Pub Date : 2025-10-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.009
Kylie L. Garber , Margaret Burchinal , Sylvi Kuperman , Tiffany J. Foster , Frances Campbell , Craig Ramey
The Abecedarian Study (ABC) has been integral to demonstrating the impacts of Early Care and Education (ECE). It is important to understand the practices and mechanisms through which ABC had impacts on later outcomes, but a lack of implementation data limits our understanding of program mechanisms. The present study took a mixed methods approach to describe the mechanisms of the original ABC program. The qualitative study provides a detailed description of the ABC program based on historical program documentation and retrospective interview responses of ABC teachers and staff. The teachers and staff reported individualized coaching, child-centered environments and activities, and frequent teacher-child conversations were common in ABC classrooms. Informed by qualitative results, a mediation analysis was conducted with the original ABC sample (n = 111). Analyses suggest that verbal skills at entry to school were the primary mechanism for ABC impacts on adult education and income. These findings suggest that ECE programs that focus on improving verbal skills, perhaps through child-centered activities and frequent teacher-child conversation may be more likely to have longer-term impacts.
{"title":"Piecing together the puzzle: A mixed methods study of the Abecedarian Intervention","authors":"Kylie L. Garber , Margaret Burchinal , Sylvi Kuperman , Tiffany J. Foster , Frances Campbell , Craig Ramey","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Abecedarian Study (ABC) has been integral to demonstrating the impacts of Early Care and Education (ECE). It is important to understand the practices and mechanisms through which ABC had impacts on later outcomes, but a lack of implementation data limits our understanding of program mechanisms. The present study took a mixed methods approach to describe the mechanisms of the original ABC program. The qualitative study provides a detailed description of the ABC program based on historical program documentation and retrospective interview responses of ABC teachers and staff. The teachers and staff reported individualized coaching, child-centered environments and activities, and frequent teacher-child conversations were common in ABC classrooms. Informed by qualitative results, a mediation analysis was conducted with the original ABC sample (<em>n</em> = 111). Analyses suggest that verbal skills at entry to school were the primary mechanism for ABC impacts on adult education and income. These findings suggest that ECE programs that focus on improving verbal skills, perhaps through child-centered activities and frequent teacher-child conversation may be more likely to have longer-term impacts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 149-163"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145220218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-30DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.004
Shan Lu , Chenchen Xu , Xiaoning Liu , Wenting Guo , Xiaopei Xing
Using a three–time longitudinal design, latent growth curve modeling was used to identify receptive vocabulary developmental trajectories of 416 Chinese preschool children (T1: Mage = 49.64 months, SD = 3.77, 50.7 % girls) over 2 years (2015-2017), assessing the influences of screen use, home literacy environment (HLE), and their interaction on children's receptive vocabulary development. Results showed a non–linear trajectory leveling off with age. HLE and joint media engagement (JME) positively predicted initial receptive vocabulary levels. Screen time negatively affected its growth rate. A rich-literacy home environment buffered these adverse effects, and JME supplemented vocabulary expansion in low-literacy families. These findings underscore the significance of HLE in the digital era, supporting the harm-reduction approach to enhance preschool children's vocabulary development.
