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Classroom Interactions, Dyadic Teacher–Child Relationships, and Self–Regulation in Socially Disadvantaged Young Children
Abstract
This study examined the quality of the classroom climate and dyadic teacher-child relationships as predictors of self-regulation in a sample of socially disadvantaged preschool children (N = 206; 52 % boys). Children's self-regulation was observed in preschool at the beginning and at the end of the school year. At the middle of the preschool year, classroom observations of interactions were conducted by trained observers and teachers rated the quality of dyadic teacher-child relationships. Results from multilevel analyses revealed that teacher-child closeness predicted improvements in observed self-regulation skills. Children showed larger gains in self-regulation when they experienced closer teacher-child relationships. Moreover, a moderating effect between classroom instructional quality and observed self-regulation was found such that children with low initial self-regulation skills benefit the most from classrooms with higher classroom quality. Findings have implications for understanding the role of classroom social processes on the development of self-regulation.
... One such predictor that was discussed in large was student engagement in their academic activities (Cadima et al., 2016;Reeve and Lee, 2014;Salanova et al., 2010;Schaufeli et al., 2002). Engagement is a positive psychological state of mind that is characterised by dedication, vigour, and absorption (Shaheen and Zeba, 2020). ...
... Engaged students are more involved and immersed in their studies which leads to more success in careers (Schaufeli et al., 2002). Similarly, Cadima et al. (2016) have confirmed the same with a different perspective on AE. They suggested that engagement has all three componentsbehavioural, cognition, and affection, as such there exists a strong correlation between AE and academic excellence. ...
... They feel more hopeful for future accomplishments and are more resilient toward setbacks in their studies. The finding augments the findings of Schaufeli et al. (2002) and Cadima et al. (2016) and goes one step ahead to prove that not only PsyCap predict engagement, but even AE also develops student PsyCap. The finding is the unique contribution of the present study as it is among the few studies that have empirically confirmed that AE fosters PsyCap compared to previous studies which have suggested that personal resource leads to engagement. ...
The researchers aim to investigate the role of academic engagement, career adaptability, and positive affect in fostering psychological resources, (i.e., psychological capital), among students. The data were collected after obtaining informed verbal consent from 256 management students from renowned higher education institutes (HEIs) in India. Since all the constructs are reflective, covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) is used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that academic engagement has direct and indirect effects on students’ psychological capital. Career adaptability and positive affects are found to mediate the influence of academic engagement on students’ PsyCap. The present study provides avenues to develop students’ PsyCap, which is one of the pertinent variables for students’ sustainable development in the labour market’s changing trends. In addition, the study suggests that HEIs may foster a conducive learning environment to engender career adaptability and positive emotions through academic engagement strategies.
... Yurdon dan Jones (2016) menjelaskan mengembangkan keterampilan sosial dan emosional (seperti, kesadaran diri, manajemen diri, kesadaran sosial, keterampilan hubungan, dan pengambilan keputusan yang bertanggung jawab) dapat membantu membangun fondasi yang kuat untuk pembelajaran individu seumur hidup (misalnya, individu akan menjadi individu yang terbuka untuk beragam pandang, menghormati orang lain, penyayang, ulet dalam menghadapi tantangan, kolaboratif). Peneliti yang lain juga memperkuat bahwa anak-anak lebih mudah membangun hubungan dan beradaptasi dengan lingkungan baru ketika mereka memiliki keterampilan sosial dan emosional yang kuat (Cadima, Verschueren, Leal, & Guedes, 2016). Dengan mengembangkan keterampilan sosial dan emosional yang kuat juga dapat membantu siswa belajar memecahkan masalah, berpikir kritis, berkomunikasi dengan hormat, berkolaborasi dengan orang lain, dan dapat beradaptasi di lingkungan baru (Lottman et al., 2017). ...
... Interaksi dengan orang lain dan pengalaman sehari-hari dapat membantu anak kecil mengembangkan keterampilan sosial dan emosional yang positif (Cadima et al., 2016). Guru anak usia dini harus menerapkan keseimbangan yang sempurna antara pengamatan interaksi sosial dan memberikan intervensi ketika anak menjadi frustasi dan ketika anak membutuhkan bantuan untuk mengelola perasaan mereka (Caldarella, Williams, Hansen, & Wills, 2015). ...
... Untuk mencapai prestasi akademik, anak usia dini harus terlebih dahulu belajar bagaimana mengatur emosinya, menjadikan SEL sebagai salah satu tugas terpenting dalam pendidikan anak usia dini (Cadima et al., 2016;Dan, 2016). Meskipun SEL berfokus pada mempersiapkan anak untuk berinteraksi secara sosial dan menerapkan pengetahuan baru mereka ke situasi kehidupan nyata, SEL juga memungkinkan siswa untuk siap belajar secara akademis (Guhn et al., 2016). ...
Anak usia dini adalah waktu yang ideal bagi anak untuk belajar dan memahami emosi besar mereka, seperti senang, marah, khawatir, bangga, sedih, takut, cemburu, malu. Perilaku yang suka mengamuk dan perubahan suasana hati yang ekstrem dapat ditangani ketika anak diajari cara mengontrol emosi tersebut. Mengajari anak-anak untuk memahami mengapa mereka merasakan perasaan sedih, marah dan senang sangatlah diperlukan agar anak dapat mengembangkan keterampilan yang dibutuhkan untuk mengendalikan emosi tersebut. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui persepsi guru PAUD tentang kegiatan pembelajaran yang dapat membantu mengembangkan aspek sosial-emosional anak usia dini. Metode penelitian ini menggunakan studi kasus kualitatif. Subyek penelitian 15 guru dan teknik pengumpulan data dengan wawancara serta dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menghasilkan 4 tema besar, yaitu komponen bermanfaat dari pembelajaran sosial emosional atau SEL (social and emotional learning), bahan dan sumber daya yang digunakan selama implementasi, menilai perubahan dalam pembelajaran sosial emosional, serta dukungan pertumbuhan sosial emosional
... Cross-sectional studies have consistently shown positive associations between classroom management and student self-regulation across all levels of education, from kindergarten and preschool (Hamre et al., 2014;McWilliam et al., 2003;Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2002, to primary school (Cadima et al., 2010;Downer et al., 2007), and up to secondary school (Brody et al., 2002;Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2015). Furthermore, findings from longitudinal and experimental studies suggested a positive association between classroom management and student self-regulation in both preschool and primary school settings (Cadima et al., 2016;Keilow et al., 2019). However, other studies have found no evidence of such associations (Cameron Ponitz et al., 2009;Watts et al., 2021;Yoshikawa et al., 2015). ...
... At the between-person level, consistent with our hypothesis, the results indicated that students who reported better overall classroom management also reported better self-regulation in individual lessons. These results are consistent with prior research which typically included younger students and measured the classroom management through observational methods (e.g., Cadima et al., 2010Cadima et al., , 2016Hamre et al., 2014;Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2009). While the study does not permit causation inferences, the findings imply that future research should investigate whether classroom management enhances students' self-regulation. ...
... At the within-person level, the results showed that when students reported higher than usual classroom management, they also reported better self-regulation. This is in line with the expectations established in previous research at the between-person level (e.g., Cadima et al., 2010Cadima et al., , 2016Hamre et al., 2014;Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2009). While the present study precludes causal inferences, its findings suggest the need for further research exploring whether classroom management enhances students' self-regulation. ...
Background: The significant influence that classroom interactions have on the development of students’ selfregulation has been acknowledged for a long time. Nonetheless, past research has emphasised their impact on differences in self-regulation amongst students, without considering intra-individual variations.
Aims: We examined whether there is a link between average and lesson-level student-perceived teaching quality, which includes student support, classroom management and cognitive activation, and student self-regulation in individual lessons. Moreover, we investigated whether the magnitude of the associations depended on students’ dispositional self-regulation.
Sample: We analysed data collected from 61 students (recruited sample N = 64 students; Mage = 11.71, SDage =
0.93).
Methods: Participants completed a baseline questionnaire (demographics, dispositional self-regulation) as well as
15 daily diaries in which they reported on their own self-regulation and the perceived quality of teaching in the
last lesson of the day.
Results: The findings revealed positive associations between student support and classroom management, both at
the average and lesson level, and student self-regulation in individual lessons. No associations were found between the average and lesson level cognitive activation and students’ self-regulation in individual lessons. The
aforementioned associations were not moderated by students’ dispositional self-regulation.
Conclusions: The findings emphasise the importance of student-perceived teaching quality at both the average
and lesson-level for student self-regulation in individual lessons.
... However, it should be noted that previous research has primarily examined the associations between parent-child closeness or teacher-child closeness and children's socioemotional competencies during the preschool and primary education stages (e.g., 9,[12][13][14][15][16] ). To date, less empirical attention has been given to investigating whether or how close relationships with significant others (i.e., parents and teachers) may influence the development of socioemotional competencies in infants and toddlers attending childcare group settings 10 . ...
... Other studies have also provided evidence that teacher-child closeness serves a protective function for children to develop their socioemotional competencies and behaviours [12][13][14]45,46 . For example, higher levels of teacher-child closeness were associated with better social, emotional and behavioural classroom adjustment among children receiving special primary education 12 . ...
... For example, higher levels of teacher-child closeness were associated with better social, emotional and behavioural classroom adjustment among children receiving special primary education 12 . Cadima et al. 13 also found that closer teacher-child relationships improved social self-regulation among preschool children who were economically disadvantaged. Moreover, Acar et al. suggested that for primary school children with high levels of shyness, an increase in teacher-child closeness was associated with improved social competence ratings 14 . ...
Parent–child and teacher–child relationship closeness have been shown to be crucial for children’s development of socioemotional competencies from preschool to school-age stages. However, less is known about the importance of developing close relationships with young infants and toddlers attending childcare group settings for their early socioemotional development. The current study aimed to address this gap and to explore how child gender may influence the associations. Participants included 378 Hong Kong Chinese children (196 girls; Mage = 22.05 months, SD = 9.81 months) enrolled in childcare centres, along with their parents and teachers. Parents reported on children’s socioemotional competencies as well as their relationship closeness with children; teachers reported on their relationship closeness with children. Multiple group structural equation modelling was used to analyse the results. The findings showed that both parent–child and teacher–child closeness were positively associated with children’s social competence, while teacher–child closeness was negatively associated with children’s anxiety behaviour. Parents of girls reported greater parent–child closeness, higher levels of social competence, and higher levels of anxiety behaviours compared to parents of boys. Furthermore, teacher–child closeness was significantly associated with social competence exclusively among girls, while parent–child closeness was significantly associated with anxiety behaviours solely among boys. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of child gender in influencing the associations between parent–child closeness, teacher–child closeness, and children’s socioemotional competencies in the earliest years.
... One such predictor that was discussed in large was student engagement in their academic activities (Cadima et al., 2016;Reeve and Lee, 2014;Salanova et al., 2010;Schaufeli et al., 2002). Engagement is a positive psychological state of mind that is characterised by dedication, vigour, and absorption (Shaheen and Zeba, 2020). ...
... Engaged students are more involved and immersed in their studies which leads to more success in careers (Schaufeli et al., 2002). Similarly, Cadima et al. (2016) have confirmed the same with a different perspective on AE. They suggested that engagement has all three componentsbehavioural, cognition, and affection, as such there exists a strong correlation between AE and academic excellence. ...
... They feel more hopeful for future accomplishments and are more resilient toward setbacks in their studies. The finding augments the findings of Schaufeli et al. (2002) and Cadima et al. (2016) and goes one step ahead to prove that not only PsyCap predict engagement, but even AE also develops student PsyCap. The finding is the unique contribution of the present study as it is among the few studies that have empirically confirmed that AE fosters PsyCap compared to previous studies which have suggested that personal resource leads to engagement. ...
