Gary W. Ladd

Children's social and scholastic lives in kindergarten : Related spheres of influence?

Evidence from two studies conducted with kindergarten samples (N = 200, M age = 5.58 years; N = 199, M age = 5.47 years) supported a series of interrelated hypotheses derived from a child x environment model of early school adjustment. The findings obtained were consistent with the following inferences: (1) Entry factors, such as childrens cognitive maturity and family backgrounds, directly as well as indirectly influence childrens behavior, participation, and achievement in kindergarten; (2) as children enter school, their initial behavioral orientations influence the types of relationships they form with peers and teachers; (3) stressful aspects of childrens peer and teacher relationships in the school environment adversely impact classroom participation and achievement; and (4) classroom participation is an important prerequisite for achievement during kindergarten. Collectively, these findings illustrate the need to revise prevailing theories of school adjustment, and the research agendas that evolve from these perspectives, so as to incorporate interpersonal risk factors that operate within the school environment.

Peer exclusion and victimization: Processes that mediate the relation between peer group rejection and children's classroom engagement and achievement?

Longitudinal data from a study of kindergarten through 5th graders were used to estimate a structural model in which chronic peer exclusion and chronic peer abuse were hypothesized to mediate the link between childrens early peer rejection, later classroom engagement, and achievement. Peer exclusion and abuse were expected to predict changes in 2 forms of school engagement (classroom participation and school avoidance), and changes in both forms of engagement were expected to predict changes in achievement. The model fit the data well and lent support to the premise that distinct forms of peer maltreatment and classroom engagement mediate the link between early peer rejection and changes in childrens achievement. Early peer rejection was associated with declining classroom participation and increasing school avoidance, but different forms of chronic peer maltreatment mediated these relations. Whereas chronic peer exclusion principally mediated the link between peer rejection and classroom participation, chronic peer abuse primarily mediated the link between rejection and school avoidance. Childrens reduced classroom participation, more than gains in school avoidance, anteceded decrements in childrens achievement.

The role of chronic peer difficulties in the development of children's psychological adjustment problems.

A longitudinal investigation was conducted to explicate how the confluence of early behavioral dispositions, relational histories, and cognitive representations of the self and others contributes to internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and loneliness. One-hundred and ninety three girls, and 206 boys were assessed annually from age 5 (kindergarten) to age 10 (Grade 4). Early aggressive behavior was related to Grade 4 maladjustment directly and indirectly through subsequent relational stressors. Significant associations emerged between chronic friendlessness and rejection and later adaptation not accounted for by concurrent relational difficulties. Self- and peer beliefs partially mediated the relation between peer difficulties and internalizing problems and loneliness. The results highlight the utility of child-by-environment models as a guide for the investigation of processes that antecede psychosocial maladjustment.

Charting the Relationship Trajectories of Aggressive, Withdrawn, and Aggressive/Withdrawn Children during Early Grade School.

The premises examined in this longitudinal investigation were that specific behavioral characteristics place children at risk for relationship maladjustment in school environments, and that multiple behavioral risks predispose children to the most severe and prolonged difficulties. Aggressive, withdrawn, and aggressive/withdrawn children were compared to normative and matched control groups on teacher and peer relationship attributes, loneliness, and social satisfaction from kindergarten (M age = 5 years, 7 months; n = 250) through grade 2 (M age = 8.1; n = 242). Childrens withdrawn behavior was neither highly stable nor predictive of relational difficulties, as their trajectories resembled the norm except for initially less close and more dependent relationships with teachers. Aggressive behavior was fairly stable, and associated with early-emerging, sustained difficulties including low peer acceptance and conflictual teacher-child relationships. Aggressive/withdrawn children evidenced the most difficulty: compared to children in the normative group, they were consistently more lonely, dissatisfied, friendless, disliked, victimized, and likely to have maladaptive teacher-child relationships. Findings are discussed with respect to recent developments in two prominent literatures: children at-risk and early relationship development.

Anxious solitude and peer exclusion: A diathesis-stress model of internalizing trajectories in childhood

A diathesis-stress model was proposed in which the joint forces of individual vulnerability (anxious solitude) and interpersonal adversity (peer exclusion) predict depressive symptoms in children over time. Childrens (N = 388; 50% female) social behavior, peer exclusion, and emotional adjustment were assessed at kindergarten entry and every spring thereafter through 4th grade, primarily by teacher report. Results indicated that anxious solitude and peer exclusion co-occur in children soon after kindergarten entry and that anxious solitary children who are excluded early on, in comparison with their nonexcluded anxious solitary counterparts, display greater stability in their subsequent display of anxious solitude. As hypothesized, the joint influence of anxious solitude and exclusion predicted the most elevated depressive symptom trajectories.

Identifying victims of peer aggression from early to middle childhood: Analysis of cross-informant data for concordance, estimation of relational adjustment, prevalence of victimization, and characteristics of identified victims

Two studies were conducted to investigate cross-informant measures of childrens peer victimization. In Study 1, self- and peer reports of victimization were compared for 197 children from Kindergarten (M age = 5.73) to Grade 4. Before Grade 2, peer reports were less reliable than self-reports and were poor estimators of relational adjustment. In Study 2, single- versus multiple-informant (self, peer, teacher, parent) victimization measures were compared for 392 children across grades 2 (M age = 8.73) to 4. Results indicated that (a) data from the four informants were reliable and increasingly concordant over time, (b) no single-informant measure proved to be the best predictor of relational adjustment, and (c) a multi-informant composite measure yielded better estimates of relational adjustment than any single-informant measure.

