This study assessed the social adaptation of sexually abused children and tested whether children's emotion regulation competencies mediated the association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and two outcomes of the social domain (i.e. withdrawal and social difficulties). A group of 283 child victims of sexual abuse and a comparison group composed…

Preschool teachers' consistency of warm, sensitive, and responsive interactions with children may be more important than average levels and may moderate the association between children's cognitive and emotion regulation and their preschool adjustment. A sample of 312 boys and girls aged 32-68 months in 44 classrooms at 16 privately-funded centers…

Considering the association between children's quality of relationships with teachers and their academic adjustment, information pertaining to how abused children are functioning in their relationships with teachers could be useful in promoting their academic success--yet there has been limited research in this area. The purpose of this study was…

Theory of mind describes the ability to engage in perspective-taking, understand intentions, and predict actions and emotions. Theory of mind typically achieves major developmental milestones around age of 5, coinciding with the transition to kindergarten, and is associated with a verbal ability (receptive and expressive vocabulary), executive…

This cluster-randomized pre-post comparison study examined the effects of using Sesame Workshop's Little Children, Big Challenges: General Resilience (LCBC) digital media toolkit in preschool classrooms over a 12-week period. Participants included 157 preschool teachers and 766 preschool children from 159 preschool classrooms in 38 Head Start…

This study sought to understand the extent to which elementary or middle school mobility was associated with adverse middle school academic achievement and mental health and whether youth or contextual characteristics moderated associations. I contrasted elementary and middle school mobility to consider whether a recent school move or elementary…

To describe and facilitate the identification of child school behavior patterns, we developed a typology of child school behavior (ages 6-11 years) using the norming data (N = 2,338) for the second edition of the Behavior Assessment System for Children Teacher Rating-Child form). Latent profile analysis was conducted with the entire data set,…

The association between social withdrawal, school adjustment, and academic functioning in preschool and school entry is well-established. Children who experience social withdrawal in primary grades are at risk for decreased academic performance. The bidirectional relationships among early literacy and social withdrawal in primary grades have not…

Peer victimization is a well-established risk factor for children's adjustment, but it has rarely been studied as a feature of classroom climate. This study examines the consequences of classroom victimization for children's social and academic adjustment. Classroom victimization, social functioning, and academic adjustment were assessed…

The current 5-year longitudinal study examined the effects of middle school bullying and victimization on adolescent academic achievement, disciplinary referrals, and school attendance through high school (N = 2030; 1016 both boys and girls). Greater engagement in bullying behaviors was concurrently associated with lower achievement and school…

This study investigated the characteristics of students who report extremely high levels of hope. A sample of 682 students (ages 11-17) completed measures of hope, school engagement, life satisfaction, self-worth, and mental health. Academic achievement was obtained from students' school records. Based on their hope scores, students were divided…

Children's prior attitudes toward school may be an important entry factor to consider in their initial adjustment to kindergarten. This short-term longitudinal study examined children's affective orientations and other school-related perceptions and approaches to learning in late preschool and then 1 to 2 months after entry into…

Although parents' relationships with teachers are considered to be an important aspect of parental school involvement, few studies have examined their implications for students' school adjustment. The present study provided further insight into the relevance of teachers' perceptions of the parent-teacher relationship by examining their link to…

Resilience is a very useful construct for framing school mental health services to children and is particularly applicable to mental health services in school settings. Still, resilience perspectives should not be overgeneralized to school mental health practice because risk and resilience wax and wane over time and daily decisions about students'…

Youth exposed to disasters experience stress and adjustment difficulties, which likely influence their interactions with peers. In this study, we examined changes in bullying and peer victimization in two cohorts of children. Youth from an area affected by Hurricane Katrina were assessed pre- and postdisaster (n = 96, mean [M] = 10.9 years old,…