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…

Latinx students are the largest ethnic minority school-age population, yet they have some of the lowest reading proficiency levels and highest rates of school dropout and experience significant unmet behavioral health needs. School-based interventions addressing behavioral challenges and parent engagement are recommended to support Latinx…

Research Findings: Children's social competence has been linked to successful transition to formal school. The purpose of this study was to examine the contributions of children's temperament to teachers' ratings of their social competence from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Children (N = 1,364) from the National Institute of Child Health and…

The Social Skills Rating System (SSRS) provides a multi-rater assessment of child social behaviors that influence the development of social competence and adaptive functioning. This study examined whether the items on the teacher version of the SSRS provide reasonable indicators of the three first-order social skills dimensions proposed by the…