Studied effects of previous amount of day care on social adjustment of children in kindergarten. Parents provided child histories; children were later assessed by teachers, peers, and observers. Children with higher day care (in 0-1, 1-4, and 4-5 years categories) scored higher on negative adjustment and lower on positive adjustment assessments in…

Measured the social and academic adaptation of 45 sibling pairs in grades 2 to 5 and compared the results with similar data obtained for randomly selected, unrelated pairs matched on sex, grade, and classroom. Significant similarities were recorded among siblings in their peer relations, academic performance, and behavioral adjustment, whereas…

Assessed long-term consequences of 1,253 early adolescents' orientation toward peers for adjustment during high school. Found that adolescents willing to sacrifice their talents, school performance, and parents' rules engaged in greater problem behaviors and evidenced lower academic achievement than other high school students. Tendencies to seek…

This study examined the connections between children's self-representations at age 5 and their self-perceptions, socioemotional competence, and peer acceptance at age 8. Findings generally revealed the expected connections between the positiveness of self at age 5 and self-perceptions and socioemotional functioning 3 years later, supporting the…

This longitudinal study examined the relations between multiple risk indexes representing contextual adversity, income-to-needs ratios, and the elementary school adjustment of children from economically disadvantaged families. The results provide evidence for volatility in family circumstances over 2-year intervals from preschool to 5th grade, for…

Examined validity of attachment-based measures of parent-child relationships designed for 9- to 12-year-olds. Measures included self-reports of perceptions of security and avoidant and preoccupied coping, a projective interview assessing attachment state of mind, parents' reports of willingness to serve as an attachment figure, and ratings of…

This study examined the effect of school-based kindergarten transition policies and practices on child outcomes. The authors followed 17,212 children from 992 schools in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten sample (ECLS-K) across the kindergarten school year. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the number of school-based…

Examines relations between aspects of early child care (age entered, full- or part-time structure and number of child-care arrangements and their quality) and school adjustment. Maternal education was found to be more closely associated with children's school adjustment than maternal employment, marital status, or aspects of child care. (PCB)

A longitudinal study of 80 toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergartners found that children who entered early in low quality care had the most difficulty with peers in preschool. Lives of parents who used low quality care were characterized by complexity and use of less appropriate socialization practices than those used by other parents. (RH)

Used short-term longitudinal design to examine peer relations processes that may mediate relation between peer rejection and kindergartners' emotional and academic adjustment. Structural equation modeling results supported hypothesis that negative peer treatment and classroom participation partially mediated the relationship between rejection and…

Examined the social behavior, social adjustment, and school adjustment of a sample of elementary school students in Shanghai, China. Found that, consistent with studies of Western children, sociability-leadership was associated with and predictive of indexes of adjustment. Inconsistent with Western studies, shyness-sensitivity was positively and…

Examined contributions of different risk factors to predicting children's psychological and academic outcomes at end of first grade. Found that each analysis level contributed to prediction of most outcomes; 18 to 29% of outcome variance was predicted; a common set of predictors predicted numerous outcomes; ethnicity showed little unique…