Abstract: The researchers aim to investigate the role of academic engagement, career adaptability, and positive affect in fostering psychological resources, (i.e., psychological capital), among students. The data were collected after obtaining informed verbal consent from 256 management students from renowned higher education institutes (HEIs) in India. Since all the constructs are reflective, covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) is used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that academic engagement has direct and indirect effects on students’ psychological capital. Career adaptability and positive affects are found to mediate the influence of academic engagement on students’ PsyCap. The present study provides avenues to develop students’ PsyCap, which is one of the pertinent variables for students’ sustainable development in the labour market’s changing trends. In addition,
the study suggests that HEIs may foster a conducive learning environment to engender career adaptability and positive emotions through academic engagement strategies.
Keywords: career adaptability; academic engagement; positive affect; PsyCap; sustainability in educational institutions; higher education institutes; HEIs.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Shaheen, M., Subramani, A.K. and Jan, N.A. (2024) ‘Linking academic engagement and students PsyCap: the mediated role of perceived career adaptability and positive effect’, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp.222–242.
... Studies of teacher-student closeness and student EFs reveal inconsistent findings, with most research focused on the preschool and early elementary school years. Three studies found significant positive associations between teacher-student closeness and directly-assessed EF skills in U.S., European, and Chinese preschoolers, after controlling for levels of teacher-student conflict (Acar et al., 2019;Cadima et al., 2016;Hu et al., 2021;Nguyen et al., 2020). Moreover, levels of teacher-student closeness in preschool were linked with higher direct assessment of EF skills in kindergarten among U.S. children, but teacher-student conflict was not examined in the model (Vitiello et al., 2022). ...
... Furthermore, conflictual interactions likely interfere with children's abilities to engage in the classroom as instructional time is replaced with behavioral management. The amount and quality of instructional time is important for children's EF development in the classroom, as it provides children with opportunities to engage in higher order thinking and reasoning that requires children to utilize and practice their EFs (Cadima et al., 2016;Vandenbroucke, Spilt, et al., 2018). Thus, teacher-student conflict would reduce children's opportunities to engage in the types of activities that support EF development by requiring a focus on managing disharmonious interactions rather than fostering high-quality instructional activities. ...
... Early childhood educators (ECEs) are a lynchpin for providing high quality experiences that nurture children's healthy development (Hamre, 2014). When educators engage in warm, cognitively stimulating and emotionally responsive interactions with children, children engage in more prosocial peer interactions, exhibit fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and show higher levels of EF, with these benefits persisting as they transition into elementary classrooms (Burchinal et al., 2008;Curby et al., 2009;Cadima et al., 2016;Ragni et al., 2021). The prosocial classroom model proposes that educators set the overall ambience of the classroom and guide children's learning through their own modulation of their emotions (Jennings and Greenberg, 2009). ...
... In summary, the current study was informed by a wealth of evidence that children's early EF is fundamental to their healthy longterm development and resilience (Burchinal et al., 2020;de Maat et al., 2022). Theory and accumulating research also suggest that high quality early childhood education supports children's EF development (Burchinal et al., 2008;Cadima et al., 2016) and that ECEs' psychosocial stress and coping resources may affect their capacities to provide high-quality educational experiences (Jeon L. et al., 2019;Hubel et al., 2020). We aimed to explore the associations of ECEs' experiences of early childhood adversity and post-traumatic growth with children's EF, as reported independently by children's parents. ...
Introduction
Early childhood educators (ECEs) play a critical role in supporting the development of young children’s executive functions (EF). EF, in turn, underpins lifelong resilience and well-being. Unfortunately, many ECEs report adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that may compound high stress levels associated with an emotionally and physically demanding profession. ACEs have well-established negative implications for adult well-being and may dampen ECEs’ capacities to engage in emotionally responsive interactions with children. However, many individuals who experience ACEs also report post-traumatic growth experiences that foster empathy, self-determination, and resilience. Such post-traumatic growth may equip teachers with skills to engage in responsive interactions with children that support children’s EF. The aim of this study was to explore the relations of ECE ACEs and post-traumatic growth to the EF of children in their classrooms.
Methods
Fifty-three female ECEs self-reported on their ACEs and post-traumatic growth. Parents of 157 children (53% male, 47% female, M age = 4.38 years) rated children’s EF.
Results
In a set of linear mixed models that accounted for multiple demographic factors and ECE perceived workplace stressors, ECE ACEs were not significantly related to children’s EF scores. However, controlling for ACEs, higher levels of ECE post-traumatic growth were associated with fewer parent-reported EF difficulties in children.
Discussion
ECEs may draw on the coping skills they have developed in times of adversity to model and promote healthy EF for children. Mental health supports to facilitate ECEs’ processing of their own trauma may be a fruitful means to foster positive early childhood environments that nurture the well-being and resilience of future generations.
... Although there is a lack of research about the processes that facilitate the development of self-regulation skills of young children in preschool education environments, it is known that children's ability to regulate their own behaviors, emotions and thoughts can change according to existing support in preschool classrooms. Considering the results of the study showing that self-regulation is related to academic skills and social competence (Denham et al., 2012b;Duncan et al.,2018;Fuhs et al., 2013;Li et al.,2017;Lipsey et al.,2017;Penela et al., 2015;Robson et al., 2020;Skibbe et al.,2019;Smith Donald et al., 2007) and emphasizing the role of the teacher in this process (Cadima et al., 2016a;Cadima, et al., 2016b;Ivrendi et al., 2022), it can be said that more research is needed on educational practices that support self-regulation. There are quantitative studies conducted by collecting data with various scales and forms on the selfregulation skills of preschool children in Türkiye (Aydoğdu, 2022;Gözeler & Özbey, 2023;Kazu & Yavuz, 2021;Kurt & Sığırtmaç, 2023;Uyanık et al., 2021). ...
... Positive communication can help focus and control positive emotions. Children develop skills in self-regulation when they experience close teacher-child relationships (Cadima et al., 2016b). When similar studies were examined, it was determined that emotion regulation was very important for academic success, motivation and a positive teacher-child relationship (Graziano et al., 2007); on the other hand, negative situations such as loneliness and social dissatisfaction were seen more frequently in children whose self-regulation skills were not developed (Emre et al., 2020), and that preschool teachers were in need of support with regard to emotion regulation (Yılmaz Bursa & Dinç, 2020). ...
Self-regulation, which is also evaluated as children’s ability to direct their attention, emotions, and behaviors towards learning tasks, forms the basis of healthy social and academic development from early ages. This study aims to investigate the attention, emotion, and behavior regulation practices for self-regulation in the preschool period from the perspective of teachers. A qualitative research design employing a case study approach was used. The study included 22 participants. A semi-structured interview form consisting of two sections was used as the data collection tool in the research. In the first part of the research form, demographic questions about participants’ age, professional experience, education level, and the type of institution they worked, were included. The second part of the research form included experience-based questions aimed to examine the practices that participants applied for attention regulation, emotion regulation and behavior regulation. The data obtained were gathered under three themes as attention regulation, emotion regulation and behavior regulation. The findings of the study revealed that preschool teachers conducted self-regulation activities in class for attention regulation, emotion regulation and behavior regulation. The preschool teachers mostly carried out classroom activities such as games, drama, stories, free time, and music in the classroom. They used different strategies to enable children to be actively involved, take responsibility in these activities, and carried out practices that would create a positive classroom atmosphere for teacher-child and child-child interaction.
... SRL is not a trait. Although individual differences in SRL have been reported (Cadima et al., 2016;Denton et al., 2015;Li et al., 2018;Peeters et al., 2016), research has shown that all students, regardless of intellectual and academic ability, can improve their SRL, which contributes to higher academic achievement (Dent & Koenka, 2015). Despite awareness of the importance of SRL, some students still struggle to effectively regulate their learning (Kron-Sperl et al., 2008;Trias et al., 2021). ...
... Teachers and parents represent an important factor in the student's social context (de Ruig et al., 2023;Dermitzaki & Kallia, 2021;Thomas et al., 2019); therefore, careful examination of family and school environmental factors that may contribute to the development of self-regulation is critical. The student characteristics that influence SRL (e.g., Cadima et al., 2016;Denton et al., 2015;Li et al., 2018;Peeters et al., 2016) have been relatively well researched, but much less is known about the influence of parents and teachers on the development of students' SRL skills, particularly in primary school. ...
Parents and teachers play a key role in developing students' self-regulated learning (SRL), which is closely linked to academic achievement and acts as a protective factor for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Research has shown that authoritative parenting style, parental responsiveness, emotional warmth, behavioural control, and autonomy support are associated with better academic performance. In addition, studies have shown that the quality of the teacher-student relationship plays an important role in the development of SRL. However, there is limited research on the relationship between school and home environmental factors, student characteristics, and SRL, especially in primary school. The present study examined the relationship between parenting styles, teaching styles, student characteristics, and SRL. The sample included 328 ninth-grade students in Slovenian primary schools. SRL, parenting styles, and teaching styles were assessed using student self-reports. Using latent profile analysis, three subtypes of parenting styles (discipline-oriented parenting, democratic parenting, and responsive parenting) and three subtypes of teaching styles (autonomy-supportive teaching, diverse teaching, and directive teaching) were identified. Results indicate that students who perceive autonomy-supportive teaching and responsive parenting styles exhibit higher levels of SRL. Autonomy-supportive teaching was positively associated with student achievement. This study highlights the importance of an authoritative parenting and teaching style for the development of SRL in primary school.
... Teachers play a crucial role in this, as they act as mediators of values in the school processes of enculturation and integration. Teachers "translate" values that prevail in the broader societal context (Fend, 2008;Schwartz, 1992Schwartz, , 1994Schwartz, , 2013 by promoting students' academic skills, emotional development, and prosocial behavior (Cadima et al., 2016) and by communicating shared social values and norms through their daily pedagogical interactions with their students in the classroom, which are guided by socially and culturally shared and accepted values (Standop, 2013). ...
Schools serve as social institutions that convey values in the context of socialization and enculturation. Teachers are pivotal in this transmission process via their value-related educational goals (VrEGs), which outline how they would like to see their pupils in terms of values. What factors influence these VrEGs? We suggest that those vary on an individual level, but also correspond to the prevailing value orientations of the society. In our study we followed two main goals to test this thesis. Firstly, we examine the differences in VrEGs between teachers of two European countries: Switzerland (CH) and United Kingdom (UK). Secondly, we investigated the similarity of the teachers’ VrEGs with prevailing national value orientations from the specific countries. One hundred and fifty primary school teachers (108 CH, 42 UK) were asked about their VrEGs using an adapted version of Schwartz’s Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-21). Data from the Human Value Scale (HVS) of the European Social Survey (ESS) was used for country-specific value orientations. Analyses of the value structures and the differences in value priorities showed that for the individuals from the two countries as well as for the teachers’ VrEGs from the two countries, significant differences exist in several value types. Teachers’ VrEGs in each country showed a high correlation with the corresponding national value profile. We discuss our results in light of cross-national differences in value education in schools.
... The closeness subscale asks teachers to rate statements such as "If upset this child will seek comfort from me" and "I share an affectionate, warm relationship with this child" using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "definitely does not apply" to "definitely applies". The STRS-SF and full-form STRS have established reliability and validity with children and teachers from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds (Cadima et al., 2016). ...
A growing number of early childhood education (ECE) programs are using trauma-informed trainings to support teachers in better managing children’s trauma-related challenging behaviors. However, there is not a great deal of research on how effective these programs are for improving children’s school-related outcomes. This study examines whether a 6-hour trauma-informed training provided to preschool teachers was related to children’s child expulsion risk, teacher perception of child behavior, and student-teacher relationships. Seventy-four teachers from 7 elementary schools in the Mountain West region received a six-hour trauma-informed training over three months. Children’s school-related outcomes were collected through teacher report in pre- and post-training surveys. Linear growth modeling was used to estimate change in children’s outcomes over time, adjusting for child gender and student-teacher racial/ethnic match. There were significant decreases in child disruption, a subscale of expulsion risk, and improvements in student-teacher closeness following training; no other child outcomes changed significantly. More evidence-based research is needed to support or refute whether trauma-informed training is effective and promotes positive child outcomes.
