Sarah L. Friedman

George Washington University | GW · Department of Psychology

The present study’s aims were to compare reports provided by deployed military husbands and their at-home wives of their communication and well-being during deployment, and to determine whether the quantity and quality of their communication are uniquely linked to their well-being, controlling for relevant contextual factors. Participant were from...

To examine associations between continued communication with a deployed parent and the adjustment of military-connected children during deployment, 180 at-home parents/caregivers of children aged 4 to 18 were surveyed. Overall quantity (frequency) and quality (deployed parent supportiveness and child's positive emo-tions after communicating) of com...

Using an online survey methodology, we examined individual differences in distance communication between 75 adolescents and their deployed parents and found substantial individual differences in both the quantity and quality of their communication. We also examined the statistical associations between these features of distance communication and ad...

Using an online survey methodology, we examined individual differences in distance communication between 75 adolescents and their deployed parents and found substantial individual differences in both the quantity and quality of their communication. We also examined the statistical associations between these features of distance communication and ad...

Data from 1,364 children and families who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were analyzed to track the early correlates and later academic outcomes of planning during middle childhood. Maternal education, through its effect on parenting quality when childre...

Nighttime sleep awakenings and infant and family characteristics were measured longitudinally in more than 1,200 infants when the infants were 6, 15, 24, and 36 months old. By 6 months of age, the majority of children slept through the night, awakening their mothers only about once or twice per week. However, not all children followed this predomin...

The Black-White achievement gap in children's reading and mathematics school performance from 4½ years of age through fifth grade was examined in a sample of 314 lower income American youth followed from birth. Differences in family, child care, and schooling experiences largely explained Black-White differences in achievement, and instructional qu...

IntroductionConceptualizing ChildcareThe Assessment of ChildcareThe State of Knowledge about Childcare and Child DevelopmentChildcare and the Development of Children who Experienced Childcare in InfancyDirections for Future ResearchConclusion References

Children enter elementary school with widely different skill levels in core subjects. Whether because of differences in aptitude or in preparedness, these initial skill differences often translate into systematic disparities in achievement over time. How can teachers reduce these disparities? Three possibilities are to offer basic skills training,...

To identify ages when adolescents were in sexual maturity stages 2 through 5; to explain the relations between breast (girls), genital (boys), and pubic hair (girls and boys) development between ages 9(1/2) and 15(1/2) years; and to evaluate synchrony of pubertal development across characteristics. Annual pubertal assessments. Ten locations in the...

This review paper presents and places in context findings from 23 manuscripts based on the data sets of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). The NICHD study tracked the development of more than 1000 children from birth through age 15. The children were born ac...

The early developmental antecedents of individual differences in children's social functioning with peers in third grade were examined using longitudinal data from the large-scale NICHD Study of Early Child Care. In a sample of 1364 children, with family and child factors controlled, the frequency of positive and negative peer interactions in child...

Data were analyzed from 641 children and their families in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development to test the hypotheses that in the early school years, mothers' and fathers' sensitive support for autonomy in observed parent-child interactions would each make unique predictions t...

IntroductionWhy Is Child Care an Issue?Historical Changes in Maternal Employment and in Nonmaternal CareChild Care as a Challenge to Cultural Beliefs and to Scientific TheoriesConceptualizing Child CareThe Assessment of Child CareThe History of Research on Child Care and its Links to Child DevelopmentThe State of Knowledge about Child Care and Chil...

To investigate ecological correlates of the development of overweight in a multisite study sample of children followed from age 2 to 12. Longitudinal examination of covariates of overweight status throughout childhood, with covariates drawn from three ecological levels: sociocultural or demographic, quality of the child's home environment, and prox...

Two general evolutionary hypotheses were tested on 756 White children (397 girls) studied longitudinally: (1) rearing experiences would predict pubertal timing; and (2) children would prove differentially susceptible to rearing. Analysis of pubertal measurements, including some based on repeated physical assessments, showed that mothering and fathe...

Research Findings: Data on more than 900 children participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care were analyzed to examine the effect of age of entry to kindergarten on children's functioning in early elementary school. Children's academic achievement and socioemotional development were measur...

Our aim with this study was to assist clinicians by estimating the predictive value of earlier levels of BMI status on later risk of overweight and obesity during the middle childhood and early adolescent years. We present growth data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development,...

This report summarizes findings from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development as effect sizes for exclusive maternal care and-for children in child care-type, quality, and quantity of care. Children (n = 1,261) were recruited at birth and assessed at 15, 24, 36, and 54 months. Excl...

