Search

This study examines the mediating role of a child's skill set at school entry in the relationship between family characteristics (environment and support) and school adjustment (academic performance and social [...]

Byline: Pierre Charlebois (1), Frank Vitaro (1), Sylvie Normandeau (1), Normand Rondeau (1) Keywords: persistence; disruptive boys; multicomponent intervention; longitudinal; preventive intervention Abstract: Several investigators have underlined the importance of long-term prevention programs in order to expect positive results for at-risk children. One essential prerequisite to addressing this issue is the retention of participants in such programs. The present study aims at examining the contribution of mother--child interactions, mother's social isolation, improvement in the mother--child relationship, and improvement in the child's behavior to the prediction of persistence. Participants (n = 59 disruptive boys) were recruited for a 3-year multicomponent preventive intervention program. Results indicated an improvement of the boys' behavior (reduction of inattention/hyperactivity and reduction of fighting) during the first year of the program, and showed that mother--child positive interactions before the beginning of the program were the best predictors of persistence. Implications of these results for long-term preventive programs are discussed. Author Affiliation: (1) Ecole de psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Article History: Registration Date: 10/10/2004

The purpose of this study was to test a model of school achievement that included children's intellectual abilities, preschool behavior, and cognitive self-control. It suggested that teacher-rated preschool behavior such as aggressive, anxious-withdrawn, and prosocial behaviors influence cognitive self-control, which in turn positively determines school achievement at the end of first grade (when controlling for intellectual abilities). Participants were 291 kindergarten children. Results from structural equation modeling demonstrated that all hypothesized path models were significant, except the one between anxious-withdrawn behavior and cognitive self-control. A second model was thus specified in which a path between anxious-withdrawn behavior and school achievement was estimated. The second model offered a better representation of the sample data (comparative fit index = .99, nonnormed fit index = .98), [[Chi].sup.2](19, N = 286) = 29.43, p > .05, and the path between anxious-withdrawn behavior and school achievement was found significant. The role of preschool behavior and cognitive self-control in first-grade school achievement is discussed.

A permutational task analysis of the influence of mother's familiarity on cognitive observation and mother-child interactions shows that mothers with prior knowledge of the cognitive task exhibit high level plans during the interactions. The task-familiar mothers allow the children to participate more in the task solutions and enable them to utilize systematic methods for the posttest.