... In this context, it is essential for teachers to avoid conflict with students and strive to build close and supportive relationships with them, as this is highly beneficial for students' academic and social development. Once more, within the confines of this particular theory, a child's gender (e.g., [19]), their temperamental tendencies (e.g., [20]), as well as their subsequent social-emotional progress (e.g., [21]) and academic accomplishments (e.g., [22]), alongside self-regulation (e.g., [23]), are also impacted. ...
The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study is to explain teacher–student relationships in preschool classrooms in terms of the child’s temperament and the pre-service preschool teachers’ personalities. The study was conducted using a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design. Since both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained, sampling was carried out in two stages: quantitative random stratified sampling, and qualitative purposive sampling. Quantitative data were obtained from 126 pre-service teachers. The qualitative study group consisted of 18 pre-service teachers. Quantitative data were collected using the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale-Short Form, the Short Temperament Scale for Children (STSC), and the Five Factor Personality Inventory (FPI). Qualitative data were obtained from interviews with 18 teachers. The findings revealed that the student–teacher relationship can be explained by adult and child characteristics. In addition, pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the student–teacher relationship are explained by adult characteristics much more than pre-service teachers’ perceptions.
... In particular, the close relationship between the teacher and the child positively affects self-regulation. For example, Cadima, Verschueren, and Guedes (2016) found that teacher-child closeness predicts improvements in children's self-regulation skills, and children's self-regulation skills improve. Teachers must develop positive relationships with their students in the early years. ...
... According to Bandura's social learning theory, teachers' behavioral management strategies, as shown by their classroom management, can serve as a model for children's own regulatory behaviors, which they observe and adopt (Bandura, 1977). Effective classroom management, by promoting a structured and less distracting environment, can reduce the cognitive load on children's EF, thus providing a conducive setting for them to practice and enhance their EF skills (Cadima et al., 2016;Vandenbroucke et al., 2018). Empirical evidence, such as a longitudinal study by Hamre et al. (2014), suggests that adept classroom management positively correlates with the development of inhibitory control among kindergartners. ...
... Second, in addition to the importance of acting transparently to build trust (SAMHSA, 2014;Rajaraman, Austin, et al., 2022), interventions for students with EBD should support relationships that are responsive, safe, and consistent. This is important because students with EBD often struggle with relationships at school (Granger et al., 2021), yet establishing high-quality relationships has been identified as a protective factor for externalizing behavior (Cadima et al., 2016). Third, related to cultural and historical issues (SAMHSA, 2014), incorporating students' families, cultures, and/or communities in the design and implementation of function-based intervention is essential. ...
Students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) commonly engage in both externalizing and internalizing behaviors—a behavioral profile that has been connected to childhood trauma. Although the efficacy of function-based interventions for students with EBD has been documented, the extent to which these interventions align with principles of trauma-informed care (TIC) is unknown. We conducted a systematic review of function-based intervention studies for students with EBD to evaluate whether and how these interventions incorporated critical elements of TIC. We identified 56 articles that met the eligibility criteria and used an iterative process to identify intervention practices consistent with each of six pillars of TIC, then evaluated the extent to which interventions in the study sample incorporated these practices. Despite identifying 45 function-based intervention practices aligned with pillars of TIC, we found most of these practices were absent in most interventions. We identified teaching skills, building healthy relationships, and including family, culture, and community as three pillars of TIC that warrant more attention when developing function-based interventions for students with EBD. For pillars of TIC that lack a strong empirical foundation in behavior analysis, we point to related literatures and disciplines with potential to inform next steps in behavior analytic research and practice.
... with the Portuguese version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R; Dunn, 1986), which has been used in various studies (e.g., Cadima et al., 2016). To the purpose, sets of four pictures were presented to each child, who was asked to point to the picture matching the word read aloud by the researcher. ...
... However, reports from numerous studies have suggested that teachers' TCR perceptions were at least partially influenced by child behaviors assessed before teachers rated their TCRs (i.e., child-driven effects; e.g., Birch & Ladd, 1997;Guan et al., 2020;Wu et al., 2018;Zatto & Hoglund, 2019). However, in other studies, investigators have reported that TCRs predict children's subsequent social and academic outcomes even when controlling prior child behaviors, temperamental characteristics, and/or cognitive abilities (i.e., relationship-driven effects; e.g., Cadima et al., 2016;Cadima et al., 2019;Varghese et al., 2019). ...
Preschool teachers' perceptions about relationships with students (teacher–child relationships [TCRs]) predict children's subsequent social competence (SC) and academic progress. Why this is so remains unclear. Do TCRs shape children's development, or do child attributes influence both TCRs and subsequent development? Relations between TCRs and other measures were examined for 185 preschoolers (107 girls, 89 longitudinal, and ~75% European American). Teachers rated TCRs and child social/affective behaviors. Teacher–child interactions (TCIs) and children's affect expressiveness were observed. Child SC and receptive vocabulary were assessed. TCRs were significantly correlated with each type of outcome. TCIs, SC, expressed affect, and teacher‐rated behaviors also predicted TCRs longitudinally. Results suggest that TCR ratings predict subsequent adaptation because they summarize children's behavioral profiles rather than on TCR quality per se.
... emotionally negative and conflictual relationships) between teachers and children across elementary school predicted lower inhibitory control abilities in children. Through teachers' behavioural support, children receive external help to organize their own behaviours and they can internalize these regulation strategies for cognitive and behavioural control (Berry, 2012;Cadima et al., 2016;Vandenbroucke et al., 2018). Several studies showed that better classroom organization positively predicted working memory and inhibitory control performance of preschool children (Hamre et al., 2014;Hatfield et al., 2016). ...
The current study investigates the role of teacher behaviors in toddlers' executive function development. Teachers' ( N = 215) emotional and behavioral support and instructional support were observed through classroom observations when children were 2 years old. Selective attention, verbal short‐term memory, and visuospatial working memory of children ( N = 876, 48.4% female) were assessed at age 2 ( M age = 28.60 months, SD = 2.83) and 3 ( M age = 42.38 months, SD = 2.47). Teachers' instructional support positively predicted growth in selective attention, but not verbal short‐term memory or visuospatial working memory. Teachers' emotional and behavioral support did not predict the growth in executive function measures. Findings have implications for understanding the role of teacher‐child interactions in executive function development in toddlerhood.
... Given that EAs resemble classroom environments in key aspects as described above, the role of EAs in children's learning outcomes may be moderated by behavioral regulation and ATL as well. Most findings have supported the compensatory hypothesis that high classroom quality was more beneficial for children with worse behavioral regulation or ATL (Cadima et al., 2016;Meng, 2015). However, contrary findings were also reported such that children with better behavioral regulation gained greater benefits from being in classrooms with highquality instruction, supporting the enhanced advantage hypothesis (Schmitt et al., 2020). ...
Participation in organized extracurricular activities (EAs) has become increasingly common among preschool-aged children. Prior studies have shown inconsistent findings on the association between young children's involvement in EAs and their subsequent developmental outcomes. Moving beyond examining the main effects of EA participation, this study focused on whether children's behavioral regulation and approaches to learning-two important domain-general skills closely linked to learning-would moderate the association between EA participation and academic readiness. Participants included 317 Chinese preschoolers residing in Shanghai. The breadth of EA participation positively predicted children's early math skills, but only for those demonstrating relatively lower behavioral regulation or less positive approaches to learning. The findings provide support for the compensatory hypothesis that participation in EAs is more beneficial for children at greater developmental risk. Unexpectedly, the intensity of EA participation negatively predicted receptive vocabulary beyond certain thresholds among children with relatively poor behavioral regulation or approaches to learning (B = − 2.272, p = .032, effect size (ES) = 0.423), but this relationship was not significant for children with better learning behaviors (B = 0.111, p = .712, ES = 0.021). According to the findings, children with worse behavioral regulation and approaches to learning were actually more vulnerable to the negative effects of intensive participation in EAs (B = − 15.698, p = .022, ES = 1.797). EA participation did not predict children's Chinese word reading (ps > 0.05). The findings revealed a complex pattern of relationships between preschoolers' EA participation and academic readiness and have highlighted the importance of considering child characteristics when examining the developmental effects of EA involvement.
... Furthermore, self-regulation skills can be explicitly taught through learning activities and by providing students with strategies to improve their attention and resist distractions in the classroom (Bailey et al., 2019;Barnes et al., 2021). Finally, a warm and responsive classroom environment indexed by positive relationships between teachers and students and among students is consistently associated with students' self-regulation skills (Cadima et al., 2016;Yerdelen & Sungur, 2019). ...
We examined how students’ intrinsic and extrinsic academic motivation and parental education uniquely and interactively related to teacher report of their self-regulated classroom behaviors (e.g., completion of tasks, keeping track of instructions). In a socioeconomically and racially/ethnically diverse sample of 317 students in third through fifth grade from the United States (34% Asian/Pacific Islander, 32% Hispanic/Latine, 21% White, 6% Black, 6% multiracial/other; 52% female), neither intrinsic motivation nor extrinsic academic motivation emerged as a significant predictor of children’s self-regulated classroom behaviors when controlling for parental education. However, we found a significant interactive effect between intrinsic motivation and parental education for three complementary measures of students’ self-regulated classroom behaviors (task orientation, working memory, flexible shifting). Simple slope analyses revealed that the positive association between intrinsic motivation and students’ self-regulated classroom behaviors was limited to children whose parents have lower levels of educational attainment (e.g., high school degree). This work has important practice and policy implications for increasing classroom practices that promote students’ academic intrinsic motivation, particularly for students whose parents have a high school degree or less. Simple interventions to improve teachers’ autonomy-supportive classroom practices and the content of verbal and written feedback to students could have cascading benefits for students’ intrinsic motivation and the self-regulated classroom behaviors that support learning.
... Although the nature and magnitude of the associations between teacher-child interactions and student outcomes varies across these studies, Hofkens et al. (in press) analysis suggests that young students' quality of interactions with teachers play a modest role in their developmental and academic success. For example, overall quality of interactions is moderately correlated with preschoolers' attention and impulse control in Turkey (Ertürk Kara et al., 2017), and cognitive self-regulation among socially disadvantaged preschoolers in Portugal (Cadima et al., 2016a), with interaction quality particularly effective in supporting students low in self-regulation skills (Cadima et al., 2016b). For young students in China, instructional support was associated with growth in executive function skills (Hu et al., 2020). ...
In this paper we argue that the quality of early education programs or classrooms can be defined in terms of features of teachers’ interactions with students observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, or CLASS. We present evidence suggesting that dimensions of teacher-student interactions can be described, observed, and measured consistently across cultures and countries and that such dimensions also have modestly positive influence student development and learning. Evidence is summarized indicating that interactions can also be improved systematically through professional development interventions. The paper relies on a framework that describes core features of effective teacher-student interactions present across countries’ highly varied settings and cultural contexts. Limitations of the study include exclusive reliance on the CLASS and that most countries were not low or middle income. We discuss the cross-cultural applicability of the framework and outline suggestions for education policy and practice and future directions for research.
... Berdasarkan perspektif guru-guru tersebut, secara umum hal yang dibutuhkan siswa yakni interaksi dan kedekatan secara emosional baik dengan gurunya ataupun dengan lingkungan belajarnya. Hal tersebut pun di sepakati oleh penelitian yang dilakukan oleh Cadima et al., (2016) yang mengungkapkan bahwa kedekatan guruanak memprediksi peningkatan keterampilan pengaturan diri yang diamati. Anakanak menunjukkan peningkatan yang lebih besar dalam pengaturan diri ketika mereka mengalami hubungan guru-anak yang lebih dekat. ...
