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Developmental delays in cognitive flexibility early in elementary school can potentially increase vulnerability for subsequent externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. The first goal of the current study was to identify latent subgroups of children characterized by different developmental trajectories of cognitive flexibility throughout kindergarten and first grade using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 dataset. The second goal was to examine whether identified longitudinal developmental trajectories of cognitive flexibility could be associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors in the second grade, while accounting for background child (age, gender, and Spanish-speaking) and family (family income and mother's education) covariates. The analytic sample consisted of 15,827 kindergarteners (51.20% male; 48.50% White, 13.5% Black/African American, 24.3% Hispanic/Latino, 7.60% Asian, and 6.1% other), who were approximately 5.62 years old (SD = 4.48 months) at the study's outset. Most children lived in households with medium family income of approximately $50,000-$55,000. Using a growth mixture modeling approach, our analyses identified normative (91.05%; 50.4% male) and delayed (8.95%; 59.4% male) cognitive flexibility groups and demonstrated that delayed developers have higher levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors in the second grade, even after adjusting for background covariates. Our findings, in conjunction with research on cognitive flexibility training, suggest that caregivers may lower the risk for externalizing and internalizing behaviors in delayed developers by correcting inflexible thinking, encouraging alternative solutions, and providing emotional support when children face challenging problems.

This study conducted a randomized trial to examine the efficacy of the Boys Town In-Home Family Services (IHFS) program for families of high-risk youth. Participants were recruited from a state helpline for families struggling with poor family functioning and child emotional or behavioral issues. Consent was obtained for 300 of which 152 were randomly assigned to participate in IHFS for 3-4 months and 148 were assigned to the services as usual comparison group. For the families in the treatment group, 18% did not participant in the intervention, and 66% of families received 20 or more service hours. Parent report data were collected at intake, post, as well 6 and 12 months after post data collection. Data were collected on constructs such as caregiver strain, family functioning, parenting, family resources, and parent report of child behavior. Piecewise analyses of the intake to post data indicated significantly greater reductions in caregiver strain for the treatment condition. Given the conservative corrections for the use of multiple tests, no other measures demonstrated significant differences. For the piecewise model of the maintenance phase, there were no significant differences between groups aside from caregiver strain that showed a significant improvement for the comparison condition. Supplementary dose-response analyses indicated that for most families there was an ideal dosage of about 25-75 hr to bring about the largest improvements in caregiver strain, parenting skills, and child behavior.

Background: Supports following reunification play an important role in successful transitions from out-of-home care to home and school settings for children and their families. There are several stakeholders who play critical roles supporting families during this transition. One key role is tied to legal professionals, who often work closely with the child or family while in care and then continue to monitor family progress during the transition from foster care to the home setting. Although work has been conducted to understand what supports other stakeholders feel children and families need during this transition, little is known about the perspectives of legal professionals. Objective: This exploratory study gathered perspectives from legal professionals regarding the challenges these youths and families face and necessary supports to promote successful reunification. Three research questions guided this work: (1) How prepared do legal professionals feel youth and families are for the reunification period? (2) What do legal professionals perceive as existing barriers for youth and families during reunification? and (3) What services do legal professional perceive as necessary to promote successful reunification and the effectiveness of existing supports? Methods: Participants (N=13) completed a brief survey including demographic items and questions on reunification supports following departure from foster care. Participants also engaged in a focus group using the nominal group technique to address two primary questions that addressed challenges faced by families during reunification and necessary supports or services to promote positive youth and family outcomes. Results: Participants felt that families were not well prepared for reunification and that current supports were somewhat effective to support this transition period. They also indicated supports in the mental health domain to be most important. A total of 36 independent barriers were generated for the first question and 27 supports were identified for question two. Conclusion: Establishing effective and accessible supports for families during reunification is necessary for positive family outcomes. This study highlighted barriers in preventing successful reunification, namely limited access to resources and supports in preventing successful reunification and the importance of mental health support for the entire family in promoting successful outcomes.

