with medically fragile infants: Part 1. measurement and correlates during the first year of life.

The purpose of this study was to extend scholarship on maternal role attainment (MRA). We used a triangulation of behavioral and self-report variables to measure MRA-identity, presence, and competence-with mothers of medically fragile infants (n = 81), and explored characteristics that influenced MRA longitudinally. Competence and presence were best measured using both self-report and observational methods, whereas identity was best measured with a questionnaire. Mothers with less worry reported higher levels of identity. Presence was higher with less alert infants, whereas competence was higher with more alert infants, lower parental role stress, higher education, and being married. Mothers with more illness-related distress and less alert infants, and unmarried and less educated mothers may need interventions to enhance MRA.

Maternal role attainment with medically fragile infants: Part 2. relationship to the quality of parenting.

We examined which components of maternal role attainment (identity, presence, competence) influenced quality of parenting for 72 medically fragile infants, controlling for maternal education and infant illness severity. Maternal competence was related to responsiveness. Maternal presence and technology dependence were inversely related to participation. Greater competence and maternal education were associated with better normal caregiving. Presence was negatively related although competence was positively related to illness-related caregiving. Mothers with lower competence and more technology dependent children perceived their children as more vulnerable and child cues as more difficult to read. Maternal role attainment influenced parenting quality for these infants more than did child illness severity; thus interventions are needed to help mothers develop their maternal role during hospitalization and after discharge. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 34:35-48, 2011.

Mark I. Appelbaum (1941-2020).

Memorializes Mark I. Appelbaum (1941-2020). Appelbaum was a giant in the field of quantitative psychology and developmental methodology. At the time of his passing, he was Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego. He was a distinguished researcher, teacher, and administrator who helped to transform research in psychology, education, and medicine by developing and applying methods for analyzing longitudinal data. He also was an award-winning teacher and mentor, an innovative administrator, and an individual with a passionate commitment to service-service to his colleagues, universities, and to the discipline. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Racial identity, social context, and race-related social cognition in African Americans during middle childhood.

This study examined the effect of changes in racial identity, cross-race friendships, same-race friendships, and classroom racial composition on changes in race-related social cognition from 3rd to 5th grade for 73 African American children. The goal of the study was to determine the extent to which preadolescent racial identity and social context predict expectations of racial discrimination in cross-race social interactions (social expectations). Expectations of racial discrimination were assessed using vignettes of cross-race social situations involving an African American child in a social interaction with European Americans. There were 3 major findings. First, expectations for discrimination declined slightly from 3rd to 5th grade. Second, although racial composition of children's classrooms, number of European American friends, gender, and family poverty status were largely unrelated to social expectations, having more African American friends was associated with expecting more discrimination in cross-racial interactions from 3rd to 5th grade. Third, increases in racial centrality were related to increases in discrimination expectations, and increases in public regard were associated with decreases in discrimination expectations. These data suggest that as early as 3rd grade, children are forming attitudes about their racial group that have implications for their cross-race social interactions.

Social risk and protective factors for African American children's academic achievement and adjustment during the transition to middle school.

The transition to middle school is often marked by decreased academic achievement and increased emotional stress, and African American children exposed to social risk may be especially vulnerable during this transition. To identify mediators and protective factors, the authors related severity and timing of risk exposure to academic achievement and adjustment between 4th and 6th grade in 74 African American children. Longitudinal analyses indicated that severity more than timing of risk exposure was negatively related to all outcomes and that language skills mediated the pathway from risk for most outcomes. Transition to middle school was related to lower math scores and to more externalizing problems when children experienced higher levels of social risk. Language skills and parenting served as protective factors, whereas expectations of racial discrimination was a vulnerability factor. Results imply that promoting parenting and, especially, language skills, and decreasing expectations of racial discrimination provide pathways to academic success for African American children during the transition from elementary to middle school, especially those exposed to adversity.

Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes: the importance of analytic approach.

