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Meta-analyses demonstrate that the quality of early attachment is modestly associated with peer social competence ( r = .19) and externalizing behavior ( r = -.15), but weakly associated with internalizing symptoms ( r = -.07) across early development (Groh et al., Child Development Perspectives, 11 (1), 70-76, 2017). Nonetheless, these reviews suffer from limitations that undermine confidence in reported estimates, including evidence for publication bias and the lack of comprehensive assessments of outcome measures from longitudinal studies in the literature. Moreover, theoretical claims regarding the specificity of the predictive significance of early attachment variation for socioemotional versus academic outcomes had not been evaluated when the analyses for this report were registered (but see Dagan et al., Child Development , 1-20, 2023; Deneault et al., Developmental Review, 70 , 101093, 2023). To address these limitations, we conducted a set of registered analyses to evaluate the predictive validity of infant attachment in two landmark studies of the Strange Situation: the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) and the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). Across-time composite assessments reflecting teacher report, mother report, and self-reports of each outcome measure were created. Bivariate associations between infant attachment security and socioemotional outcomes in the MLSRA were comparable to, or slightly weaker than, those reported in the recent meta-analyses, whereas those in the SECCYD were weaker for these outcomes. Controlling for four demographic covariates, partial correlation coefficients between infant attachment and all socioemotional outcomes were r ≤ .10 to .15 in both samples. Compositing Strange Situations at ages 12 and 18 months did not substantively alter the predictive validity of the measure in the MLSRA, though a composite measure of three different early attachment measures in the SECCYD did increase predictive validity coefficients. Associations between infant attachment security and academic skills were unexpectedly comparable to (SECCYD) or larger than (MLSRA) those observed with respect to socioemotional outcomes.

Moral disengagement is a social cognition people use to engage in wrongdoings even when they know it is wrong. However, little is known about the antecedents that predict moral disengagement. The current study focuses on the development of self-control and cooperation during middle childhood as two antecedents of moral disengagement among 1,103 children (50% female; 77% White, 12% Black, 6% Hispanic, and 5% other). Children's self-control at age 8 and growth in self-control from age 8 to 11 were positively linked to adolescents seeing themselves as having self-control at age 15, which then predicted less moral disengagement at age 18. Children's cooperation at age 8 also was positively linked to adolescents' self-views of cooperation at age 15, which in turn, was associated with less moral disengagement at age 18. These findings demonstrate the potential of self-control and cooperation as intrapersonal and interpersonal strengths during middle childhood for mitigating moral disengagement 10 years later.

Motivated by Edward Zigler's proposition that programs serving children (birth through 12 years) can have long-term effects on well-being and development, we used data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,258) to test two pathways by which early care and education (ECE) are linked to after-school organized activities in middle childhood and to problem behaviors in late adolescence and adulthood. In support of an activities pathway, we found children with more ECE hours and more epochs in center-based ECE settings from 1 to 54 months had more epochs in after-school organized activities from kindergarten to 5th grade, which then predicted less impulsivity and less police contact at age 26. In support of a child pathway, we found that more ECE hours and more epochs in center-based ECE settings were linked to externalizing problems in early childhood, which then predicted higher problem behaviors in middle childhood, late adolescence, and adulthood. Together, these pathways underscored the potential of direct and indirect links of ECE and after-school organized activities in relation to later development.