The relations between early infant-mother attachment and children's social competence and behavior problems during the preschool and early school-age period were examined in more than 1,000 children under conditions of decreasing, stable, and increasing maternal parenting quality. Infants' Strange Situation attachment classifications predicted moth...

Early language competence in preschool relates both directly and indirectly to elementary school reading in both 1st and 3rd grades. Further, comprehensive language skills are more strongly related to early reading than are vocabulary scores alone. In response to a challenge by S. A. Bracken (2005), the current article reaffirms the National Instit...

What is the role of oral language in reading competence during the transition to school? Is oral language in preschool best conceptualized as vocabulary knowledge or as more comprehensive language including grammar, vocabulary, and semantics? These questions were examined longitudinally using 1,137 children from the National Institute of Child Heal...

This study adds to the growing literature linking children's experiences in the environment to individual differences in their developing skills in attention, memory. and planning. The authors asked about the extent to which stimulating and sensitive care in the family and in the child-care or school environments would predict these cognitive outco...

Observations of 780 third-grade classrooms described classroom activities, child-teacher interactions, and dimensions of the global classroom environment, which were examined in relation to structural aspects of the classroom and child behavior. 1 child per classroom was targeted for observation in relation to classroom quality and teacher and chil...

Associations between early child care and children’s functioning though the end of third grade were examined. Some of the relations that had been detected before children’s school entry were maintained. Higher-quality child care continued to be linked to higher scores in math, reading, and memory. More time spent in center care was associated with...

The current study focuses on the association between children's social adjustment in the transition to school and the early elementary school years and their fathers' and mothers' parenting behaviors and beliefs and quality of marital relationship. The authors found that the most competent and least problematic children from the teachers' perspecti...

This study evaluated the extent to which first-grade class size predicted child outcomes and observed classroom processes for 651 children (in separate classrooms). Analyses examined observed child-adult ratios and teacher-reported class sizes. Smaller classrooms showed higher quality instructional and emotional support, although children were some...

The purpose of this study was to examine child, maternal, and family antecedents of children's early affect dysregulation within the mother–child relationship and later cognitive and socioemotional correlates of affect dysregulation. Children's affect dysregulation at 24 and 36 months was defined in the context of mother–child interactions in...

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN) constructed a structural model predicting reading and mathematics achievement in first-grade children from parenting, childcare, and first-grade schooling environme...

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, a prospective, longitudinal study involving 933 children, were used to examine relations between cumulative participation in 5 types of out-of-school care (before- and after-school programs, extracurricular activities, sitters, fathers, and non...

Family and child care factors from birth to 54 months, achievement and social outcomes at entry to school, and qualities of first-grade classrooms were used to predict first-grade social functioning for 864 children from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Child gender, mothers' partner status, maternal education and depressive symptoms, sensitivi...

Research reveals associations between child-care quality and child outcomes. But are these associations causal? Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, a longitudinal study of children from birth to age 4(1)/(2), were used to explore 5 propositions that would support a causal argumen...

The role of attention processes as possible mediators between family environment and school readiness was analyzed with data from 1,002 children and their families. Data on children's sustained attention, impulsivity, and school readiness (i.e., cognitive, achievement, language, and social development) were obtained at 54 months of age, and quality...

Health recommendations are for preadolescent children to have daily school physical education (PE) classes that engage children in moderate to vigorous physical activity at least 50% of class time. To observe activity of children in PE classes in third grades across 10 different sites. Observational study. Six hundred eighty-four elementary schools...

Objective: To examine the relationship between experience in child care and communicable illnesses (gastrointestinal tract infection, upper respiratory tract infection, and otitis media) in children aged 37 months to 54 months with particular focus on the effect of entry into child care after age 3 years. Design: Health, child care, and family data...

To test the hypothesis that early attentional persistence will moderate the effect of infant negative emotionality on social competence, problem behavior, and school readiness at age 3, data collected as part of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care were subject to structural equation modeling analyses (N = 1,038). Consistent with Eisenberg et al.'s...

Effects of early child care on children's functioning at the age of 41/2 years wee a examined in the NICHD (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) Study of Early Child Care, a prospective longitudinal study of more than 1,000 children. Even after controlling for multiple child and family characteristics, children's development wa...

This study used multinomial logistic regression to examine relationships between child-care experience (in the context of overall family functioning) and preschool attachment. Attachment behavior was assessed at 36 months with the Strange Situation, and A, B, C, and D attachment classifications were assigned using the MacArthur coding system. Mater...

