This dissertation examined how anxiety levels and social competence change across the course of early elementary school, as well as how individual differences at the transition to kindergarten may influence these trajectories. Previous research has supported unidirectional relations among anxiety and social competence, but few studies explore how inter- and intra-individual changes in social competence and anxiety may be related across time. From a developmental perspective, studying these trajectories following the transition to kindergarten is important, as cognitive and emotion regulation capacities increase markedly across kindergarten, and the relative success with which children navigate this transition can have a bearing on future social and emotional functioning across elementary school. In addition, given gender differences in anxiety manifestation and social competence development broadly, gender differences were also examined in an exploratory manner. Data from parent and teacher reports of a community sample of 291 children across kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grades were analyzed. Results from bivariate growth models revealed steeper increases in anxiety, relative to peers in the sample, were associated with steeper decreases in social competence across time. This finding held after controlling for externalizing behavior problems at each time point, which suggests that relations among anxiety and social competence may be independent of other behavior problems commonly associated with poor social adjustment. Temperament variables were associated with changes in social competence, such that purportedly "risky" temperament traits of higher negative emotionality and lower attention control were associated with concurrently lower social competence in kindergarten, but with relatively steeper increases in social competence across time. Temperament variables in kindergarten were unrelated with changes in anxiety across time. Gender differences in relations among anxiety in kindergarten and growth in social competence also were revealed. Findings for teacher and parent reports of child behavior varied. Results are discussed with respect to contexts that may drive differences between parent and teacher reports of child behavior, as well as key developmental considerations that may help to explain why kindergarten temperament variables examined herein appear to predict changes in social competence but not changes in anxiety levels.

For some children, peer victimization stops rather quickly, whereas for others it marks the beginning of a long trajectory of peer abuse (Kochenderfer-Ladd & Wardrop, 2001). Unfortunately, we know little about these trajectories and what factors may influence membership in increasing or decreasing victimization over time. To address this question, I identified children's developmental patterns of victimization in early elementary school and examined which child-level factors influenced children's membership in victimization trajectories using latent growth mixture modeling. Results showed that boys and girls demonstrated differential victimization patterns over time that also varied by victimization type. For example, boys experienced more physical victimization than girls and increased victimization over time was predicted by boys who display high levels of negative emotion (e.g., anger) towards peers and low levels of effortful control (e.g., gets frustrated easily). Conversely, girls exhibited multiple trajectories of increasing relational victimization (i.e., talking about others behind their back) over time, whereas most boys experienced low levels or only slightly increasing relational victimization over time. For girls, withdrawn behavior lack of positive emotion, and displaying of negative emotions was predictive of experiencing high levels of victimization over time.

This longitudinal study examined the relations between self-regulation and reading achievement from kindergarten through second grade. In addition to the broader concept of effortful control, this study looked at various sub-components, including attention focusing and inhibitory control. A series of unconditional latent growth curve models were estimated to assess the initial level and growth of children’s parent- and teacher-reported effortful control and reading skills. In addition, parallel-process latent-growth curve models were estimated to examine the relations between the growth parameters (e.g., how the initial level and growth in self-regulation relates to the initial level and growth in reading). Parent-reported inhibitory control and effortful control displayed linear growth over this time period. Teacher-reported self-regulation did not change significantly. Reading achievement increased across all three time points, but the rate of growth was steeper from kindergarten through first grade than from first to second grade. Results from the parallel-process models showed that the kindergarten scores for parent-reported attention focusing and inhibitory control were negatively related to growth in Letter Word abilities from first through second grade, whereas initial teacher-reported attention focusing, inhibitory control, and effortful control were negatively related to growth in Passage Comprehension abilities from first to second grade. This study illustrates important relations between self-regulation and reading abilities throughout the first few years of elementary school.

