This revised proposal describes a longitudinal study that addresses both basic and applied questions regarding early child development by examining basic emotion and cognitive processes. We propose to examine the trajectories of emotional and cognitive control and understanding at three time points across the preschool to kindergarten period and assess their relation to early social and academic functioning in kindergarten. The theoretical framework guiding this work hypothesizes that emotional control will affect the trajectories of cognitive development, but that both sets of processes will predict successful adjustment to kindergarten. This framework also specifies a moderating effect of parenting processes in differentially affecting these emotional and cognitive developments. Three hundred children will be assessed at ages 3.5, 4.5, and during the child's transition to kindergarten. At each age, a battery of emotion and cognition tasks will be administered and parent-child interaction will be observed. In addition, during the kindergarten assessment, measures of social and academic competence will be collected. The proposal is a significant and necessary first step toward (1) specifying the core emotion and cognition processes that are implicated in early social and academic success;(2) understanding the developmental trajectories of these processes and the connections between these process;and (3) identifying the parenting factors that affect these emotion and cognition trajectories.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HD050806-04
Application #
7613477
Study Section
Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section (PDRP)
Program Officer
Maholmes, Valerie
Project Start
2006-07-01
Project End
2011-04-30
Budget Start
2009-05-01
Budget End
2010-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$267,047
Indirect Cost
Name
University of North Carolina Greensboro
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
616152567
City
Greensboro
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27402
Blankson, A Nayena; Weaver, Jennifer Miner; Leerkes, Esther M et al. (2017) Cognitive and Emotional Processes as Predictors of a Successful Transition into School. Early Educ Dev 28:1-20
Marcovitch, Stuart; O'Brien, Marion; Calkins, Susan D et al. (2015) A Longitudinal Assessment of the Relation between Executive Function and Theory of Mind at 3, 4, and 5 Years. Cogn Dev 33:40-55
Perry, Nicole B; Nelson, Jackie A; Calkins, Susan D et al. (2014) Early physiological regulation predicts the trajectory of externalizing behaviors across the preschool period. Dev Psychobiol 56:1482-91
Nelson, Jackie A; de Lucca Freitas, Lia Beatriz; O'Brien, Marion et al. (2013) Preschool-aged children's understanding of gratitude: relations with emotion and mental state knowledge. Br J Dev Psychol 31:42-56
Perry, Nicole B; Nelson, Jackie A; Swingler, Margaret M et al. (2013) The relation between maternal emotional support and child physiological regulation across the preschool years. Dev Psychobiol 55:382-94
Nelson, Jackie A; Leerkes, Esther M; Perry, Nicole B et al. (2013) European American and African American Mothers' Emotion Socialization Practices Relate Differently to their Children's Academic and Social-Emotional Competence. Soc Dev 22:485-498
Blankson, A Nayena; O'Brien, Marion; Leerkes, Esther M et al. (2013) Developmental dynamics of emotion and cognition processes in preschoolers. Child Dev 84:346-60
Nelson, Jackie A; O'Brien, Marion; Calkins, Susan D et al. (2012) Maternal Expressive Style and Children's Emotional Development. Infant Child Dev 21:267-286
Perry, Nicole B; Calkins, Susan D; Nelson, Jackie A et al. (2012) Mothers' responses to children's negative emotions and child emotion regulation: the moderating role of vagal suppression. Dev Psychobiol 54:503-13
Mokrova, Irina L; O'Brien, Marion; Calkins, Susan D et al. (2012) Family Social Status and Preschoolers' Persistence: The Role of Maternal Values and Quality of Parenting. Infant Child Dev 21:617-633

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