{"title":"The joint effect of screen use and home literacy on children's receptive vocabulary developmental trajectories: A harm reduction perspective","authors":"Shan Lu , Chenchen Xu , Xiaoning Liu , Wenting Guo , Xiaopei Xing","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using a three–time longitudinal design, latent growth curve modeling was used to identify receptive vocabulary developmental trajectories of 416 Chinese preschool children (T1: <em>M</em><sub>age</sub> = 49.64 months, <em>SD</em> = 3.77, 50.7 % girls) over 2 years (2015-2017), assessing the influences of screen use, home literacy environment (HLE), and their interaction on children's receptive vocabulary development. Results showed a non–linear trajectory leveling off with age. HLE and joint media engagement (JME) positively predicted initial receptive vocabulary levels. Screen time negatively affected its growth rate. A rich-literacy home environment buffered these adverse effects, and JME supplemented vocabulary expansion in low-literacy families. These findings underscore the significance of HLE in the digital era, supporting the harm-reduction approach to enhance preschool children's vocabulary development.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 136-148"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145220217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.006
Anna J. Markowitz , Justin B. Doromal , Tammy Y. Yabiku
Stable high quality early learning opportunities provide essential benefits for both young children and their caregivers, who rely on care for work. Central to this function is the skill and stability of the early educator in the room, who’s daily interactions and consistent present both support development and provide adults with assured daily caregiving support. Unfortunately, working conditions in U.S. early learning sites often result in low levels of classroom quality and high teacher turnover. This study explores the potential role of early childhood leadership in bolstering both quality and retention in early learning sites. Using a large sample of publicly-funded early learning sites in Louisiana we estimate the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of their leaders and an observational measure of teacher-child interactions, teachers’ intentions to stay in the field, and observed teacher retention one year later. We also explore variability by leadership domain. We find evidence that teachers’ ratings of leaders do shape all outcomes, with variable domain-level relationships for each outcome. Policy implications are discussed.
{"title":"Links among early childhood leadership, teacher-child interaction quality, and teacher retention","authors":"Anna J. Markowitz , Justin B. Doromal , Tammy Y. Yabiku","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Stable high quality early learning opportunities provide essential benefits for both young children and their caregivers, who rely on care for work. Central to this function is the skill and stability of the early educator in the room, who’s daily interactions and consistent present both support development and provide adults with assured daily caregiving support. Unfortunately, working conditions in U.S. early learning sites often result in low levels of classroom quality and high teacher turnover. This study explores the potential role of early childhood leadership in bolstering both quality and retention in early learning sites. Using a large sample of publicly-funded early learning sites in Louisiana we estimate the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of their leaders and an observational measure of teacher-child interactions, teachers’ intentions to stay in the field, and observed teacher retention one year later. We also explore variability by leadership domain. We find evidence that teachers’ ratings of leaders do shape all outcomes, with variable domain-level relationships for each outcome. Policy implications are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 117-135"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145158205","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-17DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.003
Amanda J. Moreno , Rebecca Hinze-Pifer , Stephen Baker , Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber , Adenia Linker
Academic impacts of school-based mindfulness programs (SBMPs) have been far less studied than social and emotional ones (Roeser et al., 2022), which is surprising considering the intuitive as well as documented ability of mindfulness exercises to train attentional mechanisms. The current study was set up to examine the impact of an SBMP on the executive function, verbal performance, and math performance of a sample of students (n’s = 1,116-1533) in the K-2 grades, relative to a more traditional, social scenarios-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program. 32 Chicago Public Schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment group, which employed the Calm Classroom K-2 program (CCK2; Luster Learning Institute), or the active control group, which employed the district’s default SEL program, Second Step (Committee for Children). The CCK2 group demonstrated advantages in verbal performance after one year of programming (impact estimate = .35 SD) and no other statistically significant program impacts, although any non-trivial differences also favored CCK2 (impact estimates = .05 - .21 SD). Treatment-control differences after two years were smaller, which was contrary to expectations. Exploratory moderation analyses did not reveal any specialized findings within subgroups (e.g., gender, race), or by implementation fidelity. Findings are discussed in terms of the conservative design, implementation challenges in a large-scale program within high-needs public schools, and the different potential mechanisms operating in these programs, making them more complementary than competitive, and suggesting merit in offering non-cognitive activities that employ both “internal” and “external” approaches.