The present study tested 1) whether children’s bedtimes, wake times, and sleep

durations change as they transition into kindergarten (TtoK), 2) if changes to children’s

sleep schedules were contingent on their pre-kindergarten (T1) napping status and if T1

bedtimes were related to fall (T2) and spring (T3) bedtimes and durations, and 3) whether

T1 sleep, changes to sleep from T1 to T2, and concurrent sleep quality were related to

academic achievement and participation in 51 kindergarteners. It was hypothesized that

1) wake times would be earlier and sleep duration would be shorter during kindergarten

(T2 and T3) than at T1, 2) children who napped at T1 would go to bed later and have

shorter sleep duration than their non-napping peers and T1 bedtimes would be positively

associated with T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively associated with T2 and T3 durations,

and 3) more optimal sleep (e.g., consolidated, consistent, and high quality) would be

positively related to academic achievement and participation. Parents reported on

children’s bedtimes, wake times, and nap lengths during T1, T2, and T3. During T3

children wore actigraphs for five consecutive school nights and completed the Woodcock

Johnson tests of achievement (WJ-III). Teachers also reported on children’s participation

in the classroom during T3. Results demonstrated that bedtimes and wake times were

earlier at T2 and T3 than T1. Duration was shorter at T2 and T3 than T1. Additionally,

napping was unrelated to bedtimes and durations, but T1 bedtime was positively related

to T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively related to T2 and T3 durations. Finally, T1 nap

length, change in bedtimes, and Actigraphy duration were negatively related to

participation. Actigraphy onset variability was positively related to participation.

Researchers who have previously explored the relation of broad-based temperamental approach constructs, such as surgency/extraversion, exuberance, or behavioral approach sensitivity, to academic competence (AC) in early elementary school have often found conflicting results. Moreover, few researchers have examined the interaction between these approach reactivity constructs and effortful control (EC) in the prediction of AC. The goal of the current study was to examine the fine-tuned relations of different aspects of temperamental approach reactivity in early childhood (42 and 54 months; N=223), such as impulsivity, frustration, and positive affect, as well as EC, to AC during early elementary school (72 and 84 months). Examining the complex relations may clarify the literature using broad-based approach reactivity constructs. Temperament was observed in the laboratory when children were 54 months of age. Mothers and caregivers also reported on children's impulsivity at 42 and 54 months. School-related behavioral adjustment was reported by children, mothers, and teachers, and GPA was reported by teachers at 72 and 84 months. The results of the study indicated that positive affect, EC, and receptive language ability were the only unique direct predictors of school adjustment and/or GPA. Without EC in the model, only positive affect and vocabulary predicted AC. Frustration, positive affect, and impulsivity each interacted with EC to predict AC outcomes, such EC was only related to higher AC for children with high impulsivity or anger, or low positive affect. Additionally, positive affect and impulsivity interacted to predict GPA, such that impulsivity was positively related to GPA for children with high positive affect, but it was negatively, albeit nonsignificantly, associated with GPA for children with low positive affect. These results were found to be similar for boys and girls. Finding are discussed in terms of the developmental importance of early EC for academic competence for children who have high approach reactivity, as well as the interactive effects of dimensions of approach reactivity on academic achievement.

Guided by Belsky's Determinants of Parenting Process Model, the goal of the present study was to examine how mothers' personality (i.e., Conscientiousness) and behaviors (i.e., sensitivity, structure, and negative control) relate to children's developmental outcomes, such as internalization (i.e., committed compliance and effortful control) and academic adaptation. A multi-method, longitudinal model included five waves of data to examine the processes of the relations among variables. Mothers' Conscientiousness was measured via self-reported data when children were 18 months of age (N = 256), mothers' parenting behaviors were measured through observational laboratory tasks when children were 30 months (N = 230), children's internalization was measured using mothers' and caregivers' reports as well as observational data at 42 months (N = 210), and children's school adaptation was measured when children were 72 and 84 months (Ns = 169 and 144) using mothers' and teachers' reports. Through a series of regression analyses, the results supported the mediated effect of effortful control in the relation between mothers' behaviors and children's school adaptation. As hypothesized, mothers' Conscientiousness marginally predicted children's internalization. Contrary to hypotheses, mothers' Conscientiousness was unrelated to parenting behaviors and children's academic adaptation. Mothers' sensitivity interacted with maternal structure to predict children's effortful control. Socioeconomic status and child sex interacted with mothers' behaviors in predicting the child's committed compliance. The discussion focuses on the unique role of parenting practices and personality on children's internalization and academic adaptation and on the existing literature. Implications of the study for clinicians and intervention researchers are offered.

