Edward Zigler

DO ABUSED CHILDREN BECOME ABUSIVE PARENTS

The belief that abused children are likely to become abusive parents is widely accepted. The authors review the literature cited to support this hypothesis and demonstrate that its unqualified acceptance is unfounded. Mediating factors that affect transmission are outlined and the findings of several investigations are integrated to estimate the true rate of transmission.

Early childhood intervention. A promising preventative for juvenile delinquency

Programs to reduce or prevent juvenile delinquency have been generally unsuccessful. Apparently the risk factors that make a child prone to delinquency are based in too many systems--including the individual, the family, and community networks--to make isolated treatment methods effective. Surprisingly, longitudinal studies of some early childhood intervention programs suggest they may help to reduce future delinquency. These programs take an ecological approach to enhancing child development by attempting to promote overall social competence in the many systems impacting on children. Not engaging in criminal acts is one indicator of competence that is related to others, such as being successful in school and in personal relationships. Evaluators must gather more data to confirm this unanticipated benefit of comprehensive interventions.

IQ, Social Competence, and Evaluation of Early Childhood Intervention Programs

The IQ score has been without question the most often utilized outcome measure in evaluations of early childhood intervention programs. Reasons for the popularity of the IQ as an assessment tool are discussed, and problems raised by employing the IQ in this manner are noted. The importance of accurate outcome evaluation of programs with clearly defined goals is related to both the social science and policy- making arenas. The authors argue that social com- petence, rather than IQ, should be the primary mea- sure of the success of intervention efforts. Difficulties in defining and assessing social competence are dis- cussed. An index of social competence is suggested that includes measures of physical health, IQ, school achievement, certain motivational and emotional vari- ables, and such molar social expectancy variables as school attendance and incidence of juvenile delin- quency.

Resilience is not a unidimensional construct: Insights from a prospective study of inner-city adolescents

The maintenance of high social competence despite stress was examined in a 6-month prospective study of 138 inner-city ninth-grade students. The purpose was to provide a replication and extension of findings derived from previous cross-sectional research involving a comparable sample of children. Specifically, goals were to examine the extent to which high-stress children with superior functioning on one or more aspects of school-based social competence could evade significant difficulties in (a) other spheres of competence at school and (b) emotional adjustment. Measurements of stress were based on uncontrollable negative life events. Competence was assessed via behavioral indices including school grades, teacher ratings, and peer ratings, and emotional distress was measured via self-reports. Results indicated that high-stress children who showed impressive behavioral competence were highly vulnerable to emotional distress over time. Furthermore, almost 85% of the high-stress children who seemed resilient based on at least one domain of social competence at Time 1 had significant difficulties in one or more domains examined when assessed at both Time 1 and Time 2. Findings are discussed in terms of conceptual and empirical issues in resilience research.

Social competence: An untapped dimension in evaluating head start's success

From its inception, Head Start has maintained childrens social and emotional adjustment as a primary goal of intervention, but researchers have yet to settle on a consensus definition of social competence that can be used in developmental research and program evaluation. To address this gap in our knowledge base, we offer a comprehensive review of the extant research on childrens social skills, including their ability to modulate their feelings, their social cognitions, and their behaviors within the context of peer interaction, as measures of social competence. We then examine definitions of social competence in light of assessments of childrens performance, as assessed by parents, teachers and peers. Based upon this review, we offer a comprehensive set of concrete policy recommendations for the assessment of social competence as a key indicator of programmatic success, when evaluating early childhood intervention.

A Critical Meta-Analysis of All Evaluations of State-Funded Preschool from 1977 to 1998: Implications for Policy, Service Delivery and Program Evaluation.

Abstract The number of state-funded preschool programs for low-income children has increased dramatically over the past few decades, and recent research has indicated that these programs vary considerably along a variety of dimensions. By 1998 only 13 of the current 33 state preschool programs (which serve children 3 to 5, provide some form of classroom-based educational service, and are primarily funded and administered at the state level) had completed a formal evaluation of the program’s impact on child outcomes. This paper presents a critical meta-analytic review of these evaluations, providing measures of standardized effects for all significant impacts to facilitate comparisons across differing domains of outcome and evaluative methods. Although several methodological flaws in these studies are identified, the pattern of overall findings may offer modest support for positive impacts in improving children’s developmental competence in a variety of domains, improving later school attendance and performance, and reducing subsequent grade retention. Significant impacts were mostly limited to kindergarten and first grade; however, some impacts were sustained several years beyond preschool. The results of these studies were similar to evaluations of other large-scale preschool programs for low-income children, such as Head Start. Modest outcome goals are warranted for preschool programs serving low-income children, for example, the promotion of school readiness. Suggestions are presented for improved preschool and early intervention program evaluation.

Research on Personality Structure in the Retardate

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the Lewin–Kounin formulation, the motivational hypothesis, social deprivation and institutionalization, positive- and negative-reaction tendencies, the reinforcer hierarchy, expectancy of failure, and outer directedness. Institutionalized retarded children tend to be relatively deprived of adult contact and approval, and hence have a higher motivation to secure such contact and approval than do normal children. While retarded children possess a higher positive-reaction tendency than normal children because of a higher motivation to interact with an approving adult, they also possess a higher negative-reaction tendency. Institutionalized retarded children learn to expect and settle for lower degrees of success than normal children. Although many of the findings related to the hypotheses discussed are more suggestive than definitive, the factors enumerated in these hypotheses are extremely important ones in determining the retardates general level of functioning.

EFFECTS OF INFANT DAY CARE: Another Look at the Evidence

Evidence concerning the effects of infant day care on attachment and later social behavior is reviewed. Although methodological problems, common to research with infants, undermine the findings of many studies, family situations and childrens individual traits are identified as influencing their response to early group care, particularly for boys. Overall results suggest that, as a matter of sound public policy, alternatives to day care be made available to families with infants.

Intelligence and social competence among high-risk adolescents

Interactions between intelligence and psychosocial factors were examined in terms of influences on social competence among 144 inner-city ninth-grade students. Psychosocial variables examined included ego development, locus of control, and positive and negative life events. Definitions of social competence were based on peer ratings, teacher ratings, and school grades. Results indicated that, unlike their less intelligent peers, intelligent youngsters showed higher competence levels at high versus low levels of both ego development and internal locus of control. Findings were interpreted in the context of sociocultural influences on academic achievement among disadvantaged adolescents.

Evaluating Child and Family Demonstration Initiatives: Lessons from the Comprehensive Child Development Program.

Abstract The Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP) was a demonstration project designed to test a specific model of service delivery for young children and families in poverty. Following the evaluation’s failure to show strong impacts, early intervention has come under fire from opponents in the popular literature and in Congress. We conclude that shortcomings in both implementation and evaluation contributed to the failure to demonstrate effectiveness. Lessons learned from the CCDP are articulated, addressing the roles of demonstration projects and their evaluations, the problems associated with evaluating programs early in their implementation, the importance of assuring appropriate treatment quantity and quality, and the judicious use and interpretation of large-scale randomized evaluations.