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Magro SW, DeJoseph ML, Pianta RC, Roisman GI. Using moderated nonlinear factor models to adjust for differential item functioning in the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale from kindergarten to Grade 6. J Sch Psychol 2024; 105:101324. [PMID: 38876547 PMCID: PMC11180223 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsp.2024.101324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 06/16/2024]
Abstract
Prior research has demonstrated that children form developmentally salient relationships with teachers and that these relationships are uniquely predictive of subsequent functioning both in and outside of school. However, prior work estimating trajectories and predictors of teacher-student relationship quality has failed to test and adjust for bias in questionnaire items. The present study used longitudinal data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD; N = 1140) to test and adjust for measurement bias in the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS; Pianta, 2001) across grades (K-6) and sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., birth sex, race/ethnicity, family income-to-needs ratio, and maternal education) to generate less biased estimates of trajectories of teacher-student relationship quality. Results identified differential item functioning for three of seven STRS items assessing conflict and three of eight STRS items assessing closeness, with items functioning differentially across child grade, birth sex, race/ethnicity, and maternal education level. Comparisons of growth models using non-adjusted and adjusted STRS scores highlight substantive differences between scoring approaches, such that the effects of race/ethnicity, maternal education, and maternal sensitivity on teacher-student relationship quality were masked prior to adjusting for item bias. These findings demonstrate the importance of testing and correcting for item bias in questionnaire-based assessments of teacher-student relationship quality to ensure valid conclusions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia W Magro
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, USA.
| | | | - Robert C Pianta
- School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia, USA
| | - Glenn I Roisman
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, USA
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Nivison M, Caldo PD, Magro SW, Raby KL, Groh AM, Vandell DL, Booth-LaForce C, Fraley RC, Carlson EA, Simpson JA, Roisman GI. The predictive validity of the strange situation procedure: Evidence from registered analyses of two landmark longitudinal studies. Dev Psychopathol 2023:1-17. [PMID: 38086607 PMCID: PMC11169091 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579423001487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2024]
Abstract
Meta-analyses demonstrate that the quality of early attachment is modestly associated with peer social competence (r = .19) and externalizing behavior (r = -.15), but weakly associated with internalizing symptoms (r = -.07) across early development (Groh et al., Child Development Perspectives, 11(1), 70-76, 2017). Nonetheless, these reviews suffer from limitations that undermine confidence in reported estimates, including evidence for publication bias and the lack of comprehensive assessments of outcome measures from longitudinal studies in the literature. Moreover, theoretical claims regarding the specificity of the predictive significance of early attachment variation for socioemotional versus academic outcomes had not been evaluated when the analyses for this report were registered (but see Dagan et al., Child Development, 1-20, 2023; Deneault et al., Developmental Review, 70, 101093, 2023). To address these limitations, we conducted a set of registered analyses to evaluate the predictive validity of infant attachment in two landmark studies of the Strange Situation: the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) and the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD). Across-time composite assessments reflecting teacher report, mother report, and self-reports of each outcome measure were created. Bivariate associations between infant attachment security and socioemotional outcomes in the MLSRA were comparable to, or slightly weaker than, those reported in the recent meta-analyses, whereas those in the SECCYD were weaker for these outcomes. Controlling for four demographic covariates, partial correlation coefficients between infant attachment and all socioemotional outcomes were r ≤ .10 to .15 in both samples. Compositing Strange Situations at ages 12 and 18 months did not substantively alter the predictive validity of the measure in the MLSRA, though a composite measure of three different early attachment measures in the SECCYD did increase predictive validity coefficients. Associations between infant attachment security and academic skills were unexpectedly comparable to (SECCYD) or larger than (MLSRA) those observed with respect to socioemotional outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marissa Nivison
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Paul D. Caldo
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Sophia W. Magro
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - K. Lee Raby
- Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Jeffry A. Simpson
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Glenn I. Roisman