The present study explored the relations among preservice teacher shyness (shy, average, outgoing) and their responses towards hypothetical children displaying classroom problem behaviours (shy/quiet, exuberant/talkative) in the classroom. Participants were 335 elementary preservice teachers attending a Midwest university in the United States. Preservice teachers completed self-reports of shyness and responded to hypothetical vignettes depicting different classroom behaviours. Among the results, shy preservice teachers reported lower self-efficacy and less tendency to use warm/supportive and social-learning strategies as compared to their more outgoing counterparts. Shy preservice teachers also had lower tendency than average teachers to refer to high-powered strategies when dealing with shy children, but more likely with exuberant children. Results are discussed in terms of the role of personality in teaching.

This study examines the degree to which two middle childhood executive control aspects, working memory and combined inhibitory control/flexible shifting, predict adolescent substance use and externalizing and internalizing problems. Participants were 301 children (ages 3–6 years; 48.2% male) recruited from a Midwestern city in the United States and followed into adolescence (ages 14–18 years). Working memory had a statistically significant unadjusted association with externalizing problems (r = −.30, p =.003) in a confirmatory factor analysis. Neither factor significantly predicted any of the adolescent outcomes in a structural equation model that adjusted for each EC aspect, sociodemographic covariates, and middle childhood externalizing and internalizing problems. Stronger prediction of EC aspects might not emerge until they become more fully differentiated later in development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Method Results Conclusions The goal of the current study was to test prospective direct and indirect associations between preschool executive control (EC), parental affective quality and harsh discipline, and adolescent substance use (e‐cigarettes, cannabis, and alcohol) while accounting for participants' age, sex, family history of substance use, and family socioeconomic status.Participants were 313 youth (49% boys; 70.9% European American) and their parents who participated in a longitudinal cohort‐sequential study on the development of EC in preschool and its associations with subsequent health outcomes. Substance use initiation and frequency (e‐cigarettes, cannabis, and alcohol) were obtained via phone surveys from youth who participated in adolescent assessments. Parental affective quality and harsh discipline were obtained from parental questionnaires in adolescence.The direct effects from preschool EC on adolescent substance use were statistically nonsignificant for e‐cigarettes, cannabis, and alcohol. Mediation analyses revealed a statistically significant indirect effect from preschool EC to adolescent use of e‐cigarettes through harsh discipline (b = −0.07 [95% CI = −0.18; −0.01]; β = −0.04). The associations between preschool EC and any of the substance use outcomes in adolescence through parental affective quality were nonsignificant.This study fills significant gaps in the emerging literature on longitudinal contributions of child characteristics to parenting behaviors, suggesting that early EC deficiencies may elicit more harsh discipline during adolescence, ultimately leading to higher adolescent engagement in e‐cigarette use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychometric properties of the 30-item Family Resource Scale (FRS) were examined in a sample of families seeking assistance for their child's behavioral difficulties (N = 300). The FRS is a measure that assesses the adequacy of family resources across several contexts including intra-family support and personal resources. Our analyses supported a modified 29-item four-factor solution ("basic needs," "extra money and time," "time for family," and "essential") compared with the seven-factor solution provided by the developers. Results showed that families' perception of their resources as adequate across all domains was associated with better family functioning and less caregiver strain. Combined, our findings suggest modifications to the existent structure of the FRS.

