Kathleen Cranley Gallagher

Infant Temperament Moderates Relations Between Maternal Parenting in Early Childhood and Children's Adjustment in First Grade

A differential susceptibility hypothesis proposes that children may differ in the degree to which parenting qualities affect aspects of child development. Infants with difficult temperaments may be more susceptible to the effects of parenting than infants with less difficult temperaments. Using latent change curve analyses to analyze data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care, the current study found that temperament moderated associations between maternal parenting styles during early childhood and childrens first-grade academic competence, social skills, and relationships with teachers and peers. Relations between parenting and first-grade outcomes were stronger for difficult than for less difficult infants. Infants with difficult temperaments had better adjustment than less difficult infants when parenting quality was high and poorer adjustment when parenting quality was lower.

Temperamental Attention and Activity, Classroom Emotional Support, and Academic Achievement in Third Grade.

The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay of childrens temperamental attention and activity (assessed when children were 4-and-a-half years old) and classroom emotional support as they relate to childrens academic achievement in third grade. Particular focus is placed on the moderating role of classroom emotional support on the relationship between temperament (attention and activity level) and academic achievement. Regression analyses indicated that childrens attention and activity level were associated with childrens third grade reading and mathematics achievement, and classroom emotional support was associated with childrens third grade reading and mathematics achievement. In addition, classroom emotional support moderated the relation between childrens attention and reading and mathematics achievement, such that attention mattered most for reading and mathematics achievement for children in classrooms with lower emotional support. Findings point to the importance of understanding how childrens temperament and classroom emotional support may work together to promote or inhibit childrens academic achievement.

Adverse childhood experiences, dispositional mindfulness, and adult health

OBJECTIVE To determine whether greater dispositional mindfulness is associated with better adult health across a range of exposures to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). METHODS In 2012, a web-based survey of 2160 Pennsylvania Head Start staff was conducted. We assessed ACE score (count of eight categories of childhood adversity), dispositional mindfulness (Cognitive and Affective Mindfulness Scale-Revised), and the prevalence of three outcomes: multiple health conditions (≥ 3 of 7 conditions), poor health behavior (≥ 2 of 5 behaviors), and poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) (≥ 2 of 5 indicators). RESULTS Respondents were 97% females, and 23% reported ≥ 3 ACEs. The prevalences of multiple health conditions, poor health behavior, and poor HRQOL were 29%, 21%, and 13%, respectively. At each level of ACE exposure, health outcomes were better in those with greater mindfulness. For example, among persons reporting ≥ 3 ACEs, those in the highest quartile of mindfulness had a prevalence of multiple health conditions two-thirds that of those in the lowest quartile (adjusted prevalence ratio (95% confidence interval)=0.66 (0.51, 0.86)); for those reporting no ACEs, the ratio was 0.62 (0.41, 0.94). CONCLUSION Across a range of exposures to ACEs, greater dispositional mindfulness was associated with fewer health conditions, better health behavior, and better HRQOL.