{"title":"Academic impacts of a mindfulness-based intervention on early grades students attending high-needs schools","authors":"Amanda J. Moreno , Rebecca Hinze-Pifer , Stephen Baker , Reiko Kakuyama-Villaber , Adenia Linker","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Academic impacts of school-based mindfulness programs (SBMPs) have been far less studied than social and emotional ones (Roeser et al., 2022), which is surprising considering the intuitive as well as documented ability of mindfulness exercises to train attentional mechanisms. The current study was set up to examine the impact of an SBMP on the executive function, verbal performance, and math performance of a sample of students (n’s = 1,116-1533) in the K-2 grades, relative to a more traditional, social scenarios-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program. 32 Chicago Public Schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment group, which employed the Calm Classroom K-2 program (CCK2; Luster Learning Institute), or the active control group, which employed the district’s default SEL program, Second Step (Committee for Children). The CCK2 group demonstrated advantages in verbal performance after one year of programming (impact estimate = .35 SD) and no other statistically significant program impacts, although any non-trivial differences also favored CCK2 (impact estimates = .05 - .21 SD). Treatment-control differences after two years were smaller, which was contrary to expectations. Exploratory moderation analyses did not reveal any specialized findings within subgroups (e.g., gender, race), or by implementation fidelity. Findings are discussed in terms of the conservative design, implementation challenges in a large-scale program within high-needs public schools, and the different potential mechanisms operating in these programs, making them more complementary than competitive, and suggesting merit in offering non-cognitive activities that employ both “internal” and “external” approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 106-116"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145093844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-13DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.006
Nadine Correia , Helena Carvalho , Cecília Aguiar
Friendships are crucial for children, and high-quality friendships encompass positive, supportive, and low-conflict interactions. Early childhood education (ECE) teachers spend considerable time with children and influence their relationships through high-quality teacher-child interactions and opportunities for child participation. This study examined the associations between observed classroom quality, observed participation practices, and children’s friendship quality, considering the moderating role of the length of exposure to the lead ECE teacher (i.e., months with the lead teacher). Participants in this study were 336 children (163 boys), aged 42 to 76 months (M = 60.14, SD = 7.86), from 58 ECE classrooms in the Lisbon area, Portugal, and their lead teachers. Findings suggest (i) a positive relationship between instructional support and closeness in children's friendships, when children spent more months with the lead teacher; (ii) a negative relationship between emotional support and conflict in children's friendships, when children spent more months with the lead teacher; (iii) a positive relationship between classroom organization and conflict in children’s friendships, when children spent fewer months with the lead teacher; and (iv) a negative relationship between conditions for participation and conflict in children's friendships, when children spent more time with the lead teacher. These findings have implications for practice and policymaking, emphasizing the relevance of sustained high-quality teacher-child interactions and participation practices to enhance children’s friendship quality in ECE.
{"title":"Children's friendship quality in early childhood education: the interplay with classroom quality, participation practices, and length of exposure to the ECE teacher","authors":"Nadine Correia , Helena Carvalho , Cecília Aguiar","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.006","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.006","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Friendships are crucial for children, and high-quality friendships encompass positive, supportive, and low-conflict interactions. Early childhood education (ECE) teachers spend considerable time with children and influence their relationships through high-quality teacher-child interactions and opportunities for child participation. This study examined the associations between observed classroom quality, observed participation practices, and children’s friendship quality, considering the moderating role of the length of exposure to the lead ECE teacher (i.e., months with the lead teacher). Participants in this study were 336 children (163 boys), aged 42 to 76 months (<em>M</em> = 60.14, <em>SD</em> = 7.86), from 58 ECE classrooms in the Lisbon area, Portugal, and their lead teachers. Findings suggest (i) a positive relationship between instructional support and closeness in children's friendships, when children spent more months with the lead teacher; (ii) a negative relationship between emotional support and conflict in children's friendships, when children spent more months with the lead teacher; (iii) a positive relationship between classroom organization and conflict in children’s friendships, when children spent fewer months with the lead teacher; and (iv) a negative relationship between conditions for participation and conflict in children's friendships, when children spent more time with the lead teacher. These findings have implications for practice and policymaking, emphasizing the relevance of sustained high-quality teacher-child interactions and participation practices to enhance children’s friendship quality in ECE.