Pandemi COVID-19 menyebabkan learning loss serta menurunnya keterampilan dan kecerdasan emosional siswa. Oleh karena itu, peran guru di dalam kelas sangat penting guna mengembalikan esensi dari pembelajaran yang baik pasca terjadinya COVID-19. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dan studi kasus sebagai metodenya. Teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara wawancara tertutup dan wawancara terbuka terhadap 9 guru di salah satu sekolah negeri yang ada di Kota Bandung, Indonesia. Kemudian, analisis data dilakukan dengan cara data reduction, data presentation, describing and verifying conclusions. Penelitian ini menghasilkan persepsi guru mengenai kebutuhan siswa dalam belajar pasca terjadinya COVID-19. Berdasarkan perspektif guru, kebutuhan siswa dalam belajar pasca COVID-19 yaitu: kelengkapan fasilitas sekolah, seperti fasilitas teknologi dan kesehatan; dukungan sosial dan emosional baik dari guru maupun lingkungan belajar siswa; serta keamanan dan kenyamanan dalam melaksanakan proses pembelajaran. Diharapkan melalui penelitian ini dapat menjadi masukan serta alternatif bagi guru lainnya dalam membelajarkan siswa sesuai dengan kebutuhannya saat ini.
... In the forming of a highquality TCR, teachers would support emotional expression, especially in young LBC [12]. A positive TCR would involve creating a warm climate in the classroom and offering children opportunities to exercise self-control when experiencing negative emotions [96][97][98]. Furthermore, emotional LN was deemed as the portent of EPBs as well [42]. ...
Background
Callous-unemotional traits and emotional lability/negativity of young children have been regarded as the markers of externalizing problem behaviors. Based on the sensitivity to threat and affiliative reward model and the general aggression model, emotional lability/negativity may act as a mediator in the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and externalizing problem behaviors. Additionally, a positive teacher-child relationship could act as a buffer given the parental absence in left-behind children. However, these links remain unexplored in left-behind preschool children. Therefore, this study explored the link between callous-unemotional traits of left-behind preschool children and externalizing problem behaviors, as well as the mediating role of emotional lability/negativity and the moderating role of a positive teacher-child relationship.
Method
Data were collected on 525 left-behind children aged 3 to 6 years from rural kindergartens in China. Preschool teachers reported all data through an online survey platform. Moderated mediation analysis was performed to examine whether the mediated relation between callous-unemotional traits and externalizing problem behaviors was moderated by a positive teacher-child relationship.
Results
The results showed callous-unemotional traits significantly predicted externalizing problem behaviors and lability/negativity acted as a mediator, while a positive teacher-child relationship acted as a protective factor in moderating the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and emotional lability/negativity. This study identified a moderated mediation effect among the four variables in left-behind preschool children in China.
Conclusion
The findings provide support for the advancement of theoretical foundations, and provide an avenue for further exploration to support the mental health and overall development of left-behind children during early childhood.
... The overall quality of interactions is highly correlated with preschoolers' attention and impulse control in Turkey (Ertürk Kara et al., 2017), and cognitive self-regulation among socially disadvantaged preschoolers in Portugal (Cadima, Enrico, et al., 2016a). Furthermore, the Portuguese study suggests that teacher-student interactions can be a protective factor for young children at risk, such that interaction quality can be particularly effective in supporting students who are low in self-regulation skills (Cadima, Verschueren, et al., 2016b) and among children who are exposed to more family risk factors (Cadima, Enrico, et al., 2016a). Among kindergarten students in China, instructional support, in particular, is associated with growth in students' executive function skills (Hu et al., 2020). ...
Across the globe, strategies and investments to strengthen teacher effectiveness are increasingly a core component of countries’ efforts to improve educational outcomes for their citizens and, for many, to elevate standards of living. In this chapter, we present evidence demonstrating the role of teacher-student interactions in teachers’ ability to positively influence student development and learning across countries and cultures. We conceptualize teacher-student interactions as proximal processes that drive students’ engagement and learning. Evidence clearly demonstrates that interactions can be assessed through observation and improved through professional development interventions. Drawing on our experience and data available on tens of thousands of classroom observations across different countries and cultures, we present a framework that describes core features of effective teacher-student interactions that appear in common across these highly varied settings and cultural contexts. We review research that evaluates this framework in different contexts to examine the effects of interaction quality on student outcomes across the globe. We discuss the cross-cultural applicability of the framework and outline suggestions for education policy and practice and future directions for research.
... Interaction between teachers and students is particularly important in all aspects of the classroom environment [56]. Several studies have revealed that having a supportive teacher can foster good behavior [8,10] and helps students' mental health [39,56]. Our study confirms these findings. ...
Purpose
The aim of the study is to investigate the interactive influence of depression on left-behind (LB) and non-left-behind (NLB) children from the perspective of peer effects. The roles of teachers, parents, and friends are also explored.
Methods
Data on 1817 children, 1817 parents, and 55 teachers were obtained from a field survey in December 2021. All students in the sample were randomly assigned to classrooms. A peer effect model and OLS methods were used to estimate the peer influence of depression. Robustness tests were conducted by randomly removing schools from the sample.
Results
Depression was contagious among different groups of rural children, and the peer effect of the NLB children’s depression played a dominant role. Both LB and NLB children were more affected by their NLB classmates’ depression. LB children were not significantly affected by depression in other LB children. This conclusion remains robust after robustness testing. In addition, heterogeneity analysis showed that outgoing and cheerful teachers, effective parent–child communication and high-quality friendship all alleviated peer influence on depression.
Conclusions
LB children have more severe depression than NLB children, but LB children are more affected by depression in their NLB peers. Policymakers should train teachers to engage in positive communication with students to improve mental health in children. In addition, this article recommends that children move and live with their parents when family conditions permit.
... In general, by creating a warm, structured, and cognitively stimulating classroom, teachers can positively influence children's EF (Vandenbroucke et al., 2018;Cumming et al., 2020). Moreover, children with low EF skills, often children from low-SES families, benefit most from optimal classroom quality, especially from adequate instructional support (Hamre and Pianta, 2005;Roorda et al., 2011;Cadima et al., 2016). Conclusively, these studies show classroom quality should be considered when aiming to sustainably train EFs in vulnerable preschoolers. ...
Studies have shown that children from a low socioeconomic status (SES) family are likely to have lower academic scores, indicating an SES-achievement gap. This inequality already starts in preschool and persists throughout children’s lives. Since executive functions (EFs) have been put forward as contributing factors in this SES-achievement gap, it is crucial to target early EF development to remediate the adverse effects of poverty. In this quasi-experimental study, a classroom program delivered by teachers (i.e., “Put your EF glasses on”) was implemented to strengthen preschoolers’ EFs, consistent with the idea that well-developed EFs can foster school readiness and prevent school failure. The program aimed to boost children’s EFs through high-quality teacher-child interactions, EF-supporting activities (e.g., games), and a supportive classroom structure. Teachers (n = 24) and children (n = 224, Mage = 52.61 months) from 8 Belgian schools participated in this quasi-experimental pilot study and were divided into experimental and control groups. Teachers in the experimental group carried out the program (receiving materials and coaching to support implementation), whereas teachers in the control group practiced teaching as usual. Before and after the program, all teachers filled out the BRIEF-P, a questionnaire about daily executive problems in preschool children. We compared the effect of the classroom program in low-SES versus middle-to-high-SES children on EF problem scores. Results revealed that all low-SES children started with significantly higher EF problems (total problem score, working memory, inhibition, and planning and organizing) scores than middle-to-high-SES children. A positive effect of the program was found among low-SES children. More specifically, EF problems (total problem score, working memory, shifting, and planning and organizing) remained stable over time in the low-SES group in the experimental group, but there was no program effect on emotional control and inhibition. In the control group, these EF problems increased for low-SES children, expanding the gap between low and middle-to-high-SES children. There were no program effects for middle-to-high-SES children. These results show that a teacher-mediated classroom program can support EF development, especially in preschoolers at sociodemographic risk.
... Moreover, most studies investigated the linear effects of CLASS on executive function, with 5 studies investigating the nonlinear effects. Covariates at both child-level (e.g., child's gender and maternal education) and program-level (e.g., characteristics of classrooms and teachers) were controlled for in most studies, with 6 studies did not adjust for any program-level features (Cadima et al., 2015;Choi et al., 2016;Duval et al., 2016;Hu et al., 2017Hu et al., , 2020Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2009). The covariates varied widely across the included studies. ...
Theories posit that the quality of teacher–child interactions has a profound influence on children’s development of executive function skills. However, prior research has yielded mixed findings regarding the associations between teacher–child interaction quality as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) and children’s executive function. In an attempt to examine the inconsistent findings, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the associations between the three CLASS domains (i.e. Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support) and children’s gains in executive function. The systematic review presented an overview of the methodological approaches applied in the included studies. The meta-analysis examined the magnitude of the overall effects of CLASS domains on children’s executive function. Four databases (i.e., PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, Web of Science, and ERIC) and Google Scholar were used to search and locate relevant studies, leading to the identification and inclusion of Sixteen articles (published from 2009 to 2021) that met the inclusion criteria. Results of a random-effects model indicated that the overall effect sizes for all three CLASS domains were significant but small in magnitude (from 0.06 to 0.09). Our research findings did not provide strong support for the link between CLASS domains and children’s executive function. We argue that it is necessary to revise and expand the current quality measures that focus on general teacher–child interactions.
... However, research by Cadima, Verschueren, Lea, and Guedes (2016) indicated that self-regulation among preschoolers is unrelated to the quality of the interaction between teachers and their charges. Cadima et al. (2016) observed that each student has a unique connection with the instructor, which contributes to the children's unique classroom experiences. Problematic children, according to research by Sutherland et al. (2018), have developmental challenges throughout childhood and into adulthood. ...
This research was conducted for estimating the progress of the socio-economic development of students at elementary-level schools in Pakistan. This study will be significant for students who are taking their courses in education and benefit parents as they will do more to help the teachers to become more knowledgeable about their students and their environment. This study used a combination of quantitative data and qualitative data. The quantitative data ultimately showed a statistical percentage whereas qualitative data were analyzed descriptively. The data was collected using observation from a private sector school where 30 students from class 6th were selected as a sample. The researcher did random sampling. The research used a comparative design. The quantitative data were analyzed using comparative statistics. The finding of the study suggests that respect is one of the important elements that should be promoted by teachers using different ways findings of this study can be used by school teachers to improve the socio-economic development of students. Results can also be used as the basis for further research on the role of socio-economics in the development of the learning of students.
... The preschool staff's ability to interact and support children in preschool has a significant influence on children's life-long learning (Cadima et al., 2016;Doyle, 1979;Goble & Pianta, 2017). Successful education, child development and support are influenced by the staff 's abilities to instruct and care for the children (Fuhs et al., 2013). ...
Research Findings: Few studies address the contextual conditions for preschool staff in supporting children in preschool, especially in classrooms with high proportions of early second language learners (L2-learners). The aim of the study was to describe preschool staff’s support of children’s engagement in units with high proportions of L2-learners. In an exploratory mixed-methods approach, eleven interviews (11 units and 27 staff) were conducted, analyzed through content analysis. For the observations, 121 preschool staff (31 units) were added, and 594 children were observed (42 classrooms), analyzed through T-tests to investigate staff’s contextual differences in units with high proportions (>80%) of L2-learners (L2-groups) and child groups with high proportions (>80%) of L1-learners. Content analysis revealed a main theme of a commitment to establish relationships with the children while managing cultural values and norms. In interacting with children individually, the staff wanted to be close to the children and acknowledging them. In these aspects, no differences were found between staff between groups. Differences occurred in interaction with children in groups. Staff in L2-groups struggled with routines, mediating values and encouraging children learning from each other. Policy/practice: Staff in L2-groups need further encouragement from the organization to manage the needs of children in L2-groups without straining their commitments.
