CRI: Children's Motivational and Adrenocortical Responses to Challenge: Mediators of Child Care Effects on Kindergarten Adjustment

Auburn University, Auburn AL

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract Children's Motivational & Adrenocortical Responses to Challenge: Mediators of Child Care Effects on Kindergarten Adjustment Jacquelyn Mize and Gregory S. Pettit Intervention and correlational research studies provide compelling evidence that high-quality preschool programs have beneficial effects on cognitive and language development and school achievement for middle-class and at-risk children, and that these effects often persist into the elementary grades. Historically, beneficial effects of early childhood programs have been explained as the result of enhanced academic learning for children attending the programs. However, more recent models focus on relationships as the critical contexts, and social-emotional processes as the critical mechanisms, through which early childhood environments influence children's subsequent academic success. The social-emotional mechanisms through which early childcare exerts influence have not been elucidated. This research examines two social-emotional processes that may account for variations in the effects of early childhood programs on children's adjustment and achievement in their first year of public school. These social-emotional processes are compared with academic achievement as mediators, or explanations, of the effects of the early childhood environment on early school adjustment. Specifically, it is proposed that: (1) effortful control, particularly in challenging situations, as measured by children's behavior and levels of stress hormones (e.g., cortisol); and (2) children's motivation and beliefs about achievement, account for the effects of teacher-child interactions on early school adjustment. Children's regulation and motivational beliefs and behaviors are thought to arise, in part, from teacher-child interactions. Three cohorts of children from diverse family backgrounds (n = 60 in each cohort; middle- to low-SES, approximately 38% minority; approximately 50% low income) are being followed from the beginning of their experiences in 4-year-old preschool classrooms through the end of their first year in public school (kindergarten). Participating children are enrolled in preschool classrooms that vary widely in quality; these include state-supported pre-kindergarten demonstration projects, for profit centers, and federally supported programs for low-income families. Teacher effects on effortful control and motivation are assessed through observations and questionnaires. Parent effects on effortful control and motivation are assessed through questionnaires. In preschool, the quality of teacher-child relationships are assessed via teacher report, observations of classroom interaction, and the child's reliance on the teacher as a support during a challenge task. Children's effortful control is assessed in a series of tasks that include the ability to delay gratification; response to disappointment; slowing motor activity; suppressing or initiating activity to signal; effortful attention; and ability to lower voice. Children's responses to failure on a series of puzzles are used to measure motivational beliefs and patterns. Children's stress hormone levels will be assessed during daily activities in the morning and afternoon (basal levels), and before and after a challenging task (reactive levels). Basal and reactive hormone levels are seen as indicators of the functioning of the child's hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), which may temper or exacerbate the effects of preschool program quality and parenting on effortful control and achievement. Achievement will be assessed in fall and spring of the pre-kindergarten year with normed school-readiness and language measures. Children's kindergarten adjustment will be assessed with teacher ratings and interviews with children. This study will answer enduring questions regarding how preschool programs affect children's development, and the qualities of programs that contribute to children's success in school. This information will be used in teacher-training and program-design to insure that all young children enter school ready to learn.