Making a smooth transition to the K-12 (kindergarten through Grade 12) classroom context sets the stage for academic success throughout the life course. Parents' early education-related behaviors are linked with children's adjustment, yet less is known about how parental school readiness beliefs motivate parenting practices at this educational…

Peer nominations and teacher ratings were used to examine age and sex differences in behaviors associated with perceived coolness during middle childhood. Participants were 470 students in Grades 1, 3, and 5. Participants nominated peers whom they perceived as cool; separate scores were calculated for samesex coolness and cross-sex coolness (i.e.,…

This study examined the dynamic relationships among the components of the Simple View of Reading (SVR) in a transparent orthography (Finnish) and the predictive value of cognitive skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid naming, and vocabulary) on the SVR components. Altogether, 1,815 Finnish children were followed from kindergarten…

This longitudinal study, conducted among a sample of Finnish primary-school children, examined the proposition that a single high-quality relationship (either with a teacher or a parent) can buffer against adjustment problems. Teachers rated the externalizing problems and prosocial behaviors of 378 children in Grade 1 and again in Grade 2.…

Positive friendships have been related to decreasing levels of children's physical aggression over time. While this evidence calls for interventions aimed at helping children build good-quality friendships, tests of causality through experimental manipulations are still needed. The goal of this study was to examine whether an intervention aimed to…

For socioeconomically disadvantaged children, a positive experience in kindergarten may play a particularly important role in fostering the behavioral adjustment and learning engagement necessary for school success. Prior research has identified supportive student--teacher relationships and classroom emotional support as two features of the…

The present study investigated to what extent teachers' beliefs about children's achievement contribute to the development of children's math interest. In addition, the extent to which other possible predictors, such as performance in math, gender, and race/ethnicity would contribute to the development of children's math interest was examined.…

This investigation used two-part growth modeling and cross-lagged panel analysis to examine the predictive function of parenting and teacher-child relationship on the likelihood of children showing problems with parent-rated physical aggression, and on the severity of problems, for 374 children followed from prekindergarten and first grade.…

Enriched environments may moderate the effect of genetic factors on prosocial leadership (gene-environment interaction, G × E). However, positive environmental experiences may also themselves be influenced by a genetic disposition for prosocial leadership (gene-environment correlation, rGE). Relating these processes to friendships, the present…

Biological kinds undergo a variety of changes during their life span, and these changes vary in degree by organism. Understanding that an organism, such as a caterpillar, maintains category identity over its life span despite dramatic changes is a key concept in biological reasoning. At present, we know little about the developmental trajectory of…

Latent growth-mixture modeling was used to investigate patterns of change in loneliness for 170 children from third through fifth grades. A three-class model representing unique trajectories of loneliness provided the best overall fit to the data, including a Stable Low group (65%), as well as groups of Increasers (23%) and Decreasers (12%).…

This study examined the longitudinal relations between competence (academic achievement and social preference) and problem behavior (loneliness and aggression) in 741 elementary school boys and girls in the Netherlands (Grades 1-5). Also, we examined the moderation effects of having no friends, aggressive friends, or nonaggressive friends on the…

The relations among peer victimization, effortful control, school engagement, and academic achievement were examined in a group of 390 (212 boys and 178 girls) racially diverse (38.20% Latino and 46.70% White) 6- to 10-year-old children. Specifically, a multimethod, multi-informant approach was used in which data were gathered using self-report,…

Adults' and kindergarten through fourth-grade children's evaluations and explanations of inductive inferences, deductive inferences, and guesses were assessed. Beginning in kindergarten, participants rated deductions as more certain than weak inductions or guesses. Beginning in third grade, deductions were rated as more certain than strong…

The four articles in this issue exemplify several exciting trends in the ongoing effort to understand the nature and sources of children's academic trajectories. Particularly noteworthy is the common thread of searching for key parenting and child mediators of the connection between parental educational accomplishments and child outcomes. In an…