J. Brooks-Gunn, W. J. Han, and J. Waldfogel (2002) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN; 2000b) came to different conclusions about the effects of maternal employment--although they were addressing similar questions using the same data set. Brooks-Gunn et al. concluded that maternal employment in infancy has a negative effect on children's cognitive abilities at age 3, whereas the ECCRN found that early nonmaternal care is not related to children's cognitive abilities in their first 3 years. The authors account for this difference by comparing 2 approaches to data analysis: a top-down testing of continuous variables (the approach used by the ECCRN, 2000b) and an a priori comparison approach that involves pairwise testing of specific dichotomous contrasts (the approach used by Brooks-Gunn et al., 2002). This comparison illustrates the critical importance of analytic approach. It also suggests that Brooks-Gunn et al.'s conclusion from this data set is overstated and should not be used on its own as the basis for practical or policy decisions.

Vicarious Effort-Based Decision-Making in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

This study investigated vicarious effort-based decision-making in 50 adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) compared to 32 controls using the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task. Participants made choices to win money for themselves or for another person. When choosing for themselves, the ASD group exhibited relatively similar patterns of effort-based decision-making across reward parameters. However, when choosing for another person, the ASD group demonstrated relatively decreased sensitivity to reward magnitude, particularly in the high magnitude condition. Finally, patterns of responding in the ASD group were related to individual differences in consummatory pleasure capacity. These findings indicate atypical vicarious effort-based decision-making in ASD and more broadly add to the growing body of literature addressing social reward processing deficits in ASD.

Early Intervention and Mediating Processes in Cognitive Performance of Children of Low-Income African American Families.

This longitudinal study of 161 African American children from low-income families examined multiple influences, including early childhood interventions and characteristics of the child and family, on longitudinal patterns of children's cognitive performance measured between 6 months and 8 years of age. Results indicate that more optimal patterns of cognitive development were associated with intensive early educational child care, responsive stimulating care at home, and higher maternal IQ. In accordance with a general systems model, analyses also suggested that child care experiences were related to better cognitive performance in part through enhancing the infant's responsiveness to his or her environment. Maternal IQ had both a direct effect on cognitive performance during early childhood and, also, an indirect effect through its influence on the family environment.

Is the prediction of adolescent outcomes from early child care moderated by later maternal sensitivity? Results from the nichd study of early child care and youth development.

Longitudinal data are used to examine whether effects of early child care are amplified and/or attenuated by later parenting. Analyses tested these interactions using parenting as both a categorical and continuous variable to balance power and flexibility in testing moderation. The most consistent finding was that maternal sensitivity during adolescence accentuated the association between child care quality and adolescent academic-cognitive skills at age 15 years when maternal sensitivity during adolescence was high. This interaction was obtained in analyses with maternal sensitivity as both a categorical and continuous variable. Relations between early child care hours and adolescent behavioral outcomes also were moderated by maternal sensitivity, with longer child care hours predicting more impulsivity and externalizing at age 15 when maternal sensitivity during middle childhood, scored as a categorical variable, was low to moderate and when maternal sensitivity during adolescence, scored as a continuous variable, was lower. These findings suggest that some child care effects are moderated by subsequent parenting and that this moderation may take both linear and nonlinear forms.

Preschool center care quality effects on academic achievement: an instrumental variables analysis.

Much of child care research has focused on the effects of the quality of care in early childhood settings on children's school readiness skills. Although researchers increased the statistical rigor of their approaches over the past 15 years, researchers' ability to draw causal inferences has been limited because the studies are based on nonexperimental designs. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate how an instrumental variables approach can be used to estimate causal impacts of preschool center care quality on children's academic achievement when applied to a study in which preschool curricula were randomly assigned across multiple sites. We used data from the Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Initiative (PCER; n = 2,700), in which classrooms or preschools were randomly assigned to that grantee's treatment curriculum or "business as usual" conditions in 18 research sites. Using this method, we demonstrate how developmental researchers can exploit the random-assignment designs of multisite studies to investigate characteristics of programs, such as preschool center care quality, that cannot be randomly assigned and their impacts on children's development. We found that the quality of preschool care received by children has significant, albeit modest, effects on children's academic school readiness, with effect sizes of .03 to .14 standard deviation increases in academic achievement associated with a 1 standard deviation increase in quality. Applications and potential policy implications of this method are discussed.