... Previous studies have shown that positive teacher-student relationships are a key factor in the development of selfcontrol (Acar et al., 2018;Cadima et al., 2016). According to Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990), teachers can effectively supervise students' behavior and provide education and guidance when they exhibit bad behaviors because of a lack of self-control. ...
Prosocial behavior is a favorable social adaptive behavior that enhances the growth of children and adolescents. It is highly essential to cultivate children’s and adolescents' prosocial behavior to develop sound personalities and social harmony. Previous studies have demonstrated that parent–child attachment is related to the formation and development of prosocial behavior. Using a longitudinal design across three time points, this research aimed to examine the mediating effect of self-control and the moderating effect of the teacher-student relationship on the relationship between parent–child attachment and prosocial behavior. A final sample of 462 Chinese students (51.5% male, M = 10.90 years) participated in the survey and completed the anonymous questionnaires including questions on parent–child attachment, self-control, prosocial behavior, and teacher-student relationship. The results indicated that parent–child attachment at Wave 1 positively predicted prosocial behavior at Wave 3. Mediation analysis showed that self-control at Wave 2 played a mediating role between parent–child attachment at Wave 1 and prosocial behavior at Wave 3. Moderated mediation analysis revealed that the teacher-student relationship at Wave 1 significantly moderated the relationship between parent–child attachment at Wave 1 and self-control at Wave 2. When the teacher-student relationship was at a higher level, parent–child attachment had a stronger effect on self-control. These results suggest that positive parent–child attachment promotes prosocial behavior in children and adolescents by improving self-control. In addition, high-quality teacher-student relationships promote the positive effect of parent–child attachment on self-control. This study reveals the influence of the internal psychological mechanism of parent–child attachment on prosocial behavior, which has valuable references for the cultivation of prosocial behavior in children and adolescents.
... multidimensionnel de l'autorégulation(McClelland et al., 2010), afin de catégoriser les verbatims selon les trois dimensions de l'autorégulation, à savoir la dimensionCadima et al., 2016). Pour chaque thème, une distinction a été faite entre des énoncés se rapportant à l'ensemble des élèves et d'autres se rapportant spécifiquement aux élèves présentant des difficultés comportementales 21 . ...
Les élèves présentant des difficultés comportementales (DC) manifestent des comportements inappropriés, inadaptés au contexte de l'école qui contraignent leurs apprentissages ainsi que leurs relations sociales et qui placent leurs enseignants dans des situations complexes et stressantes. Ces difficultés comportementales sont associées à de moindres capacités à s’autoréguler, c’est-à-dire à contrôler ses pensées, ses comportements et ses émotions. L'autorégulation peut être améliorée, notamment par le biais de programmes d’intervention mobilisant l’activité physique. Les pauses actives (PA) semblent particulièrement intéressantes au regard de leur faisabilité et de leurs bénéfices comportementaux sur les élèves. L’objectif de ce travail doctoral est de décrire et d’analyser les effets des PA sur l’autorégulation des élèves, en particulier chez les élèves DC. Cette recherche s’ancre dans la théorie socio-cognitive de Bandura (1986) et s’appuie sur le concept multidimensionnel de l’autorégulation (McClelland et al., 2010). Pour répondre à l’objectif, cinq études ont été réalisées selon un devis expérimental mixte simultané combinant des données quantitatives et qualitatives. Ainsi, une triangulation des données a été effectuée autour de données auto-rapportées par les élèves, de relevés d’observation réalisés par les chercheurs et de données rapportées par les enseignants. Les résultats obtenus soulignent l’intérêt des PA pour améliorer l’autorégulation comportementale et émotionnelle des élèves, en particulier chez les élèves DC. Cela ouvre sur des perspectives professionnelles en termes de gestion de classe et d’inclusion scolaire.
Self-regulation and expressive language are theorized to develop in tandem, shaped by children's social interactions in context, including interactions with teachers and peers in the preschool classroom. In the present study, we examined reciprocal associations between two components of self-regulation (behavior regulation and emotion regulation) and two components of expressive language skills (expressive vocabulary and narrative language) across two time points during the preschool year. We also explored whether individual children's interactions with teachers and peers moderate these associations. Participants were 767 preschool children (49 % female; M = 53 months old; 49 % Black, 22 % White, 13 % Hispanic, 14 % multiracial/other) from low-income households. A multivariate latent change score model provided evidence that early self-regulation predicts increases in expressive language; fall emotion regulation predicted increases in narrative language and fall behavior regulation predicted increases in expressive vocabulary. Empirical support was also found for early expressive language predicting increases in self-regulation; fall expressive vocabulary predicted increases in behavior regulation. Moderation analysis indicated that some of these associations depended on individual children's interactions with peers, but not with teachers. Results provide preliminary evidence for the joint development of expressive language and self-regulation in early childhood classrooms.
Objectives
The unprecedented global pandemic and enforced isolation have increased emotional, cognitive, and social dysregulation in children, exacerbated by an educational environment dominated by a recovery agenda focusing on academic outcomes and regular testing, which continues. The use of a creative, agentic mindfulness activity was employed to support school reintegration, self-regulation, positive relationships, and a reduction in exclusions.
Method
A case study of a Year 4 group of children over a 6-month period in a trauma-informed primary school explored a mindfulness and guided visualisation intervention in the form of a book entitled “My Magical Garden”. Semi-structured interviews with the Head of Pastoral and Wellbeing and the classroom teacher, along with a participative Zoom session with the children, and their poems and stories, were conducted and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis via a constructivist epistemology and experiential orientation to data interpretation.
Results
The intervention led to reductions in children’s stress and anxiety levels and decreases in emotional and cognitive dysregulation. The intervention also resulted in an increase in positive relationships and school reintegration, and increased attention on cognitive tasks. The class also experienced zero exclusions over this period.
Conclusions
Mindfulness meditation and guided visualisation techniques that are creative, and intrinsically motivated, support cognitive and emotional regulation and support social and school success. In view of the ongoing impact of the pandemic and lack of support for social and emotional wellbeing, particularly for children facing adversity, mindfulness meditation programmes in schools should be available to all children.
Preregistration
This study is not preregistered.
Bu çalışmanın amacı, okul öncesi dönemde öz düzenleme ile ilgili yapılan araştırmaların sistematik incelenmesidir. Sistematik inceleme ile bu alanda hangi tür araştırmaların yapıldığı, hangi yöntemlerin uygulandığı ve öz düzenlemenin hangi boyutları üzerinde araştırmaların yapıldığı gösterilmektedir. Ayrıca bu inceleme öz düzenleme ile ilgili çalışmalara nasıl bir eğilim olduğunu görmek ve çocukların öz düzenleme becerilerine ilişkin araştırmaların bulgularına yönelik değerlendirmeler yapmak açısından önem göstermektedir. Sistematik inceleme yöntemiyle 2012-2023 yılları arasında gerçekleştirilen ve Web of Science veri tabanında yer alan araştırmalar incelenmiştir. Çalışmalar anahtar kelimelere, yıllara, ülkelere, yöntemlere, örneklem gruplarına, veri toplama araçlarına, çalışmanın birincil bulgularına ve öz düzenlemenin incelenen boyutlarına göre analiz edilmiştir. Web of Science veri tabanında yer alan ve okul öncesi dönemde öz düzenlemeyi inceleyen 73 çalışma, araştırmanın kapsamını oluşturmuştur. Araştırma sonucunda öz düzenlemeye yönelik araştırmalarda boylamsal çalışmaların yer aldığını, öz düzenlemeye yönelik araştırmaların artış gösterdiğini, nicel çalışmalara daha fazla yer verilirken nitel çalışmalardan oldukça az yararlanıldığı görülmektedir. Öz düzenlemenin boyutları açısından bilişsel düzenleme ile ilgili çalışmalara daha fazla yer verildiği görülmektedir. Ayrıca elde edilen bulgular sonucunda yapılan değerlendirmede okul öncesi dönemde öz düzenleme ve öz düzenleme becerilerine yönelik öğretmen uygulamalarına sınırlı sayıda yer verilirken uygulamaların da sadece araştırmacılar tarafından yapıldığı, öğretmenlerin ise uygulamalarda sınırlı olarak yer aldıkları görülmektedir. Sistematik inceleme değerlendirmesinden yola çıkarak bu çalışma alanının mevcut durumuna yönelik bilgi sunması ve çocukların öz düzenlemelerine yönelik araştırmalarda yön göstermesi açısından fayda sağlayacağı öngörülmektedir.
Research on the link between peer victimization and callous-unemotional (CU) traits has primarily relied on cross-sectional designs and yielded equivocal findings. In light of the poor outcomes related to peer victimization and CU traits, it is important to determine whether this link is reciprocal in nature and to identify factors that may influence its strength. Accordingly, the current study investigated the bidirectional association between peer victimization and CU traits over a 6-month period, accounting for the moderating effects of parents (i.e., support and hostility) and teachers (i.e., support and conflict). Participants included 284 third- through fifth-grade students (ages 7–12; 51.8% boys; 51.1% Hispanic) and their homeroom teachers. Children provided ratings of peer victimization, parental hostility, and parent and teacher support. Teachers provided ratings of CU traits and student-teacher conflict. A series of cross-lagged panel models were estimated. Results revealed that, at higher levels of parental hostility, peer victimization predicted increases in CU traits over time; in contrast, peer victimization predicted decreases in CU traits at lower levels of parental hostility. Surprisingly, at higher levels of teacher conflict, peer victimization predicted decreases in CU traits over time. CU traits did not interact with parent or teacher variables to predict subsequent peer victimization. Moreover, parental hostility was positively associated with subsequent peer victimization, whereas teacher support predicted decreases in victimization over time. These findings build on previous research examining environmental influences on the expression of CU traits by highlighting peer victimization and parental hostility as potential risk factors.
Substantial research has aimed to characterise and measure early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality. However, heterogeneity in measures, methods and contexts across studies has made it difficult to reconcile the inconsistent associations reported between quality dimensions and child outcomes. While there is broad consensus that early interactions and experiences may be most strongly and directly influential to children’s developmental progress, attempts to identify aspects of quality interactions that relate most highly to child outcomes have tended to focus on particular measures and/or contexts. The aim of this systematical review was to reconcile the available evidence on associations of dimensions of quality interactions in formal ECEC settings (adult–child interactions and associated context and content) with the outcomes of children aged 3–5 years. Uniquely, this review examined how rates of significance differed by measure, country and study characteristics (e.g. sample, study design, risk of bias) – providing nuanced insights on quality indicators that most reliably account for children’s developmental progress. Seven databases were searched for the years 2000–2022, yielding 90 studies reporting 870 associations of interaction quality with various child development and educational outcomes. Results indicated little evidence for global ECEC quality indices (e.g. those integrating process quality indicators with structural elements) relating to child outcomes. The consistency in patterns of association improved for some dimensions of interaction quality (e.g. supporting play), with other dimensions showing low support even when they aligned with the outcome (e.g. instructional support with cognitive-academic outcomes). By providing an overview and reconciliation of evidence on the child-level associations in ECEC quality, across diverse measures and contexts, this review raises important questions of current ECEC quality assumptions and practices.
The current qualitative study examined the teacher–student interaction and its influence on children’s working memory in primary schools in Belgium and the Netherlands. Eighteen primary school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews focusing on strategies employed to support students with working memory difficulties. The study offered a comprehensive overview of the strategies, categorised into instructional support, classroom organisation, and emotional support (based on the Teaching Through Interactions framework) that teachers use when dealing with working memory-related difficulties. Additionally, it provided unique insights into teachers’ underlying beliefs and rationales about the effectiveness of these strategies. Lastly, factors influencing the use and efficacy of these strategies (based on the Multilevel Supply–Use model) were explored. By integrating teachers’ voices and experiences, this research provides a unique opportunity to bridge theory and practice, and enrich the current understanding and interpretation of the teacher–student interaction and its implications for improving working memory performance in primary school students. Overall, the holistic approach, taking into account both direct and indirect approaches, offered a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted challenges faced by students with working memory difficulties and the diverse strategies teachers can employ to address them, which can further inform classroom practices, professional development, and policy-making.