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 92-102"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145049280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-11DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.001
Alexandra M. Daro , Greg W. Welch , Kimberlee Belcher-Badal , Wayne Mayfield
The twofold aim of the presented work was to detail a partnership with the first and third authors, the National Workforce Registry Alliance (NWRA), and two state ECE professional registries and to demonstrate the viability of state workforce registry data and the utility of combining survey data and registry data to investigate predictors of professional and personal workforce wellbeing. Administrative data from state workforce registries was linked to survey data collected by the NWRA (n = 902 respondents). Respondents represented different settings (center-based and family child care home) and roles (teachers and administrators). The Early Childhood Professional Wellbeing Framework (Gallagher & Roberts, 2022) was used to develop a path analysis to demonstrate the effectiveness of the partnership and test the relationships between individual and contextual elements of the framework and latent variables representing professional and personal wellbeing. No individual and contextual elements significantly predicted personal wellbeing, however being part of a historically marginalized population, working in family child care homes, and having more years of experience all significantly predicted professional wellbeing. Professional wellbeing also significantly, positively predicted personal wellbeing (β = 0.95, p < 0.001). The full set of individual and contextual elements and professional wellbeing accounted for 88% of the variance in personal wellbeing (R2 = 0.88, p < 0.001). The utility of workforce registry data, aspects of the partnership, and the benefits and challenges of the process are discussed.
所提出的工作的双重目标是详细介绍与第一和第三作者，国家劳动力登记联盟（NWRA）和两个国家欧洲经委会专业登记处的合作关系，并展示国家劳动力登记数据的可行性以及将调查数据和登记数据相结合的效用，以调查专业和个人劳动力福利的预测因素。来自州劳动力登记处的行政数据与NWRA收集的调查数据相关联（n = 902名受访者）。受访者代表了不同的环境（中心和家庭托儿所）和角色（教师和管理人员）。儿童早期职业幸福框架（Gallagher & Roberts, 2022）被用于开发路径分析，以证明伙伴关系的有效性，并测试框架的个人和上下文元素与代表专业和个人幸福的潜在变量之间的关系。没有个人和环境因素能显著预测个人幸福感，然而，作为历史上边缘化人群的一部分，在家庭托儿所工作，以及拥有更多年的经验，都能显著预测职业幸福感。职业幸福感也显著正向预测个人幸福感（β = 0.95, p < 0.001）。完整的个人和环境因素以及职业幸福感占个人幸福感方差的88% （R2 = 0.88, p < 0.001）。讨论了劳动力注册中心数据的效用、伙伴关系的各个方面以及流程的好处和挑战。
{"title":"Utilizing state workforce registries and targeted surveys to investigate workforce wellbeing","authors":"Alexandra M. Daro , Greg W. Welch , Kimberlee Belcher-Badal , Wayne Mayfield","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.001","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.09.001","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The twofold aim of the presented work was to detail a partnership with the first and third authors, the National Workforce Registry Alliance (NWRA), and two state ECE professional registries and to demonstrate the viability of state workforce registry data and the utility of combining survey data and registry data to investigate predictors of professional and personal workforce wellbeing. Administrative data from state workforce registries was linked to survey data collected by the NWRA (<em>n</em> = 902 respondents). Respondents represented different settings (center-based and family child care home) and roles (teachers and administrators). The Early Childhood Professional Wellbeing Framework (Gallagher & Roberts, 2022) was used to develop a path analysis to demonstrate the effectiveness of the partnership and test the relationships between individual and contextual elements of the framework and latent variables representing professional and personal wellbeing. No individual and contextual elements significantly predicted personal wellbeing, however being part of a historically marginalized population, working in family child care homes, and having more years of experience all significantly predicted professional wellbeing. Professional wellbeing also significantly, positively predicted personal wellbeing (<em>β</em> = 0.95, <em>p</em> < 0.001). The full set of individual and contextual elements and professional wellbeing accounted for 88% of the variance in personal wellbeing (<em>R<sup>2</sup></em> = 0.88, <em>p</em> < 0.001). The utility of workforce registry data, aspects of the partnership, and the benefits and challenges of the process are discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 79-91"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145048473","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-08DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.007
