This study aims to examine Child-Centered Play Therapy's effect on reducing behavioral problems in five- and six-year-old children living in Istanbul. The study was conducted with 20 children from socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Families applied for support to a play therapy room established in a primary school. A pre-test and post-test…

Background/Context: The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of supporting educator, and particularly teacher, mental health and well-being when working to improve educational systems. Although education, and teaching in particular, has long been characterized as a stressful field of work (Kyriacou, 2001), outside of occupational…

Emotions and behaviors observed during challenging tasks are hypothesized to be valuable indicators of young children's motivation, the assessment of which may be particularly important for children at risk for school failure. The current study demonstrated reliability and concurrent validity of a new observational assessment of motivation in…

Youth in underserved, urban communities are at risk for a range of negative outcomes related to stress, including social-emotional difficulties, behavior problems, and poor academic performance. Mindfulness-based approaches may improve adjustment among chronically stressed and disadvantaged youth by enhancing self-regulatory capacities. This paper…

Research Findings: Parental engagement with children has been linked to a number of adaptive characteristics in preschool children, and relationships between families and professionals are an important contributor to school readiness. Furthermore, social-emotional competence is a key component of young children's school readiness. This study…