In the most comprehensive US study to date about connections among child care experiences, family factors, and children's early development, 1100 children have been followed from birth through age 7. The study's intent is to describe family and child care/school contexts of children's development and examine associations between contextual variatio...

The present study describes the early life histories of a large sample of three-year-old children from different ethnic backgrounds living in three levels of family income—poverty, near-poverty, and above-poverty. The study examined the developmental characteristics of children in the three groups and related them to family characteristics and expe...

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care were examined to determine how children's experiences in child care were related to peer competence at 24 and 36 months of age, after controlling for the effects of family and child characteristics. Peer competence was assessed using mother and caregive...

To test the hypothesis that early attentional persistence will moderate the effect of infant negative emotionality on social competence, problem behavior, and school readiness at age 3, data collected as part of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care were subject to structural equation modeling analyses (N = 1,038). Consistent with Eisenberg et al.'s...

Children from 10 sites in the United States were followed from birth to age 3 to determine how experiences in child care relate to cognitive and language development (Ns varied between 595 and 856, depending on the assessment). Multiple assessments of family and child care environments and of cognitive and language competence were collected. Analys...

A multifactorial model was used to identify child, sociodemographic, paternal, and maternal characteristics associated with 2 aspects of fathers' parenting. Fathers were interviewed about their caregiving responsibilities at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months, and a subset was videotaped during father-child play at 6 and 36 months. Caregiving activities and...

Relations of duration and developmental timing of poverty to children's development from birth to age 9 were examined by comparing children from families who were never poor, poor only during the child's infancy (0-3 years of age), poor only after infancy (4-9 years of age), and chronically poor. Chronically poor families provided lower quality chi...

Relations between nonmaternal child care and ratings of maternal sensitivity and child positive engagement during mother–child interaction at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months were examined for 1,274 mothers and their children participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development(NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. In longitudinal anal...

Relations between nonmaternal child care and ratings of maternal sensitivity and child positive engagement during mother-child interaction at 6, 15, 24, and 36 months were examined for 1,274 mothers and their children participating in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. In longitudinal ana...

Women (N = 1,215) and their infants were followed from birth, and maternal reports of depressive symptoms were obtained at 1, 6, 15, 24, and 36 months. Women who never reported symptoms of depression were compared with those who reported symptoms sometimes or chronically. Women with chronic symptoms of depression were the least sensitive when obser...

Objectives: This study assessed outcomes for children when child care centers meet recommended care standards. Methods: Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care were used to examine the association between meeting standards for child-staff ratios, group sizes, caregiver training, and caregiver education and children's development at 24 and...

This chapter is about the assessment of child care. The authors start by laying out all of the aspects of child care that can be assessed and then move on to a description of existing instruments, while emphasizing the aspects of child care that they assess and those that they do not. They then discuss issues pertaining to the validity of existing...

Studies suggesting that family factors predict developmental outcomes more strongly for children reared principally by their parents than those with extensive early child-care experience stimulated the examination of the differential prediction of child outcomes using a subsample of families participating in the National Institute of Child Health a...

The aims of this investigation were to determine whether Strange Situation attachment classifications were equally valid for infants with and without extensive child-care experience in the first year of life and whether early child-care experience, alone or in combination with mother/child factors, was associated with attachment security, and speci...

The extent to which family, economic, and psychosocial factors account-for age of initiation, amount, type, and quality of nonmaternal infant care was examined for 1,281 children in 10 locations around the U.S. Families were enrolled in the study when the infants were born, and information was collected about naturally occurring patterns of regular...

Information on the use, patterning, and stability of nonmaternal child care during the first year of life was examined for 1,281 families in 10 study sites. The vast majority of infants (81%) experienced regular nonmaternal child care during the first 12 months, with most starting prior to 4 months of age and enrolled for close to 30 hours per week...

Research about the effects of child care on the psychological development of children has been stimulated by social reality. Industrialized societies, including the US, have witnessed two simultaneous social trends: an increase in the number of mothers in the work force and a decrease in the age at which children enter child-care arrangements.1-3 T...

An analysis of the components of planning is presented that incorporates problem representation, goal selection, a decision to plan, strategy choice, strategy execution, and monitoring. We argue that which components are required and which developmental changes are triggered or revealed depend on the planning task. We present analyses of three task...

Attempts to correct misconceptions and comments on issues in L. B. Silverstein's (see record 1992-05293-001) article on child care and maternal employment which cited a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) as an example of the search for negative consequences. The authors emphasize that hypotheses in the NIC...