Prospective relations among preschoolers\u27 play, coping, and adjustment as moderated by stressful events

This study evaluated the prospective contribution of preschoolers\u27 pretend play to observer reports of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems one year later, as mediated by observed coping flexibility during a delay of gratification task and as moderated by children\u27s exposure to stressful life events. Preschoolers\u27 (N=250; Mage=49.05months, SD=2.95; 50% female) fantasy and affect expression in pretend play were assessed during a laboratory visit. Moderated mediation models tested for conditional indirect effects of play fantasy and affect expression on behavior problems through coping flexibility as a function of the child\u27s exposure to stress. Preschoolers\u27 fantasy and negative affect expression in pretend play predicted lower rates of internalizing, but not externalizing, problems. Coping flexibility partially mediated this relation, particularly among children with relatively more life stress. These findings clarify processes by which, and contexts within which, preschoolers\u27 pretend play influences later behavioral adjustment. © 2014

Through race-colored glasses: Preschoolers\u27 pretend play and teachers\u27 ratings of preschooler adjustment

This study investigated relations between preschoolers\u27 pretend play, examiner-rated adjustment, and teachers\u27 reports of educational and social adjustment in a large and racially diverse sample. Preschoolers (N=171; Mage=49.25 months, SD=2.76; 89.5% non-White; 50.9% female) completed a standardized assessment of pretend play during a laboratory visit and teachers rated their academic and relational adjustment 3 months later. Interactive effects by child race were evaluated in light of prior suggestions that relations between children\u27s creative expression and teacher-rated adjustment may vary by child race. There were no significant race differences in observers\u27 ratings of preschoolers\u27 pretend play, examiners\u27 ratings of child adjustment, or teachers\u27 ratings of child adjustment. Imaginative and expressive play features were positively related to examiners\u27 ratings of child ego-resilience for all children in the laboratory setting. However, child race moderated relations between these same play features and teachers\u27 ratings of preschooler adjustment in the classroom, even after child age, child IQ, family socioeconomic status, teacher-child racial congruence, teacher familiarity with the child, and child gender were held constant. Among Black preschoolers, imaginative and expressive pretend play features were associated with teachers\u27 ratings of less school preparedness, less peer acceptance, and more teacher-child conflict, whereas comparable levels of imagination and affect in pretend play were related to positive ratings on these same measures for non-Black children. These results suggest that teachers may ascribe differential meaning to child behaviors as a function of child race. Implications for child development, teacher training, and early education are discussed

Young children\u27s ethnic-racial identity moderates the impact of early discrimination experiences on child behavior problems

Objectives: Experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination are associated with a host of problems in adolescence and adulthood, yet little is known about if and how such experiences influence children. Likewise, ethnic-racial identity (ERI) research has focused on adolescent and adult development to the detriment of understanding if and how ERI might influence early development, particularly in the context of ethnic-racial discrimination. To address these gaps, this study tested the hypotheses that a) children\u27s perceived experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination would predict elevated behavior problems, and b) children\u27s ERI with respect to their exploration of the meaning of their ethnicity-race and their sense of commitment to their ethnic-racial group(s) would mitigate this relation. Method: Path analyses evaluated the prospective contribution of children\u27s perceived ethnic-racial discrimination at age 7 (N = 172) to examiner ratings of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems one year later as moderated by child-reported ERI. Results: Perceived experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination predicted increased internalizing and externalizing behavior problems one year later, but only among children who had relatively less-well developed ERI, particularly with regard to their sense of commitment to their ethnic-racial group(s). Conclusion: These findings document the incidence and the prospective negative impact of children\u27s experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination on their behavioral adjustment, while illuminating the heretofore underappreciated protective role of ERI on children\u27s development in contexts of discrimination. By cultivating ERI among children, parents, educators, and other community leaders can help children navigate institutionalized racism, and the prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory practices it engenders

The development of divergent thinking despite poverty: Moderating factors

Poverty undeniably negatively impacts cognitive development, yet effects vary across children as a function of associated risk factors. Indeed, adverse childhood experiences may influence development in both risk and promotive ways. For example, unpredictability (i.e., variability of stressors and living conditions) may promote children\u27s divergent thinking by providing opportunities to develop cognitive flexibility. This longitudinal study of 250 children (50% female, 46% Latinx) evaluated relations between poverty from birth to age 4 and children\u27s divergent thinking at age 8 as moderated by residential mobility and gender. The results revealed stark gender differences. Boys followed a traditional cumulative risk model wherein residential mobility exacerbated negative effects of poverty on divergent thinking. However, for girls, poverty was not associated with worse divergent thinking at higher levels of residential mobility, demonstrating its protective role. These findings highlight the need for nuanced models of early childhood risk to clarify individual differences in cognitive development

Data Harmonization: Establishing Measurement Invariance across Different Assessments of the Same Construct across Adolescence.

Longitudinal measurement invariance is a major concern for developmental scholars who seek to evaluate the same underlying construct across time. Unfortunately, discontinuities in the expression of various psychological constructs, as well as essential changes in measurement that are necessitated by shifting developmental capacities and practice effects over time, make the task of establishing longitudinal invariance extremely difficult. Drawing on 5 waves of longitudinal data from 392 families (52% female; Mage_W1 = 12.89, SD = .48; Mage_W5 = 21.95, SD = .77; 199 European American and 193 Mexican American families), the current investigation sought to establish measurement invariance across developmentally appropriate changes in measures of depressive symptomatology from early adolescence through early adulthood. Using a combination of item parceling and the common and unique items from 2 assessment instruments for depressive symptoms, the data supported strong factorial invariance in youth's depressive symptoms across 5 waves of measurement. Findings suggest that traditional invariance approaches can be adapted to determine whether the same construct underlies different measurement instruments across time. This analytic strategy can allow researchers and clinicians to use more sophisticated techniques to understand changes in symptomatology regardless of changes in measurement or developmental capacity. Applying this approach to model patterns of depressive symptomatology from early adolescence to early adulthood has important clinical implications for elucidating periods when youth experience elevations in depressive symptoms and heightened needs for intervention services