Interactions of gender inequality and parental discipline predicting child aggression in low- and middle-income countries.

Children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately at risk of not meeting their developmental potential. Parental discipline can promote and hinder child outcomes; however, little research examines how discipline interacts with contextual factors to predict child outcomes in LMICs. Using data from 208,156 households with children between 36 and 59 months (50.

Positioning adolescence in the developmental timeline.

Adolescence, the second decade of life, bridges childhood and adulthood, but also represents a host of unique experiences that impact health and well-being. Lifespan theories often emphasize the continuity of individual characteristics and their contexts from childhood to adolescence, underscoring the distal influence of childhood experiences. Yet, adolescence is marked by transitions that may provoke discontinuities, particularly within individuals, their contexts, and their interactions within those contexts.

A metascience investigation of inclusive, open, and reproducible science practices in research posters at the 2021 SRCD biennial meeting.

Over the past decade, there has been a growing appreciation of metascience issues in psychological science. Using data collected from 2615 posters presented at the 2021 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, this article examines the use of transparent research practices to increase rigor and reproducibility as well as generalizability through greater inclusivity of diverse samples. Research presented through poster presentations was heavily skewed toward quantitative studies featuring American researchers using Western hemisphere samples.

Developmental cascades and educational attainment.

Developmental cascades describe how systems of development interact and influence one another to shape human development across the lifespan. Despite its popularity, developmental cascades are commonly used to understand the developmental course of psychopathology, typically in the context of risk and resilience. Whether this framework can be useful for studying children's educational outcomes remains underexplored.

Working memory development from early childhood to adolescence using two nationally representative samples.

We leveraged nationally representative data from the Panel study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement ( = 3,562) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal study ( = 18,174), to chart the development of working memory, indexed via verbal forward and backward digit span task performance, from 3 to 19 years of age. Results revealed nonlinear growth patterns for forward and backward digit span tasks, with the most rapid growth occurring during childhood followed by a brief accelerated period of growth during early adolescence. We also found similar developmental trajectories on digit span task performance for males and females across the U.

Socioeconomic Variations in the Frequency of Parent Number Talk: A Meta-Analysis.

Using data from 12 studies, we meta-analyze correlations between parent number talk during interactions with their young children (mean sample age ranging from 22 to 79 months) and two aspects of family socioeconomics, parent education, and family income. Potential variations in correlation sizes as a function of study characteristics were explored. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between the amount of number talk in parent-child interactions and both parent education and family income (i.

It matters how you start: Early numeracy mastery predicts high school math course-taking and college attendance.

Using data from the Applied Problems subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (Woodcock & Johnson, 1989/1990, ) administered to 1,364 children from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Childcare and Youth Development (SECCYD), this study measures children's mastery of three numeric competencies (counting, concrete representational arithmetic and abstract arithmetic operations) at 54 months of age. We find that, even after controlling for key demographic characteristics, the numeric competency that children master prior to school entry relates to important educational transitions in secondary and post-secondary education. Those children who showed low numeric competency prior to school entry enrolled in lower math track classes in high school and were less likely to enrol in college.

Preschool executive function and adult outcomes: A developmental cascade model.

The present study examined longitudinal associations between preschoolers' executive function (EF) and adult educational attainment, impulse control, and general health directly and through its cascading effects on childhood and adolescent EF using a large, national, and prospective longitudinal sample of participants. Data were drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD) and included a diverse sample (52% male at birth; 76% White; 13% Black; 6% Hispanic; and 5% other; 14.23 mean years of maternal education) of 1,364 participants born in 1991 and followed through age 26.

Pathways from Socioeconomic Status to Early Academic Achievement: The Role of Specific Executive Functions.

Among the many factors contributing to the SES-achievement gap, executive function (EF) skills have received a considerable amount of attention, given their role in supporting academic skill development. While recent work has demonstrated that global EF constructs mediate SES-achievement relations, less attention has been paid to unpacking the role of specific EF components in linking SES to achievement. Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development ( = 1,273) were analyzed to assess direct and indirect associations between SES indicators, preschool EF skills, and first-grade math and reading achievement.

Early word-learning skills: A missing link in understanding the vocabulary gap?

Socioeconomic status (SES) has been repeatedly linked to the developmental trajectory of vocabulary acquisition in young children. However, the nature of this relationship remains underspecified. In particular, despite an extensive literature documenting young children's reliance on a host of skills and strategies to learn new words, little attention has been paid to whether and how these skills relate to measures of SES and vocabulary acquisition.

An overview of issues in infant and developmental research for the creation of robust and replicable science.

In the last few years, the field of psychology has been challenged with a crisis in the rigor and reproducibility of the science. The focus of these issues has primarily been in social, cognitive, and cognitive neuroscience psychology, however, the area of developmental research is not immune to these issues. This paper provides an overview of the "replication crisis" and the choices made by researchers that are often not noted in methods, thus making the replication of studies more difficult.