Do Relational Risks and Protective Factors Moderate the Linkages between Childhood Aggression and Early Psychological and School Adjustment

This investigation addressed the question of how relational stressors and supports interface with a known behavioral risk (aggression) to influence early emerging adjustment trajectories. Childrens risk for aggression, as well as multiple relational risk and protective factors (i.e., stressful and supportive features of peer and teacher relationships), were assessed in a sample of 396 children and used to predict changes in psychological functioning and school adjustment from the fall of their kindergarten year to the spring of their first-grade year. Results were largely consistent with additive risk-maladjustment models; with few exceptions, relational experiences predicted adjustment beyond childrens aggressive risk status. For some adjustment criteria, however, there was evidence to suggest that relational stressors or supports exacerbated or compensated for dysfunctions that were linked with aggressive behavior. Moreover, compared with early onset, the chronicity of childrens aggressive risk status and relational stressors and supports bore a stronger association with changes in maladjustment. Analyses conducted by ethnic groups suggested that African American children, who were typically a minority among their European American classmates, were more likely to experience particular stressors (e.g., chronic peer rejection), and were less likely to be afforded some form of support (e.g., stable teacher-child closeness). However, the nature of the predictive linkages found between the relational risk and protective factors and later maladjustment did not differ substantially by SES or ethnicity. The importance of investigating behavioral risks in conjunction with the relational features of childrens interpersonal environments is discussed.

Peer victimization: Manifestations and relations to school adjustment in kindergarten

Abstract A primary objective of this investigation was to extend our knowledge about the prevalence and forms of peer victimization in kindergarten and its relation to childrens school adjustment. Four types of peer victimization (i.e., physical, direct verbal, indirect verbal, and general) were assessed using a sample of 200 kindergartners. Peer victimization was reported by a large percentage of children, with females and males being equally at risk. General and direct verbal victimization were reported more often than indirect verbal and physical victimization. Correlations indicated that all types of victimization were related to childrens loneliness in school and their expressed desire to avoid that environment. Both forms of verbal victimization were associated with negative attitudes about school. Regression analyses showed that different forms of victimization made unique contributions to school adjustment outcomes. Victimized children were compared to nonvictimized children on several social and academic behaviors.

A cognitive-social learning model of social-skill training.

Prior efforts to systematicall y organize and define the growing area of social-skill training with children are characterized by several major shortcomings that may impede the progress of future research. As an alternative, the present article explores the purposes, methods, major findings, and future directions of socialskill training research from the perspective of a cognitive-social learning explanation of behavior change. Social-learning principles are utilized to provide both an explanatory framework and a potential technology for social-skill training methodology. Attention is devoted to conceptualizi ng skill-trainin g methods in terms of theoretically derived variables and components as well as formal properties of training. Findings from empirical research are reviewed with respect to important or promising variables, their hypothesized function in behavior change, and their demonstrated effects on childrens social behavior. Current and future research trends are discussed in light of the proposed model and available empirical evidence. During the last two decades, investigators working within developmental, clinical, and educational disciplines have contributed to a growing body of literature on social-skill training with children. Social skills, as denned in this article, refer to childrens ability to organize cognitions and behaviors into an integrated course of action directed toward culturally acceptable social or interpersonal goals. Also included in this definition is the propensity to continuously assess and modify goal-directed behavior so as to maximize the likelihood of reaching ones goals. Current research efforts reflect a common interest in social behavioral change during childhood and a commitment to training paradigms based on principles of learning and instruction. Despite these similarities, it is apparent that investigations within each discipline differ in terms of analytic and technological objectives and thus scientific and practical contributions.

Social motivation: Interpersonal relationships in the school environment and children's early school adjustment: The role of teachers and peers

Young children face many challenges as they attempt to adjust to new school environments, including adapting to classroom routines, performing increasingly difficult academic tasks, and negotiating the complexities of interpersonal relationships with classmates and teachers. Although childrens success at negotiating these challenges may be affected by many factors, most investigators have focussed on “internal” and organismic characteristics of the child when attempting to account for early school adjustment outcomes (e.g., gender, mental age, behavioral styles; see Ladd & Kochenderfer, 1996). Further, researchers have historically defined school adjustment in terms of childrens academic progress or achievement. For this reason, much of what we know about the precursors of early school adjustment has come from research on the socialization of childrens cognitive skills (e.g., Lazar & Darlington, 1982). One consequence of this research tradition is that the construct of school adjustment has been defined rather narrowly, and the search for its determinants has been restricted. To address these limitations, we have attempted to elaborate upon earlier models of school adjustment in terms of (a) the hypothesized precursors of school adjustment and (b) the conceptualization of school adjustment itself (see Ladd, 1989; 1996). As illustrated in Figure 9.1, our model is based, in part, on the assumption that successful school adjustment originates both in the child (e.g., personality and behavioral styles) as well as in the interpersonal environment (e.g., the nature of his or her relationships with parents, teachers, and peers).