The purpose of this study is to learn about teachers' perceptions of children's readiness skills by understanding the different types of skills and their importance to children who will enter primary school in the future. There are 4 main objectives in this study which are (i) to explore the types of children's readiness skills; (ii) to explore teachers' perceptions of children's readiness skills; (iii) to find out the relationship between teachers' perceptions and children's readiness skills; and (iv) to find out the difference between male and female teachers' perceptions towards children's readiness skills. This study is a quantitative study where it was only conducted using a survey method which is a set of questionnaires was distributed to 112 participants consisting of trainee teachers, young teachers, experienced teachers, and early childhood education practitioners in Selangor. The data were analyzed by using Statistical Software Package for Sciences (SPSS) version 25 to obtain percentage, standard deviation and mean. Findings show teachers understand the level of readiness skills required by children in kindergarten. Besides, their perceptions of the readiness skills needed by children is also at a good level. Several suggestions have been made to the Malaysian Ministry of Education to ensure that the emphasis on child well-being through positive learning is implemented in kindergarten so that children can improve their readiness skills when they are entering the primary school. Furthermore, researchers have stated the implications on children's readiness skills, specifically the role of the school and parents in providing opportunities for them to explore their surrounding so that they demonstrate a clear nature of readiness to learn.
Parent-child and teacher-child relationships are important correlates of children’s socioemotional competencies. However, less is known about whether these relationship qualities play a role in shaping the early development of socioemotional competencies in very young children attending childcare group settings. The current study aims to address this gap and to explore how child gender may moderate these associations. The participants included 395 children (203 girls; M age = 21.18 months, SD = 10.26 months) enrolled in childcare centres, along with their parents and teachers. Parents reported on children’s socioemotional competencies as well as their relationship quality with children, and teachers reported on their relationship quality with children. Multiple group structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the results. The findings showed that both parent-child and teacher-child closeness were positively associated with children’s social competence, whereas teacher-child closeness was negatively associated with children’s anxiety behaviour. Furthermore, gender differences were observed in these associations. Teacher-child closeness was a significant predictor of social competence exclusively among girls, while parent-child closeness was a significant predictor of anxiety behaviours solely among boys. Findings suggested that parents and teachers may consider implementing tailored strategies when interacting with boys and girls who experience socioemotional difficulties in group settings in the early years.
The present study examined the relationship between children's behavioral self-regulation (BSR) skills and the teacher-child relationship (TCR). Furthermore, this study investigated the contribution of TCR, child age, family monthly income, and child gender on children's BSR assessed by the Revised Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders. Participants consisted of 292 children aged 42 to 77 months. The data were analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed a moderately positive relationship between BSR skills and TCR's closeness subscale and a moderately negative relationship between BSR skills and TCR's conflict subscale. Except for child gender, the TCR's subscales, child's age, and family monthly income significantly predicted the total score of BSR skills. TCR closeness was the strongest predictor of BSR skills, followed by TCR conflict, child age, and family monthly income. The results suggest that teacher-child relationships are essential for children's BSR skills.
One of the most important competencies to become a life-long learner is considered to be self-regulated learning (SRL). In this narrative review study, we describe research on the relationships between classroom- and dyad-level student-teacher interactions and the components of elementary students’ SRL. These components include metacognition and the regulation of cognition, motivation, behavior, and emotions. Three electronic databases were examined, which resulted in 30 studies that met our eligibility criteria. The results suggest that both well-organized and emotionally supportive classroom climates, in addition to high-quality instructional support, are associated with students’ metacognition. Results also show that associations between classroom-level interactions and the components of SRL that tap students’ behaviors and motivation are mixed. In contrast, at the dyad-level, higher quality teacher-student interactions were consistently found to be related to the motivational component of SRL. We also found a positive relationship with metacognition, but at the dyad level studies on the other components of SRL were hardly available. The review revealed a number of gaps in research on SRL, such as the paucity of studies on the regulation of cognitions and emotions, the overreliance on self-reports in the measurement of SRL, and the absence of cross-cultural research.
The present study examined the quality of teacher-child relationships in a collectivist and individualist country, specifically, Portugal and Belgium. Two relationship dimensions were examined the following: conflict and closeness. Participants were 158 Portuguese and 197 Belgian children and their teachers. In both countries, teachers completed the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). Measurement invariance was tested through multiple-group analysis. The results supported configural and metric invariance across countries, but not full scalar equivalence, suggesting that the STRS is robust across countries. Some associations differed between the samples. Specifically, teachers’ perceptions of closeness were negatively related to conflict in Belgium, but not in Portugal. Teachers described boys and girls as having similar levels of both conflict and closeness in Portugal, while in Belgium girls are likely to have closer relationships with their teachers. Moreover, observed emotional climate was positively associated with closeness in Belgium (but not Portugal), indicating that Belgian teachers in classrooms with more warm and positive interactions were likely to have closer individual relationships with their students.
This research focuses on the associations between interactive processes of early childhood classrooms and gains in children's cognitive self-regulation (CSR) across the preschool year. Data from 803 children (45.8% female; M = 54 months; 39.1% Caucasian, 26.3% African American, 24.6% Hispanic, 9.9% Other) were collected at fall and spring of the preschool year, and classroom observations were conducted three times throughout the year. Multilevel models tested associations between classroom behaviors of teachers and students using the Classroom Observation in Preschool and the Teacher Observation in Preschool and gains children made in a CSR composite score (Dimensional Change Card Sort, Peg Tapping, Head Toes Knees Shoulders, Copy Design, and Corsi Blocks) across the preschool year. After controlling for demographic covariates and children's pretest scores, both affective and cognitive classroom processes were associated with gains. More teacher behavior approving, less disapproving, and more positive emotional tone were associated with gains. The proportion of observed time teachers spent delivering instruction as well as the proportion of time children were involved with mathematics and literacy were also related to CSR gains, as was the quality of teacher instruction. Although exploratory, these results highlight the potential for modifications in classroom practices to aid in children's CSR development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).
Research Findings: This study examined the validity and reliability of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; R. C. Pianta, K. M. La Paro, & B. K. Hamre, 2008) in Finnish kindergartens. A pair of trained observers used the CLASS to observe 49 kindergarten teachers (47 female, 2 male) on two different days. Questionnaires measuring teachers' efficacy beliefs, exhaustion at work, and classroom interactional style (i.e., affection, behavioral control, and psychological control) were completed by the teachers. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that when the item measuring Negative Climate was excluded, the 3-factor solution assuming three positively correlated latent factors (i.e., Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support) described classroom quality well. The CLASS also showed high item and scale reliabilities. Evidence for concurrent validity was indicated by the positive association between observed classroom emotional support and teacher-rated affection and self-efficacy. Teacher-rated affection was also associated with observed classroom organization. Practice or Policy: The findings provide support for the CLASS as a valid and reliable measure of classroom quality in kindergartens and in cultural contexts outside the United States.
This study examined the effects of the accumulation of family risk factors on children's literacy skills, both in preschool and in first grade. Children's (N = 106) vocabulary, conventions of print, phonological awareness, knowledge of letters, reading decoding, and reading comprehension were assessed. Family risk factors, consisting of household composition, years of maternal education, job situation of the mother, and income level of the family, were combined to create a cumulative risk index. Canonical correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed. Results revealed the negative impact of cumulative risk index on both the preschool and first-grade literacy skills. In addition, the number of risk factors present in the family context negatively predicted the majority of the first-grade literacy skills, after taking preschool skills into account. The results provide further evidence of the negative impact of the accumulation of family risks on child literacy development and call attention to the importance of early experiences for later academic achievement. (Contains 5 tables.)
This study investigated 3 broad classes of individual-differences variables (job-search motives, competencies, and constraints) as predictors of job-search intensity among 292 unemployed job seekers. Also assessed was the relationship between job-search intensity and reemployment success in a longitudinal context. Results show significant relationships between the predictors employment commitment, financial hardship, job-search self-efficacy, and motivation control and the outcome job-search intensity. Support was not found for a relationship between perceived job-search constraints and job-search intensity. Motivation control was highlighted as the only lagged predictor of job-search intensity over time for those who were continuously unemployed. Job-search intensity predicted Time 2 reemployment status for the sample as a whole, but not reemployment quality for those who found jobs over the study's duration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A meta-analytic approach was used to investigate the associations between
affective qualities of teacher–student relationships (TSRs) and students’
school engagement and achievement. Results were based on 99 studies,
including students from preschool to high school. Separate analyses were
conducted for positive relationships and engagement (k = 61 studies, N = 88,417
students), negative relationships and engagement (k = 18, N = 5,847), positive
relationships and achievement (k = 61, N = 52,718), and negative relationships
and achievement (k = 28, N = 18,944). Overall, associations of
both positive and negative relationships with engagement were medium to
large, whereas associations with achievement were small to medium. Some
of these associations were weaker, but still statistically significant, after correction
for methodological biases. Overall, stronger effects were found in the
higher grades. Nevertheless, the effects of negative relationships were stronger
in primary than in secondary school.
Abstract— Children’s ability to direct their attention and behavior to learning tasks provides a foundation for healthy social and academic development in early schooling. Although an explosion of research on this topic has occurred in recent years, the field has been hindered by a lack of conceptual clarity, as well as debate over underlying components and their significance in predicting school success. In addition, few measures tap these skills as children move into formal schooling. This article describes the aspects of self-regulation that are most important for early school success. It then discusses methodological challenges in reliably and validly assessing these skills in young children and describes recent advances in direct measures of self-regulation that are reliable and ecologically valid and that predict children’s school success. It concludes by summarizing critical issues in the study of self-regulation in school contexts and discussing next steps.
A relationship-focused reflection program (RFRP) was developed that targeted teachers' mental representations of relationships with specific children. Relative effectiveness was examined in a randomized comparative trial with repeated measures. Thirty-two teachers were assigned to the RFRP or the comparison intervention directly aimed at teacher behavior. Per teacher, two children (N = 64) were selected with above-median levels of externalizing behavior. Multilevel growth modeling was used to explore intervention effects on teacher-reported Closeness and Conflict, and observed Teacher Sensitivity and Behavior Management Quality. Teaching Efficacy was included as a moderator. The RFRP yielded changes over time in closeness for about half of the teacher-child dyads. In addition, teachers with high efficacy beliefs were more likely to report declines in conflict than low-efficacy teachers. Lastly, significant increases were found in observed sensitivity. These effects were different from those found in the comparison condition and provided preliminary evidence for the potential of in-depth reflection on specific relationships to promote teacher-child relationships.
Young children's relationships with teachers predict social and academic success. This study examines contributions of child temperament (shyness, effortful control) and gender to teacher–child relationship quality both directly and indirectly through the frequency of teacher–child interactions in the classroom. Using an NICHD SECCYD sample of 819 first grade children, four findings emerged: (a) children's shyness, effortful control, and gender contributed directly to teacher–child conflict and closeness; (b) children's shyness contributed to the frequency of child-initiated teacher–child interactions, and children's effortful control contributed to the frequency of teacher-initiated teacher–child interactions; (c) shyness related to teacher–child closeness indirectly through the frequency of child-initiated teacher–child interactions; (d) the frequency of child- and teacher-initiated interactions contributed to each other. Results inform practitioners and researchers of characteristics that put children at risk for failure to form positive relationships with teachers.
This study tested the longitudinal measurement invariance and developmental changes of a newly developed battery of executive function (EF) tasks for use in early childhood. The battery was administered in the Family Life Project-a prospective longitudinal study (N = 1,292) of families who were oversampled from low-income and African American families at the birth of a new child-at assessments conducted when the child was 3, 4, and 5 years old. All 6 individual EF tasks exhibited strong measurement invariance over time. The EF battery, which was derived from the 6 individual tasks, exhibited partial strong invariance over time. Second-order latent growth curve models revealed individual differences in the levels but not rates of change in latent EF ability. The functional form of change was nonlinear; 60% of the total change in EF ability that was observed between the 3- and 5-year assessments occurred between the Year 3 and Year 4 assessments. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of establishing scalable measures of EF ability prior to investigating experiences that predict or are predicted by changes in EF during early childhood.