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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Magro SW, Nivison MD, Englund MM, Roisman GI. The Quality of Early Caregiving and Teacher-Student Relationships in Grade School Independently Predict Adolescent Academic Achievement. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT 2023; 47:158-168. [PMID: 36874534 PMCID: PMC9983819 DOI: 10.1177/01650254221137511] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Prior research has demonstrated that teacher-student relationships characterized by high levels of closeness and low levels of conflict are associated with higher levels of academic achievement among children. At the same time: (a) some research suggests that the quality of teacher-student relationships in part reflects the quality of early caregiving; and (b) the observed quality of early care by primary caregivers robustly predicts subsequent academic achievement. Given the potential for associations between the quality of teacher-student relationship quality and academic achievement to thus be confounded by the quality of early parenting experiences, the present study examined to what extent children's experiences in early life with primary caregivers (i.e., ages 3 to 42 months) and relationships with teachers during grade school (i.e., Kindergarten to Grade 6) were uniquely associated with an objective assessment of academic achievement at age 16 years in a sample born into poverty (N = 169; 45% female; 70% White/non-Hispanic; 38% of mothers did not complete high school). Early maternal sensitivity, though a strong predictor of later academic achievement, was not reliably associated with either teacher-reports or interview-based assessments of teacher-student relationship quality in grade school. Nonetheless, early maternal sensitivity and teacher-student relationship quality were each uniquely associated with later academic achievement, above and beyond key demographic variables. Taken together, the present results highlight that the quality of children's relationships with adults at home and at school independently, but not interactively, predicted later academic achievement in a high-risk sample.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Michelle M Englund
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota.,Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota
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Kunkel JJ, Magro SW, Bleil ME, Booth-LaForce C, Vandell DL, Fraley RC, Roisman GI. Early maternal sensitivity and markers of physical health: Enduring or transient associations from childhood to adulthood? Dev Psychol 2022; 58:2252-2263. [PMID: 36074590 PMCID: PMC9762122 DOI: 10.1037/dev0001430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Individual differences in the quality of early experiences with primary caregivers have been reliably implicated in the development of socioemotional adjustment and, more recently, physical health. However, few studies have examined the development of such associations with physical health into the adult years. To that end, the current study used prospective, longitudinal data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,306, 52% male, 77% White/non-Hispanic) to investigate whether associations between direct observations of maternal sensitivity in the first 3 years of life and repeated assessments of two commonly used, objective indicators of physical health (i.e., body mass and mean arterial blood pressure) remained stable or diminished in magnitude over time. Associations between early maternal sensitivity and lower body mass remained relatively stable from age 54 months to 26 years and were robust to the modeling of autoregressive and second-order stability processes as well as the inclusion of potential demographic confounders. In contrast, although associations between early caregiving and lower mean arterial pressure remained relatively stable from Grade 4 to age 15 years (the oldest age for which mean arterial pressure was assessed thus far), these associations were not robust to the inclusion of covariates and the modeling of second-order stability processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Maria E Bleil
- Department of Child, Family, and Population Health Nursing
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Mondi CF, Rihal TK, Magro SW, Kerber S, Carlson EA. Childcare providers' views of challenging child behaviors, suspension, and expulsion: A qualitative analysis. Infant Ment Health J 2022; 43:695-713. [PMID: 35913365 PMCID: PMC9463106 DOI: 10.1002/imhj.22005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Previous research has underscored a need to understand the experiences and decision-making processes that contribute to suspension and expulsion in early care and education settings, particularly among young children of color. The present study conducted qualitative interviews with 20 center- and family-based childcare providers from the Minnesota Early Care and Education (MECE) study. Participants were asked about challenging child behaviors that they have encountered, their perceptions of these behaviors and how they manage them, and their thought processes around suspension and expulsion. Overall, the most frequently reported categories of challenging behaviors were physical aggression and noncompliance/defiance/arguing. The most commonly reported perceived causes of challenging behaviors were typical child development and parenting problems. The primary reported strategy for addressing challenging behaviors was connecting with the child, with relatively few providers reporting using other evidence-based strategies. Finally, the most commonly reported reasons for considering suspension or expulsion were the providers feeling they had exhausted options and could not meet the child's needs, and the child's behavior being perceived as dangerous to self or others. Implications for future research and practice (including increased support services for childcare providers) are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina F Mondi
- Brazelton Touchpoints Center, Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Tripat K Rihal
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Sophia W Magro
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Sydney Kerber
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Carlson
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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