This study investigated the impact of a summer institute with follow-up coaching (treatment) versus no professional development (control) on middle and high school teacher and student science practice outcomes. Treatment teachers participated in a 2-week summer institute that used evidence-based professional development practices followed by remotely delivered instructional coaching led by project-based science coaches over 6-8 weeks during the school year. Results from 124 teachers across 110 schools showed significant differences between treatment and control groups for teacher science practice knowledge, performance, beliefs, and self-efficacy and student science practice skills and self-efficacy. Teacher effect sizes for the combined summer institute plus coaching (treatment) across all dependent variables ranged from 0.67 to 1.37. Student comparisons showed higher science practice performance for the treatment group; effect sizes were 0.39 for high school and 0.34 for middle school. Results demonstrated significantly higher increases in student self-efficacy for the treatment compared to the control group, and this increased self-efficacy was sustained through the end of the school year. Results substantiate the value of combining coaching with a summer institute to support teacher growth and development, with the summer institute providing foundational knowledge and fostering teacher self-efficacy to effectively implement newly learned instructional practices. The coaching in turn built on that foundation and provided needed support for teachers to transfer knowledge and skills to classroom practice.

The present study explored the relations among preservice teacher shyness (shy, average, outgoing) and their responses towards hypothetical children displaying classroom problem behaviours (shy/quiet, exuberant/talkative) in the classroom. Participants were 335 elementary preservice teachers attending a Midwest university in the United States. Preservice teachers completed self-reports of shyness and responded to hypothetical vignettes depicting different classroom behaviours. Among the results, shy preservice teachers reported lower self-efficacy and less tendency to use warm/supportive and social-learning strategies as compared to their more outgoing counterparts. Shy preservice teachers also had lower tendency than average teachers to refer to high-powered strategies when dealing with shy children, but more likely with exuberant children. Results are discussed in terms of the role of personality in teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychometric properties of the 30-item Family Resource Scale (FRS) were examined in a sample of families seeking assistance for their child's behavioral difficulties (N = 300). The FRS is a measure that assesses the adequacy of family resources across several contexts including intra-family support and personal resources. Our analyses supported a modified 29-item four-factor solution (basic needs, extra money and time, time for family, and essential) compared with the seven-factor solution provided by the developers. Results showed that families' perception of their resources as adequate across all domains was associated with better family functioning and less caregiver strain. Combined, our findings suggest modifications to the existent structure of the FRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the degree to which two middle childhood executive control aspects, working memory and combined inhibitory control/flexible shifting, predict adolescent substance use and externalizing and internalizing problems. Participants were 301 children (ages 3-6 years; 48.2% male) recruited from a Midwestern city in the United States and followed into adolescence (ages 14-18 years). Working memory had a statistically significant unadjusted association with externalizing problems (r = -.30, p = .003) in a confirmatory factor analysis. Neither factor significantly predicted any of the adolescent outcomes in a structural equation model that adjusted for each EC aspect, sociodemographic covariates, and middle childhood externalizing and internalizing problems. Stronger prediction of EC aspects might not emerge until they become more fully differentiated later in development., (© 2024 Society for Research on Adolescence.)

Although predictive associations between childhood executive control (EC) and adolescent substance use have been established in prior research, the developmental pathways involved in these long-term links have not been well understood. The goal of the current study was to investigate the degree to which aggressive behaviors, including both physical and relational aggression, and prosocial behaviors in elementary school operate as developmental pathways between preschool EC and adolescent substance use, while accounting for participants' age, sex, family history of substance use, and family socioeconomic status. Participants were 329 youth (49% male; 63.6% European American) who were recruited to participate in a study between 2006 and 2012 while youth were in preschool and elementary school and followed into adolescence. The sample was recruited from a small Midwestern city in the United States. EC was assessed with performance-based tasks when children were 5 years 3 months. Youth behaviors with peers were reported by teachers when participants were in elementary school. Self-reports of the substance use initiation (e-cigarettes, cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana) were obtained in adolescence via phone surveys. Mediation analyses revealed a statistically significant indirect effect from preschool EC to adolescent substance use through youth's engagement in relational aggression in elementary school ( b  = > -0.22 [-0.51; -0.08]; β  = > -0.18). Our results suggest that developmental pathways to adolescent substance use may begin in preschool, setting the stage for susceptibility to engagement in relational aggression, which increases, in turn, youth's likelihood for substance use initiation in adolescence.