Sharing as a model for understanding division.

Emerging research suggests that children's ability to divide is the best predictor of later arithmetic development. Although division is typically taught around grade 3, children much younger than this practice division when sharing and allocating resources (e.g.

Self-Concept Predicts Academic Achievement Across Levels of the Achievement Distribution: Domain Specificity for Math and Reading.

This study examines whether self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later math and reading attainment across different levels of achievement. Data from three large-scale longitudinal data sets, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, and Panel Study of Income Dynamics-Child Development Supplement, were used to answer this question by employing quantile regression analyses. After controlling for demographic variables, child characteristics, and early ability, the findings indicate that self-concept of ability in math and reading predicts later achievement in each respective domain across all quantile levels of achievement.

III. FROM SMALL TO BIG: METHODS FOR INCORPORATING LARGE SCALE DATA INTO DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE.

For decades, developmental science has been based primarily on relatively small-scale data collections with children and families. Part of the reason for the dominance of this type of data collection is the complexity of collecting cognitive and social data on infants and small children. These small data sets are limited in both power to detect differences and the demographic diversity to generalize clearly and broadly.

Answering Developmental Questions Using Secondary Data.

Secondary data analysis of large longitudinal and national data sets is a standard method used in many social sciences to answer complex questions regarding behavior. In this article, we detail the advantages of using these data sets to study developmental questions across the lifespan. First, we provide an overview of how using secondary data can increase studies' scientific integrity.

The Role of Mediators in the Development of Longitudinal Mathematics Achievement Associations.

Despite research demonstrating a strong association between early and later mathematics achievement, few studies have investigated mediators of this association. Using longitudinal data (n = 1,362), this study tested the extent to which mathematics self-concepts, school placement, executive functioning, and proficiency in fractions and division account for the association between mathematics achievement in first grade and at age 15. As hypothesized, a strong longitudinal association between first-grade and adolescent mathematics achievement was present (β = .

The association of punitive parenting practices and adolescent achievement.

This article uses a nationally representative dataset to investigate the extent to which academic-related parenting practices and the home environment during middle childhood (ages 11-13) predict achievement in late adolescence (N = 486; age range: 16-18 years). Results from path analyses indicated that parental endorsement of punitive strategies (e.g.

What's Past is Prologue: Relations Between Early Mathematics Knowledge and High School Achievement.

Although previous research has established the association between early-grade mathematics knowledge and later mathematics achievement, few studies have measured mathematical skills prior to school entry, nor have they investigated the predictive power of early gains in mathematics ability. The current paper relates mathematical skills measured at 54 months to adolescent mathematics achievement using multi-site longitudinal data. We find that preschool mathematics ability predicts mathematics achievement through age 15, even after accounting for early reading, cognitive skills, and family and child characteristics.

Early predictors of high school mathematics achievement.

Identifying the types of mathematics content knowledge that are most predictive of students' long-term learning is essential for improving both theories of mathematical development and mathematics education. To identify these types of knowledge, we examined long-term predictors of high school students' knowledge of algebra and overall mathematics achievement. Analyses of large, nationally representative, longitudinal data sets from the United States and the United Kingdom revealed that elementary school students' knowledge of fractions and of division uniquely predicts those students' knowledge of algebra and overall mathematics achievement in high school, 5 or 6 years later, even after statistically controlling for other types of mathematical knowledge, general intellectual ability, working memory, and family income and education.

Same-Sex Sexuality and Adolescent Psychological Well-Being: The influence of sexual orientation, early reports of same-sex attraction, and gender.

Emerging research has shown that those of sexual-minority (SM) status (i.e., those exhibiting same-sex sexuality) report lower levels of psychological well-being.

Changes in the relation of self-efficacy beliefs and behaviors across development.

Many social science theories that examine the connection between beliefs and behaviors assume that belief constructs will predict behaviors similarly across development. Converging research implies that this assumption may not be tenable across all ages or all belief constructs. Thus, to test this implication, the relation between behavior and beliefs about the self was examined in 2 independent data sets with 2 different constructs: aggression and achievement.

Career Development From Adolescence Through Emerging Adulthood Insights From Information Technology Occupations.

Career development theories suggest that social-contextual experiences are influential in individuals' career interests, aspirations, and skill development and may be a source of gender and ethnic differences in certain career fields. In this mixed methods study, we examine the supportive and obstructive career-related experiences of 13 men and 13 women (modal age 25). Interviews focused primarily on the pathway toward or away from an information technology (IT) career.

Math and science motivation: A longitudinal examination of the links between choices and beliefs.

This study addresses the longitudinal associations between youths' out-of-school activities, expectancies-values, and high school course enrollment in the domains of math and science. Data were collected on 227 youth who reported on their activity participation in 5th grade, expectancies-values in 6th and 10th grade, and courses taken throughout high school. Math and science course grades at 5th and 10th grade were gathered through school record data.