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West G, Lervåg A, Birchenough JMH, Korell C, Rios Diaz M, Duta M, Cripps D, Gardner R, Fairhurst C, Hulme C. Oral language enrichment in preschool improves children's language skills: a cluster randomised controlled trial. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2024; 65:1087-1097. [PMID: 38262448 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.13947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Oral language skills provide the foundation for formal education, yet many children enter school with language weaknesses. This study evaluated the efficacy of a new language enrichment programme, the Nuffield Early Language Intervention-Preschool (NELI Preschool), delivered to children in the year before they enter formal education. METHODS We conducted a preregistered cluster randomised controlled trial in 65 nursery schools in England (https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN29838552). NELI Preschool consists of a 20-week whole-class language enrichment programme delivered by a teacher each day for 20 min. In addition, children with the weakest language skills in each class are allocated to receive additional targeted support delivered by classroom assistants (whole-class + targeted). The language skills of all children (n = 1,586) in participating classrooms were assessed using the LanguageScreen automated app (https://oxedandassessment.com/languagescreen/). Settings were then randomly allocated to an intervention or control group. The children with the weakest language in each class (whole-class + targeted children n = 438), along with four randomly selected children in each class allocated to the whole-class only programme (n = 288) were individually tested on a range of language measures. RESULTS Children receiving NELI Preschool made larger gains than children in the control group on an oral language latent variable (whole-class children d = .26; whole-class + targeted children d = .16). CONCLUSIONS This study provides good evidence that whole-class intervention delivered in preschool can produce educationally significant improvements in children's language skills. The intervention is scaleable and relatively low cost. These findings have important implications for educational and social policy.
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Cui S, Greger D. Chinese parents' school-readiness beliefs and parenting styles: patterns and associated factors. Front Psychol 2024; 14:1279175. [PMID: 38264414 PMCID: PMC10803651 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1279175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction A smooth transition to primary school is positively related to children's later school experience. Certain parental school-readiness beliefs and parenting styles, among other factors, contribute to the smoothness of this transition. Methods Therefore, this study adopted a latent profile analysis to examine the patterns of Chinese parents' school-readiness beliefs and their parenting styles and investigated socioeconomic status (SES) differentials in both. Two-stage probability sampling method is adopted in this study and a total of 1,204 Chinese parents of 5- to 6 years-old children were investigated with school-readiness beliefs scale, Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, as well as scale of attitudes regarding roles in school readiness All data analyses were processed in Mplus 8.6. Results and discussion Three profiles were identified: (1) supportive parenting with a very strong emphasis on school readiness; (2) partially supportive parenting with a reflection of school readiness; (3) weakly supportive parenting with no emphasis on school readiness. Higher SES was found to be more likely to be associated with membership in Profile 1 rather than Profile 2. The present study shows quantitative support for Anette Lareau's work and has implications for the development of more targeted parental intervention programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shujing Cui
- Institute for Research and Development of Education, Faculty of Education, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
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West G, Lervåg A, Snowling MJ, Buchanan-Worster E, Duta M, Hulme C. Early language intervention improves behavioral adjustment in school: Evidence from a cluster randomized trial. J Sch Psychol 2022; 92:334-345. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jsp.2022.04.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/17/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Shi Y. Assessment of Effect of Perceived Social Support on School Readiness, Mental Wellbeing, and Self-Esteem: Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience. Front Psychol 2022; 13:911841. [PMID: 35712207 PMCID: PMC9196124 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.911841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective of this study is to investigate the impact of perceived social support on the self-esteem, mental wellbeing, and school readiness of left-behind (LB) children. It further aims at understanding the mediating role of psychological resilience between the relationships of perceived social support and self-esteem, mental wellbeing, and school readiness. For this purpose, population frame of the LB children between the ages of 8-12 years in Mainland China was taken. The sample size of 335 was taken to reach the findings through partial least square (PLS) structural equation modeling. The SmartPLS has been used to analyze the data. The results obtained in this study have shown that the perceived social support plays a very significant role in enhancing the mental wellbeing, self-esteem, and school readiness of the LB children. It has also been found that the perceived social support plays a positive role in the psychological resilience. Furthermore, it has also been found that the psychological resilience is an important predictor of self-esteem and school readiness. Further, the psychological resilience has proved to be significant mediator between the relationship of the perceived social support and self-esteem; and also between the relationship of the perceived social support and school readiness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yefei Shi
- College of Fine Arts, Tangshan Normal University, Tangshan, China
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Davies PT, Thompson MJ, Hentges RF, Parry LQ, Sturge-Apple ML. Interparental conflict as a quadratic predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and school adjustment: Steeling effects or risk saturation? Child Dev 2021; 93:594-611. [PMID: 34894152 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
This study examined interparental conflict as a curvilinear predictor of children's reactivity to interparental conflict and, in turn, their school problems across three annual measurements. Participants included 243 preschool children (Mage = 4.60 years; 56% girls) and their parents from racially (e.g., 48% Black; 16% Latinx) diverse backgrounds. Interparental conflict was a significant quadratic predictor of children's emotional reactivity (β = .23) and behavioral dysregulation (β = .27) to conflict over a 1-year period. The robust association between interparental conflict and behavioral dysregulation weakened at high levels of interparental conflict. In contrast, interparental conflict more strongly predicted children's emotional reactivity as conflict exposure increased. Children's emotional reactivity, in turn, predicted their greater school problems 1 year later (β = .25).
