Emergent growth patterns of early education self-control problems among children from underresourced American families

Abstract

This research examined the latent developmental patterns for early classroom self-control problems among children from the nation’s most underresourced families. Based on standardized teacher observations from the Head Start Impact Study, a nationally representative sample of children (N = 3827) was assessed for manifestations of aggressive and attention seeking behavior over four years spanning prekindergarten through first grade. For each form of self-control problem, latent growth mixture modeling revealed distinct subpopulations of change patterns. Although most children improved over time, some children arrived in prekindergarten with moderate levels of aggression that remained relatively stable throughout the early transition years. Alternatively, some children early manifested more noticeable levels of either aggressive or attention seeking behaviors that increased in severity as they left prekindergarten. These latter subpopulations were associated with child gender, ethnicity, use of English as a secondary language, provision of special needs services, and maternal education. They were also more likely to experience academic difficulties and parent-reported problem behaviors and less likely to manifest positive relationships with teachers by the close of first grade. Decision rules are suggested for early assessments of children and recommendations made for future exploratory research.