Timing of high-quality child care and cognitive, language, and preacademic development.

The effects of high- versus low-quality child care during 2 developmental periods (infant-toddlerhood and preschool) were examined using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care. Propensity score matching was used to account for differences in families who used different combinations of child care quality during the 2 developmental periods. Findings indicated that cognitive, language, and preacademic skills prior to school entry were highest among children who experienced high-quality care in both the infant-toddler and preschool periods, somewhat lower among children who experienced high-quality child care during only 1 of these periods, and lowest among children who experienced low-quality care during both periods. Irrespective of the care received during infancy-toddlerhood, high-quality preschool care was related to better language and preacademic outcomes at the end of the preschool period; high-quality infant-toddler care, irrespective of preschool care, was related to better memory skills at the end of the preschool period.

Otitis media in early childhood in relation to children's school-age language and academic skills.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether otitis media with effusion (OME) and associated hearing loss during the first 4 years of life are related to the language development and academic achievement of children between 4 years of age and second grade. METHODS: In a prospective cohort study, 83 black children, primarily from low-income families and recruited from community-based child care programs, were examined repeatedly between the ages of 6 months and 4 years for the presence of OME and hearing loss, both when well and when ill with OME. Children's child-rearing environments at home were assessed annually from infancy through second grade, whereas children's language and academic skills were assessed repeatedly between 4 years of age and second grade. RESULTS: We did not find in our longitudinal analyses a relationship between OME and hearing loss during the first 4 years of life and later academic skills in early reading and recognition of words heard. We did find that children with greater incidence of OME and hearing loss during the first 4 years of life scored lower in verbal math problems between kindergarten and second grade, even after partialing out important background factors. Children with more OME tended to score lower in math at the younger ages but caught up once they entered school. Follow-up analyses indicated also that children with more OME during the first 2 years of life scored lower in expressive language during the preschool and early elementary school years but caught up by second grade. In contrast, children from homes that were rated as more stimulating and responsive scored higher on every measure of language and academic skills than did children from less responsive homes. The home environment was related more strongly to all of the outcomes examined than was OME or hearing loss. CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence of a significant relationship between a history of OME or hearing loss and children's later academic skills in reading or word recognition during the early elementary school years. Children with greater incidence of OME and hearing loss scored lower in math and expressive language at the younger ages but caught up in math with their peers on entering school and in expressive language by second grade. Furthermore, a child's home environment was more related to early math and expressive language skills than was OME or hearing loss, and the home environment continued to be predictive of all of the language and academic outcomes through second grade. These study results should be interpreted cautiously when generalizing to other populations.

Differentiating among insecure mother-infant attachment classifications: a focus on child-friend interaction and exploration during solitary play at 36 months.

Utilizing data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care, the primary objective of the current report was to examine how avoidant and resistant mother - infant attachment classifications at 15 months were differentially associated with children's interaction with a same-sex friend and exploration during solitary play at 36 months. The added contributions of attachment security at 36 months and maternal sensitivity from 6 to 36 months to the prediction of child outcomes were also explored. As hypothesized, an avoidant attachment history was related to more instrumental aggression during child-friend interaction, whereas a resistant attachment history was associated with less self-assertion/control among friends and less attention and pretend play during exploration. Maternal sensitivity and concurrent attachment security also made unique contributions to the prediction of child outcomes at 36 months, although associations with 15-month attachment remained significant when these subsequent measures of the mother - child relationship were considered. Few differences emerged for the disorganized mother - infant attachment category in this relatively low-risk sample. Results underscore the need to differentiate between avoidant and resistant attachment groups and illustrate how early attachment history and subsequent indices of the mother - child relationship contribute to children's functioning.