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick T Davies
- Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Morgan J Thompson
- Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Rochelle F Hentges
- Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| | - Lucia Q Parry
- Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
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Georg S, Bosle C, Fischer JE, De Bock F. Psychometric properties and contextual appropriateness of the German version of the Early Development Instrument. BMC Pediatr 2020; 20:339. [PMID: 32646399 PMCID: PMC7346437 DOI: 10.1186/s12887-020-02191-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 06/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Assessing the early development of children at a population level in educational settings, may be useful for public health and policy decision making. In this study, we evaluated the psychometric properties and the contextual appropriateness of a German language version of the Early Development Instrument (EDI), a survey-based instrument originally developed in Canada, which assesses developmental vulnerability for children in preschool settings. METHODS Sixty preschool teachers from six preschool organizations (22% of organizations contacted) in three cities in southwest Germany participated. They administered a German version of the EDI (GEDI) to 225 children (51% of eligible children). We assessed internal consistency, test-retest and interrater reliability. Preschool teachers assisted in determining face-validity by reviewing item coverage and comprehensibility. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to evaluate convergent validity. Concurrent validity was measured using correlations and agreements (Bland-Altman plots) between GEDI and other validated instrument scores. Additionally, we compared associations between GEDI domain scores and sociodemographic characteristics with similar associations in EDI studies worldwide. RESULTS GEDI domains showed good to excellent internal consistency (0.73 < α > 0.99) and moderate to good test-retest and interrater reliability (0.50 to 0.81 and 0.48 to 0.71, respectively [p-value < 0.05]). Face validity was considered acceptable. EFA showed a factor structure similar to the original EDI. Correlations (range: 0.32 to 0.67) and agreements between GEDI scores and other German language instruments suggested good external reliability. Scoring within the lowest 10th percentile was strongly associated with age. CONCLUSIONS Our psychometric assessment suggests good reliability and consistency of the GEDI. Differences in the age distribution of children, pedagogical objectives and educational system features of German preschools require future work to determine score thresholds indicative of vulnerability. Aside from dropping selected items from the original EDI that were inconsistent with features of the German educational system, the distribution of values in the language and cognitive development domain also suggested that context-specific cut-offs must be established for the German version. Such efforts are needed to account for relevant contextual differences between the educational systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Georg
- Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicin, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Ludolf-Krehl-Straße 7-11, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Catherin Bosle
- Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicin, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Ludolf-Krehl-Straße 7-11, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Joachim E. Fischer
- Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicin, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Ludolf-Krehl-Straße 7-11, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
| | - Freia De Bock
- Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicin, Medical Faculty Mannheim of the Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Ludolf-Krehl-Straße 7-11, 68167 Mannheim, Germany
- Federal Centre for Health Education, Maarweg 149-161, 50625 Cologne, Germany
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Minor neurological signs and behavioural function at age 2 years in neonatal hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). Eur J Paediatr Neurol 2020; 27:78-85. [PMID: 32327390 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpn.2020.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2019] [Revised: 03/15/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neurodevelopmental follow-up in Neonatal Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE) typically focusses on major neuromotor (cerebral palsy, CP) and severe cognitive impairment. Outcomes in those without major neuromotor impairment are less well explored. OBJECTIVES To examine behavioural, cognitive and neurological outcomes after neonatal HIE, in a clinical cohort of children without CP, at age 2 years. METHODS Clinical routine outcome data from children admitted to a tertiary centre with neonatal HIE for hypothermia treatment between 05/08/09-30/05/2016. Children were assessed for neuromotor status - particularly minor neurological signs (MNS), with Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III (Bayley III) or Ages and Stages Questionnaire-3 (ASQ), Child Behavior Checklist 1.5-5 (CBCL), Quantitative Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (Q-CHAT). RESULTS Of 107 children, 75.5% had normal neurology, 12.1% CP, 12.1% MNS. Children with CP were excluded from analyses. For those without CP, Bayley-III scores were in the average range for the majority; mild cognitive delay observed in 5%, 4.2% language, 1.3% motor development; severe delay in 1.3% for cognitive, 4.2% for language. More than in the normative population scored in clinical ranges for CBCL externalising, sleep, and other problems. No significant difference was seen for Q-CHAT. Children with MNS were significantly more likely to have impaired Bayley-III scores, parent-reported internalising, sleep, and other problems. CONCLUSIONS In this clinical cohort, the majority of children had favourable outcome at 2 years. However, children with MNS were at risk for cognitive and behavioural difficulties and will benefit from enhanced clinical follow-up and support.