The present study examined the psychometric properties of scores from a direct measure of behavioral regulation, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) with 3- to 6-year-old children in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Specifically, we investigated (a) the nature and variability of HTKS scores, including relations to teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation; and (b) relations between the HTKS and early mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy skills. Higher HTKS scores were significantly related to higher teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation in the United States and South Korea but not in Taiwan and China. Also, higher HTKS scores were significantly related to higher early mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy skills beyond the influence of demographic variables and teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation. These initial findings suggest that HTKS scores may be interpreted as reflecting early behavioral regulation in these 4 societies and that behavioral regulation is important for early academic success in the United States and in Asian countries.
Research suggests that executive functioning skills may enhance the school readiness of children from disadvantaged homes. Questions remain, however, concerning both the structure and the stability of executive functioning among preschoolers. In addition, there is a lack of research addressing potential predictors of longitudinal change in executive functioning during early childhood. This study examined the structure of executive functioning from fall to spring of the preschool year using a multimethod battery of measures. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a unidimensional model fit the data well at both time points, and tests of measurement invariance across time points indicated that children's mean latent executive functioning scores significantly improved over time. Verbal ability was a significant predictor of longitudinal change in executive functioning. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
This study examined developmental associations between growth in domain-general cognitive processes (working memory and attention control) and growth in domain-specific skills (emergent literacy and numeracy) across the pre-kindergarten year, and their relative contributions to kindergarten reading and math achievement. One hundred sixty-four Head Start children (44% African American or Latino; 57% female) were followed longitudinally. Path analyses revealed that working memory and attention control predicted growth in emergent literacy and numeracy skills during the pre-kindergarten year, and furthermore, that growth in these domain-general cognitive skills made unique contributions to the prediction of kindergarten math and reading achievement, controlling for growth in domain-specific skills. These findings extend research highlighting the importance of working memory and attention control for academic learning, demonstrating the effects in early childhood, prior to school entry. We discuss the implications of these findings for pre-kindergarten programs, particularly those designed to reduce the school readiness gaps associated with socio-economic disadvantage.
The joint contributions of child effortful control (using inhibitory control and task accuracy as behavioral indices) and positive teacher-student relationships at first grade on reading and mathematics achievement at second grade were examined in 761 children who were predominantly from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds and assessed to be academically at-risk at entry to first grade. Analyses accounted for clustering effects, covariates, baselines of effortful control measures, and prior levels of achievement. Even with such conservative statistical controls, interactive effects were found for task accuracy and positive teacher-student relationships on future achievement. Results suggest that task accuracy served as a protective factor so that children with high task accuracy performed well academically despite not having positive teacher-student relationships. Further, positive teacher-student relationships served as a compensatory factor so that children with low task accuracy performed just as well as those with high task accuracy if they were paired with a positive and supportive teacher. Importantly, results indicate that the influence of positive teacher-student relationships on future achievement was most pronounced for students with low effortful control on tasks that require fine motor skills, accuracy, and attention-related skills. Study results have implications for narrowing achievement disparities for academically at-risk children.
In this study, the authors examined the extent to which children's self-regulation upon kindergarten entrance and classroom quality in kindergarten contributed to children's adaptive classroom behavior. Children's self-regulation was assessed using a direct assessment upon entrance into kindergarten. Classroom quality was measured on the basis of multiple classroom observations during the kindergarten year. Children's adaptive classroom behavior in kindergarten was assessed through teacher report and classroom observations: Teachers rated children's cognitive and behavioral self-control and work habits during the spring of the kindergarten year; observers rated children's engagement and measured off-task behavior at 2-month intervals from November to May. Hierarchical linear models revealed that children's self-regulation upon school entry in a direct assessment related to teachers' report of behavioral self-control, cognitive self-control, and work habits in the spring of the kindergarten year. Classroom quality, particularly teachers' effective classroom management, was linked to children's greater behavioral and cognitive self-control, children's higher behavioral engagement, and less time spent off-task in the classroom. Classroom quality did not moderate the relation between children's self-regulation upon school entry and children's adaptive classroom behaviors in kindergarten. The discussion considers the implications of classroom management for supporting children's early development of behavioral skills that are important in school settings.
The authors examined a new assessment of behavioral regulation and contributions to achievement and teacher-rated classroom functioning in a sample (N = 343) of kindergarteners from 2 geographical sites in the United States. Behavioral regulation was measured with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task, a structured observation requiring children to perform the opposite of a dominant response to 4 different oral commands. Results revealed considerable variability in HTKS scores. Evidence for construct validity was found in positive correlations with parent ratings of attentional focusing and inhibitory control and teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that higher levels of behavioral regulation in the fall predicted stronger levels of achievement in the spring and better teacher-rated classroom self-regulation (all ps < .01) but not interpersonal skills. Evidence for domain specificity emerged, in which gains in behavioral regulation predicted gains in mathematics but not in language and literacy over the kindergarten year (p < .01) after site, child gender, and other background variables were controlled. Discussion focuses on the importance of behavioral regulation for successful adjustment to the demands of kindergarten.
The objective of this article is to offer guidelines regarding the selection, calculation, and interpretation of effect sizes
(ESs). To accomplish this goal, ESs are first defined and their important contribution to research is emphasized. Then different
types of ESs commonly used in group and correlational studies are discussed. Several useful resources are provided for distinguishing
among different types of effects and what modifications might be required in their calculation depending on a study's purpose
and methods. This article should assist producers and consumers of research in understanding the role, importance, and meaning
of ESs in research reports.
The author examines the construct of emotionality, developmental relations between cognition and emotion, and neural plasticity and frontal cortical functioning and proposes a developmental neurobiological model of children's school readiness. Direct links are proposed among emotionality, use-dependent synaptic stabilization related to the prefrontal cortex, the development of executive function abilities, and academic and social competence in school settings. The author considers research on the efficacy of preschool compensatory education in promoting school readiness and recommends that programs expand to include curricula directly addressing social and emotional competence. Research should focus on the ontogeny of self-regulation and successful adaptation to the socially defined role of student, the development of prevention research programs to reflect this orientation, and interdisciplinary collaborations that integrate scientific methods and questions in the pursuit of comprehensive knowledge of human developmental processes.
A computerized test of preparedness for effortful processing (alerting attention), response to orienting cues (orienting attention), and response to the interference of competing demands (executive attention) was administered to a diverse sample of 249 children (47% female, 4.96 to 7.27 years) to assess developmental properties and sociodemographic correlates of task performance. Older children and socially advantaged children demonstrated greater proficiency in overall accuracy and speed of responding. Boys and socially advantaged children improved more in response to alerting cues. Older children improved more in response to orienting cues. Older children, socially advantaged children, African American, and Hispanic children resisted the interference of competing demands better. Findings are discussed in the context of developmental and sociodemographic factors relevant to attention and executive functions.
Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognitive ability and achievement during childhood and beyond. Little is known about the developmental relationships between SES and specific brain systems or their associated cognitive functions. In this study we assessed neurocognitive functioning of kindergarteners from different socioeconomic backgrounds, using tasks drawn from the cognitive neuroscience literature in order to determine how childhood SES predicts the normal variance in performance across different neurocognitive systems. Five neurocognitive systems were examined: the occipitotemporal/visual cognition system, the parietal/spatial cognition system, the medial temporal/memory system, the left perisylvian/language system, and the prefrontal/executive system. SES was disproportionately associated with the last two, with low SES children performing worse than middle SES children on most measures of these systems. Relations among language, executive function, SES and specific aspects of early childhood experience were explored, revealing intercorrelations and a seemingly predominant role of individual differences in language ability involved in SES associations with executive function.
This study examined the role of self-regulation in emerging academic ability in one hundred and forty-one 3- to 5-year-old children from low-income homes. Measures of effortful control, false belief understanding, and the inhibitory control and attention-shifting aspects of executive function in preschool were related to measures of math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Results indicated that the various aspects of child self-regulation accounted for unique variance in the academic outcomes independent of general intelligence and that the inhibitory control aspect of executive function was a prominent correlate of both early math and reading ability. Findings suggest that curricula designed to improve self-regulation skills as well as enhance early academic abilities may be most effective in helping children succeed in school.
This study investigated predictive relations between preschoolers' (N=310) behavioral regulation and emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills. Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure called the Head-to-Toes Task, which taps inhibitory control, attention, and working memory, and requires children to perform the opposite of what is instructed verbally. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was utilized because children were nested in 54 classrooms at 2 geographical sites. Results revealed that behavioral regulation significantly and positively predicted fall and spring emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement (all ps<.05). Moreover, growth in behavioral regulation predicted growth in emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills over the prekindergarten year (all ps<.05), after controlling for site, child gender, and other background variables. Discussion focuses on the role of behavioral regulation in early academic achievement and preparedness for kindergarten.
Although many tasks have been developed recently to study executive control in the preschool years, the constructs that underlie performance on these tasks are poorly understood. In particular, it is unclear whether executive control is composed of multiple, separable cognitive abilities (e.g., inhibition and working memory) or whether it is unitary in nature. A sample of 243 normally developing children between 2.3 and 6 years of age completed a battery of age-appropriate executive control tasks. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare multiple models of executive control empirically. A single-factor, general model was sufficient to account for the data. Furthermore, the fit of the unitary model was invariant across subgroups of children divided by socioeconomic status or sex. Girls displayed a higher level of latent executive control than boys, and children of higher and lower socioeconomic status did not differ in level. In typically developing preschool children, tasks conceptualized as indexes of working memory and inhibitory control in fact measured a single cognitive ability, despite surface differences between task characteristics.
This paper examines interrelations between biological and social influences on the development of self-regulation in young children and considers implications of these interrelations for the promotion of self-regulation and positive adaptation to school. Emotional development and processes of emotion regulation are seen as influencing and being influenced by the development of executive cognitive functions, including working memory, inhibitory control, and mental flexibility important for the effortful regulation of attention and behavior. Developing self-regulation is further understood to reflect an emerging balance between processes of emotional arousal and cognitive regulation. Early childhood educational programs that effectively link emotional and motivational arousal with activities designed to exercise and promote executive functions can be effective in enhancing self-regulation, school readiness, and school success.
A Monte Carlo simulation examined the performance of a recently available full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimator in a multiple regression model with missing data. The effects of four independent variables were examined (missing data technique, missing data rate, sample size, and correlation magnitude) on three outcome measures regression coefficient bias, R-2 bias, and regression coefficient sampling variability. Three missing data patterns were examined based on Rubin's missing data theory: missing completely at random, missing at random, and a nonrandom. pattern. Results indicated that FIML estimation was superior to the three ad hoc techniques (listwise deletion, pairwise deletion, and mean imputatiom) across the conditions studied, FM parameter estimates generally had less bias and less sampling variability than the three ad hoc methods.
Secondary data analysis of data from 3 large child-care studies was conducted to address questions about whether factors such as poverty, minority ethnic background, gender, or parental authoritarian beliefs moderate the association between child-care quality and child cognitive and social outcomes. Data (N = 1,307) were combined to accrue a sufficient number of children who attended high-quality child-care centers who were from impoverished families or minority ethnic backgrounds to reliably compare their developmental outcomes with those of children in poorer quality care. Children's behavior, language skills, and preacademic skills were analyzed as a function of child-care quality (low-, medium-, and high-quality groups based on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale total scores), background risk factors, and parental attitudes to test hypotheses about risk and protective factors. Results provide further support for the hypothesis that quality of child care is related to children's development for all children and quite limited support that child-care quality may matter more for children experiencing social risk factors. Language development was the only outcome in which child-care quality interacted with a risk variable, ethnicity, suggesting that quality of care is differentially more important for language development for children of color than for White-non-Hispanic children.