Research regarding social competence is growing rapidly, but there remain a few aspects of social development that merit more attention. The presented pair of studies were planned to address two such areas in the social development literature, specifically the longitudinal trajectories of social competence and the role of social competence in second language development in language minority (LM) students. The goal of the first investigation was to examine the developmental trends of interpersonal skills (IS) across the early childhood and elementary school years in a nationally representative, U.S. sample. The goal of the second study was to examine whether differing trajectories of IS development in language minority children in the U.S. were related to their language and literacy (LL) skills at grade 5. Both studies utilized data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 and modeled ratings of children's IS at five time points between fall of kindergarten and spring of fifth grade using latent class growth analyses in Mplus. In study 1, the best model was a quadratic two-class latent class growth analysis. Trajectory class 1 was a higher-level path with a marginally significant non-linear shape and class 2 was a primarily stable, moderate level path with a slight, non-significant increase over time. The same pattern of results emerged for both boys and girls separately as with the combined-sex model, and in all three final models the proportion of the sample in the higher-level class was greater than the moderate-level class. In study 2 a sample of U.S. children whose primary language at home was something other than English was utilized. LL at the start of kindergarten and sex were included as covariates and LL in fifth grade as a distal outcome. The best model for the data was a cubic two-class latent class growth analysis. Class 1 followed a higher-level path with small, incremental change over time and class 2 was a moderate-level path with greater undulation. Both covariates significantly predicted latent class and language and literacy scores at grade 5 differed significantly across classes.

Several decades of research have concluded that child social functioning is a critical predictor of wellbeing across various developmental domains. Most scientists agree that both genetic and environmental influences play defining roles in social behavior; the processes by which they concurrently affect child development, however, has been the subject of less research. This work examines distinct mechanisms that shape child prosociality by examining genetic and environmental influences on development, via two empirical studies. The first study analyzed the evocative-reactive and the evocative-socially-mediated hypotheses as gene-environment correlation (rGE) mechanisms connecting the arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (AVPR1a) and dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2) genes, child prosocial behavior, and parent differential treatment (PDT). Findings present modest evidence for the evocative-reactive rGE hypothesis; specifically, AVPR1a marginally influenced child prosociality, which subsequently predicted mother preference in adolescence. The second study examined several gene-environment interactions (GxEs) in exploring how social environmental variables- positive and negative parenting- predicted child prosociality, as moderated by socially-implicated child genes, DRD2 and dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4). Findings indicated that while positive parenting was predictive of child prosociality regardless of genetic variants, the effects of negative parenting on child prosociality were dependent on child genetic variants. Together, findings from these studies suggest modest genetic and environmental influences on child behavior in middle childhood and adolescence, consistent with previous research and theory. Directions for future research are offered, and intervention and policy implications are discussed.

The current study expands prior work on children's coping with peer victimization by employing person-centered analyses to identify discrete classes of coping behavior, associations with children's maladjustment, and patterns of stability and change over time. Specifically, data were collected at two longitudinal time points from 515 middle school children who reported experiencing at least occasional peer victimization (284 girls, 231 boys; Mage = 8 years, 5 months, SDage = 10.38 months). Three active, behavioral coping strategies were examined: support seeking from teachers, support seeking from friends, and retaliation. A series of cross-sectional latent profile analyses suggested that coping styles may be characterized by 3 distinct classes: (1) support seeking, (2) retaliation, or (3) a combination of these strategies, labeled mixed strategy coping. Peer victimization, depression, and loneliness were included as concurrent covariates of class membership and results indicate that mixed strategy coping may put children at greater social and emotional risk, whereas both support seeking and retaliation may pose potential benefits in the face of victimization. Further, longitudinal latent transition analyses were conducted to examine the stability and change in coping over time, indicating that coping is largely dispositional, though has the potential to change, particularly among children who experience shifts towards greater maladjustment over time. Results emphasize mixed strategy coping - a coping style that is underrepresented in the current research - as both an important factor that may contribute to greater social and emotional difficulties and also as a potential transitioning point during which change in children's coping may be addressed.