Sophie M. Aiyer

Fine Motor Skills and Early Comprehension of the World: Two New School Readiness Indicators.

Duncan et al. (2007) presented a new methodology for identifying kindergarten readiness factors and quantifying their importance by determining which of childrens developing skills measured around kindergarten entrance would predict later reading and math achievement. This article extends Duncan et al.s work to identify kindergarten readiness factors with 6 longitudinal data sets. Their results identified kindergarten math and reading readiness and attention as the primary long-term predictors but found no effects from social skills or internalizing and externalizing behavior. We incorporated motor skills measures from 3 of the data sets and found that fine motor skills are an additional strong predictor of later achievement. Using one of the data sets, we also predicted later science scores and incorporated an additional early test of general knowledge of the social and physical world as a predictor. We found that the test of general knowledge was by far the strongest predictor of science and reading and also contributed significantly to predicting later math, making the content of this test another important kindergarten readiness indicator. Together, attention, fine motor skills, and general knowledge are much stronger overall predictors of later math, reading, and science scores than early math and reading scores alone.

Adolescent Resilience: Promotive Factors That Inform Prevention

Resilience theory provides a framework for studying and understanding how some youths overcome risk exposure and guides the development of interventions for prevention using a strengths-based approach. In this article, we describe basic concepts of the theory, such as promotive factors, and distinguish assets and resources that help youths overcome the negative effects of risk exposure. We also present three models of resilience theory-compensatory, protective, and challenge-and review empirical research on three promotive factors-ethnic identity, social support, and prosocial involvement-that include individual, family, and community levels of analysis and have modifiable qualities for informing interventions. Finally, we present examples of how research findings from the three promotive factors can be translated into interventions to enhance youth development.

From Broken Windows to Busy Streets A Community Empowerment Perspective

In the present article, we introduce a community empowerment perspective to understanding neighborhoods. A preponderance of literature exists on neighborhood risk factors for crime. Yet less is known about positive factors that make neighborhoods safe and desirable. We propose community empowerment as a conceptual foundation for understanding neighborhood factors that promote social processes, and ultimately, lead to an improvement in structural factors. We suggest that neighborhoods are empowered because they include processes and structures for positive social interactions to emerge and develop. We present busy streets as a mechanism that creates a positive social context, in which social cohesion and social capital thrive. Thus, empowered communities are characterized by climates that promote busy streets. Our article underscores the need to examine both the broader, structural context and social processes operating within this context. Such an integrative perspective is necessary to fully understand how to empower neighborhoods, particularly in the face of structural challenges.

The Ecology of Early Childhood Risk: A Canonical Correlation Analysis of Children’s Adjustment, Family, and Community Context in a High-Risk Sample

The ecology of the emergence of psychopathology in early childhood is often approached by the analysis of a limited number of contextual risk factors. In the present study, we provide a comprehensive analysis of ecological risk by conducting a canonical correlation analysis of 13 risk factors at child age 2 and seven narrow-band scales of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors at child age 4, using a sample of 364 geographically and ethnically diverse, disadvantaged primary caregivers, alternative caregivers, and preschool-age children. Participants were recruited from Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children sites and were screened for family risk. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that (1) a first latent combination of family and individual risks of caregivers predicted combinations of child emotional and behavioral problems, and that (2) a second latent combination of contextual and structural risks predicted child somatic complaints. Specifically, (1) the combination of chaotic home, conflict with child, parental depression, and parenting hassles predicted a co-occurrence of internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and (2) the combination of father absence, perceived discrimination, neighborhood danger, and fewer children living in the home predicted child somatic complaints. The research findings are discussed in terms of the development of psychopathology, as well as the potential prevention needs of families in high-risk contexts.

Exposure to violence during adolescence as a predictor of perceived stress trajectories in emerging adulthood

Early exposure to violence during adolescence is related to negative psycho-social outcomes later in life. In the present study, we examined the influence of cumulative exposure to violence during adolescence and trajectories of perceived stress in emerging adulthood in a sample of at-risk urban youth (N = 850; 80.1% African American; 50% female). Growth curve modeling indicated an overall decrease in reported stress as individuals aged. Baseline levels of violence exposure (Mage = 14.9) were associated with higher perceived stress levels in emerging adulthood (Mage = 20.1), but also slightly more negative perceived stress slopes from adolescence into emerging adulthood (Mage = 15.9-22.1). Individuals reporting increased violence exposure over time during adolescence also reported higher perceived stress levels in emerging adulthood (Mage = 20.1). Associations held after controlling for demographics and baseline functioning variables. The results suggest that violence exposure may disrupt normative adaptation to daily stressors in emerging adulthood.

A spatial analysis of heterogeneity in the link between alcohol outlets and assault victimization: differences across victim subpopulations

The positive association between alcohol outlet density and assault rates is well established, but little is known about how this association differs across victim subpopulations. We use spatial point process models on police data from Flint, Michigan, to test how the link between alcohol outlet density and assault rates changes as a function of three victim characteristics: age, gender, and race. We found that, although both on-premises and package outlet densities consistently emerge as risk factors for victimization, their relative effects are markedly larger in Whites than in African Americans. No analogous age- or gender-based differences were found. These results suggest the racial effects arise more from relative differences in the atmosphere in and around alcohol outlets than differences in drinking behavior alone.