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Psychological and Biographical Determinants of Entrepreneurial Intention: Does the Learning Environment Act as a Mediator? ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/admsci9020033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The aim of this research is to study the mediating role of the learning process in explaining the relationships between certain psychological and biographical characteristics and entrepreneurial intention. The findings suggest that the effect of psychological and biographical aspects on entrepreneurial intention depend on the extent to which students are able to take advantage of their personal capabilities in order to develop an effective learning process. Learning process factors (information about course guides, student effort and educational processes) mediate the relationships between specific psychological factors (achievement need, internal control and autonomy) and entrepreneurial intention. With regard to biographical factors, we find no mediating effect on entrepreneurial intention through the learning process. The present study provides a better understanding of the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention, helping to fill the gap in the literature.
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Fink E, Browne WV, Hughes C, Gibson J. Using a “child's-eye view” of social success to understand the importance of school readiness at the transition to formal schooling. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Hughes C, Foley S, White N, Devine RT. School readiness in children with special educational needs and disabilities: Psychometric findings from a new screening tool, the Brief Early Skills, and Support Index. BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 88:606-627. [PMID: 29266202 DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2017] [Revised: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is an urgent need to accelerate the detection of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). A recent brief questionnaire designed for teachers and nursery staff, the Brief Early Skills and Support Index (BESSI), shows promising psychometric properties (Hughes, Daly, Foley, White, & Devine, . British Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(3), 332-356.), but has yet to be evaluated as a tool for detecting children who may have SEND. AIMS Addressing this gap, this study aimed to assess whether BESSI scores (i) show measurement invariance across SEND status; (ii) show unique associations with SEND status; and (iii) are sensitive and specific to SEND status. SAMPLE Eighty-four teachers and nursery staff completed BESSI ratings for 2106 British children aged 2.5-5.5 years (48.9% male, 20% ethnic minority, 9.3% with a statement of SEND). METHOD We applied multilevel confirmatory factor analyses, regression analyses, and ROC analyses to examine each of the study questions, using the BESSI subscales (Behavioural Adjustment, Language and Cognition, Daily Living Skills, and Family Support) as dependent variables. RESULTS The four BESSI subscales were reliable and showed measurement invariance across SEND status. Over and above effects of age, gender, family income, ethnicity, and family size, SEND status predicted substantial unique variance in BESSI scores. ROC analyses showed that in detecting children identified as having SEND, a cut-off score of 8.50 on the BESSI total score produced good levels of sensitivity and specificity; gender-specific analyses indicated a lower cut-off score of 6.50 for girls. CONCLUSION The BESSI appears to be a useful tool in screening children for more detailed assessment of SEND.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Hughes
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Sarah Foley
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Naomi White
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Rory T Devine
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
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Hughes C, White N, Foley S, Devine RT. Family support and gains in school readiness: A longitudinal study. BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 88:284-299. [PMID: 28921487 DOI: 10.1111/bjep.12188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2017] [Revised: 07/18/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Traditional measures of school readiness are labour-intensive and do not assess family support. AIMS The current study used the newly developed Brief Early Skills and Support Index (BESSI: Hughes, Daly, Foley, White and Devine 2015) to examine 6-month longitudinal stability and change in teachers' ratings of young children's school readiness and investigate the role of family support as a predictor of school readiness. SAMPLE Five hundred and seventy-eight children (270 boys; 74.2% White British) were included at Time 1 aged 2.58-5.84 years (Mage = 3.98 years, SD = 0.66). METHOD Teachers and nursery workers completed BESSI questionnaires for each participant on two occasions separated by 6 months. RESULTS The four latent factors of the BESSI (i.e., Behavioural Adjustment, Language and Cognition, Daily Living Skills and Family Support) exhibited longitudinal measurement invariance and individual differences in ratings on each factor showed strong stability over time. BESSI ratings were also sensitive to improvements over time. Auto-regressive models showed that family support and family income (as measured by eligibility for pupil premium support) at Time 1 each uniquely predicted child outcomes at Time 2. CONCLUSIONS These findings highlight the importance of family contexts for children's school readiness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Hughes
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Naomi White
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Sarah Foley
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
| | - Rory T Devine
- Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, UK
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