This study evaluates a model for considering domain-general and domain-specific associations between teacher-child interactions and children's development, using a bifactor analytic strategy. Among a sample of 325 early childhood classrooms there was evidence for both general elements of teacher-child interaction (responsive teaching) and domain-specific elements related to positive management and routines and cognitive facilitation. Among a diverse population of 4-year-old children (n = 1,407) responsive teaching was modestly associated with development across social and cognitive domains, whereas positive management and routines was modestly associated with increases in inhibitory control and cognitive facilitation was associated with gains in early language and literacy skills. The conceptual and methodological contributions and challenges of this approach are discussed.
A Monte Carlo simulation examined the performance of a recently available full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimator in a multiple regression model with missing data. The effects of four independent variables were examined (missing data technique, missing data rate, sample size, and correlation magnitude) on three outcome measures: regression coefficient bias, R 2 bias, and regression coefficient sampling variability. Three missing data patterns were examined based on Rubin’s missing data theory: missing completely at random, missing at random, and a nonrandom pattern. Results indicated that FIML estimation was superior to the three ad hoc techniques (listwise deletion, pairwise deletion, and mean imputation) across the conditions studied. FIML parameter estimates generally had less bias and less sampling variability than the three ad hoc methods.
In the present study, longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were used to test a theoretical model in which one aspect of children's self-regulation skills – their inhibitory-control abilities – were hypothesized to show reciprocal relations with their levels of teach of teacher–child across the elementary-school years. The findings were largely consistent with the hypothesized model. Across multiple points in elementary school, lower levels of inhibitory control were associated with higher subsequent levels of teacher–child conflict. In turn, higher levels of teacher–child conflict were associated with lower subsequent levels of inhibitory control. Some evidence suggested that the magnitude of this latter relation was particularly strong for girls in the later elementary-school years. Direct relations between inhibitory control and teacher–child conflict were partially mediated by children's inattention and aggression problems. Potential implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Studies of preschool indicate that: (1) valid and reliable measures of the environment are possible; (2) environments vary across programs; and (3) there is a relationship between the environment and development of children in those environments. The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale shows promise for both research and training. (Author/LC)
Research Findings: Effective teaching in early childhood (EC) care and education settings requires skillful combinations of explicit instruction, sensitive and warm interactions, responsive feedback, and verbal engagement intentionally directed to ensure children's learning and embedded within a classroom environment that is not overly structured or regimented. These aspects of instruction and interaction uniquely predict gains in young children's literacy, language, and social development, effectively contributing to closing gaps in performance between low- and high-risk children. Less clear is an articulation of the ways in which various types of teacher–child interactions within EC settings independently and in combination contribute to children's development. Practice or Policy: In this article, we argue that conceptualizing this system of contextual inputs and developmental outputs in a purely aligned way (e.g., social inputs social development; instructional inputs academic development) constrains understanding of both the pathways through which educational experience may influence development as well as the basic processes that may integrate developmental change in what appear to be phenotypically different outcome domains (e.g., social, self-regulatory, academic).
Children's experiences with their parents and teachers were related to the acquisition of academic skills from preschool through second grade. Individual and group growth curves were estimated, and individual patterns of change were predicted from selected demographic, family, and classroom characteristics to identify multiple pathways to early academic competence. Standardized assessments of language and academic skills and parent and teacher surveys were collected on 511 children beginning in the second-to-last year of child care through the third year of elementary school. As expected, children tended to show better academic skills across time if their parents had more education and reported more progressive parenting beliefs and practices. Statistical interactions between family background and teacher–child relationships indicated that a closer relationship with the teacher was positively related to language skills for African-American children and to reading competence for children whose parents reported more authoritarian attitudes. These results provide further evidence that social processes in classrooms are important for academic competence for children considered at risk for academic problems.
We examined children's growth in school-related learning and social skills over the pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) year in state-funded programs designed to prepare children for kindergarten. We expected that children's gains in academic and social skills could be attributed to variations in the structural and classroom process dimensions of program quality. Nearly 3000 (n = 2800) children were randomly selected, four per classroom, from approximately 700 randomly selected, state-funded pre-Kindergarten classrooms in eleven states. Enrollment in pre-K appeared related to gains in academic skills. Children showed larger gains in academic outcomes when they experienced higher-quality instruction or closer teacher–child relationships. Gains were not related to characteristics of the child or program (i.e., ratio, teacher qualifications and program location and length). These findings have implications for a range of state and local policy and program development efforts as well as for theories of contextual influences on development.
Most studies regarding the role of teacher-child relationships for children's early school adjustment use only teacher ratings of relationship quality. The current study examines (a) the agreement between teacher and observer ratings, (b) whether similar patterns of relations with behavioral engagement are obtained across informants, and (c) which informant matters the most in the prediction of engagement. Teacher and observer ratings of teacher-child closeness, conflict, and dependency were gathered for a sample of 148 kindergartners and their teachers at three measurement occasions. Teacher and observer reports converged to a moderate degree but only when considering multiple occasions and ruling out occasion-specific variance. Although some relations with behavioral engagement were similar, only teacher ratings had unique, added value in this prediction.
Based on theoretically driven models, the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) targeted low-income children's school readiness through the mediating mechanism of self-regulation. The CSRP is a multicomponent, cluster-randomized efficacy trial implemented in 35 Head Start-funded classrooms (N = 602 children). The analyses confirm that the CSRP improved low-income children's self-regulation skills (as indexed by attention/impulse control and executive function) from fall to spring of the Head Start year. Analyses also suggest significant benefits of CSRP for children's preacademic skills, as measured by vocabulary, letter-naming, and math skills. Partial support was found for improvement in children's self-regulation as a hypothesized mediator for children's gains in academic readiness. Implications for programs and policies that support young children's behavioral health and academic success are discussed.
The associations between the quality of teacher-student interactions and first grade academic and adaptive behavior outcomes were examined in a study of 106 Portuguese students in 64 first grade classrooms. Students' vocabulary, print concepts, math, and adaptive skills were assessed both at the end of preschool and in first grade. Classrooms were observed in the spring of first grade. After taking into account family risk factors and preschool skills, the quality of teacher-student interactions, particularly in terms of classroom organization, was positively associated with students' first grade vocabulary and print concepts. In addition, classroom quality predicted number identification outcomes differently depending on student skills prior to school entry. Students with lower preschool math skills seemed to benefit from higher quality teacher-student interactions. These findings provide further support for the unique contribution of the quality of teacher-student interactions in first grade and suggest that it may be an important mechanism to improve academic skills.
An explanatory model for children's development of disruptive behavior across the transition from preschool to school was tested. It was hypothesized that child effortful control would mediate the effects of parenting on children's externalizing behavior and that child sex would moderate these relations. Participants were 241 children (123 boys) and their parents and teachers. Three dimensions of parenting, warm responsiveness, induction, and corporal punishment, were assessed via maternal report when children were 3 years old. Child effortful control at age 3 was measured using laboratory tasks and a mother-report questionnaire. Mothers and teachers contributed ratings of child externalizing behavior at age 6. Results showed that the hypothesized model fit the data well and that the pattern of associations between constructs differed for boys and girls. For boys, parental warm responsiveness and corporal punishment had significant indirect effects on children's externalizing behavior three years later, mediated by child effortful control. Such relations were not observed for girls. These findings support a sex-differentiated pathway to externalizing behavior across the transition from preschool to school.
Participants were 360 (52.2% male) ethnically diverse and academically at-risk first-grade children attending one of three school districts in southeast and central Texas. Using latent variable structural equation modeling, we tested a theoretical model positing that the quality of the teacher-student relationship in first grade predicts children's peer acceptance the following year, controlling for children's previous externalizing problems and peer acceptance. We also expected that children's classroom engagement would mediate the effect of teacher-student relationship quality on peer acceptance. The hypothesized model provided a good fit to the data. Engagement fully mediated the effect of teacher support on subsequent peer acceptance. Neither ethnicity nor gender moderated the mediation findings.
In keeping with proposals emphasizing the role of early experience in infant brain development, this study investigated the prospective links between quality of parent-infant interactions and subsequent child executive functioning (EF), including working memory, impulse control, and set shifting. Maternal sensitivity, mind-mindedness and autonomy support were assessed when children were 12 to 15 months old (N = 80). Child EF was assessed at 18 and 26 months. All three parenting dimensions were found to relate to child EF. Autonomy support was the strongest predictor of EF at each age, independent of general cognitive ability and maternal education. These findings add to previous results on child stress-response systems in suggesting that parent-child relationships may play an important role in children's developing self-regulatory capacities.
Young children with problem behavior in the classroom are at risk for developing more conflictual and less close relationships with their teachers. Two studies in kindergarten (N=3798; N=237) shed light on some aspects of classroom climate that can moderate this risk for relational problems. Results showed problematic classroom compositions, in terms of high average levels of internalizing or externalizing behavior, to exacerbate the risk for teachers to form more conflictual relationships with children showing externalizing behavior. Additionally, observed emotional support of teachers was found to be protective for the relational functioning of children at risk due to maladjusted behavior. Specifically, with emotionally supportive teachers, children who expose internalizing or externalizing behavior are no longer at risk for developing less close or more conflictual relationships with their teachers respectively. Practical implications and limitations of the studies are reported and suggestions are made for future research.
This study followed a sample of 179 children from kindergarten through eighth grade to examine the extent to which kindergarten teachers' perceptions of their relationships with students predict a range of school outcomes. Kindergarten teachers rated children's behavior and the quality of the teacher-child relationship. Follow-up data from first through eighth grade were organized by epoch and included academic grades, standardized test scores, work-habit ratings, and discipline records. Relational Negativity in kindergarten, marked by conflict and dependency, was related to academic and behavioral outcomes through eighth grade, particularly for children with high levels of behavior problems in kindergarten and for boys generally. These associations remained significant after controlling for gender, ethnicity, cognitive ability, and behavior ratings. The results have implications for theories of the determinants of school success, the role of adult-child relationships in development, and a range of early intervention and prevention efforts.
This study examined ways in which children's risk of school failure may be moderated by support from teachers. Participants were 910 children in a national prospective study. Children were identified as at risk at ages 5-6 years on the basis of demographic characteristics and the display of multiple functional (behavioral, attention, academic, social) problems reported by their kindergarten teachers. By the end of first grade, at-risk students placed in first-grade classrooms offering strong instructional and emotional support had achievement scores and student-teacher relationships commensurate with their low-risk peers; at-risk students placed in less supportive classrooms had lower achievement and more conflict with teachers. These findings have implications for understanding the role that classroom experience may play in pathways to positive adaptation.
This study examined development of academic, language, and social skills among 4-year-olds in publicly supported prekindergarten (pre-K) programs in relation to 3 methods of measuring pre-K quality, which are as follows: (a) adherence to 9 standards of quality related to program infrastructure and design, (b) observations of the overall quality of classroom environments, and (c) observations of teachers' emotional and instructional interactions with children in classrooms. Participants were 2,439 children enrolled in 671 pre-K classrooms in 11 states. Adjusting for prior skill levels, child and family characteristics, program characteristics, and state, teachers' instructional interactions predicted academic and language skills and teachers' emotional interactions predicted teacher-reported social skills. Findings suggest that policies, program development, and professional development efforts that improve teacher-child interactions can facilitate children's school readiness.
Mplus user's guide Los Angeles: Author Noble, The neurocognitive correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children
- L K Muthén
- B O K G Muthén
- M F Norman
- M J Farah
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ed.). Los Angeles: Author
Noble, K. G., Norman, M. F., & Farah, M. J. (2005). The neurocognitive
correlates of socioeconomic status in kindergarten children.
Developmental Science, 8, 74-87. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.
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