Li Huang , Jin Sun , Ling Li , Li Cao
Significant efforts have been made globally to alleviate poverty and achieve sustainable development. While the economic benefits and improved living standards from such programs are well-documented, their impact on early childhood development (ECD) remains less understood. This study investigated whether participation in China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) program, which was designed as a sustainable livelihood initiative, was associated with ECD in different domains, beyond its primary goal of poverty alleviation. Additionally, it explored the potential mediating roles of parental investment and parental care. The sample included 1,415 families with children aged 18–42 months (632 girls) from 33 remote and mountainous towns in southwestern China, of which 432 families had participated in the TPA program. All families had been lifted out of absolute poverty during the data collection period. Children’s development was assessed using the Chinese version of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed a positive association between TPA participation and children’s socio-emotional development, with the presence of parental care identified as a significant mediator. These findings suggest that TPA participation, by facilitating parental care, supports children’s socio-emotional development. This study highlights the importance of integrating parenting-friendly strategies into poverty alleviation programs to enhance both household economic security and ECD outcomes in low-income families.
{"title":"Is participation in the target poverty alleviation program associated with early childhood development? Evidence from Southwest China","authors":"Li Huang , Jin Sun , Ling Li , Li Cao","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.007","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.007","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Significant efforts have been made globally to alleviate poverty and achieve sustainable development. While the economic benefits and improved living standards from such programs are well-documented, their impact on early childhood development (ECD) remains less understood. This study investigated whether participation in China’s Targeted Poverty Alleviation (TPA) program, which was designed as a sustainable livelihood initiative, was associated with ECD in different domains, beyond its primary goal of poverty alleviation. Additionally, it explored the potential mediating roles of parental investment and parental care. The sample included 1,415 families with children aged 18–42 months (632 girls) from 33 remote and mountainous towns in southwestern China, of which 432 families had participated in the TPA program. All families had been lifted out of absolute poverty during the data collection period. Children’s development was assessed using the Chinese version of the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed a positive association between TPA participation and children’s socio-emotional development, with the presence of parental care identified as a significant mediator. These findings suggest that TPA participation, by facilitating parental care, supports children’s socio-emotional development. This study highlights the importance of integrating parenting-friendly strategies into poverty alleviation programs to enhance both household economic security and ECD outcomes in low-income families.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 69-78"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145010006","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-04DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.008
Xueliang Chen , Jian Xiang , Xiao Zhang
Research on patterning skills in preschool children has mostly focused on repeating and growing patterns. This study introduced rotating patterns as an additional pattern type and validated a self-designed instrument to assess 138 Cantonese-speaking preschool children’s (age in years: M = 4.98, SD = .33) understanding of rotating patterns based on three-wave longitudinal data. Rasch modeling was employed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument. The results suggested that our instrument assessed a unidimensional construct, with items exhibiting local independence and covering a broad spectrum of easy, medium, and high difficulty levels. The instrument also possessed adequate reliability and was associated with measures of arithmetic competence and Chinese word reading, providing evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. While most items were found to be longitudinally invariant, some displayed differential functioning over time, suggesting changes in item difficulty over the assessment period. Overall, the validated instrument appears suitable for evaluating the rotating patterning skill of children aged 5 to 6 years. This study makes an important contribution by expanding the conceptualization of preschoolers’ patterning abilities to include rotating patterns, a previously underexplored domain. The psychometrically robust instrument presented in this research can also be readily utilized by scholars to further investigate the development and educational implications of children’s patterning skills.
{"title":"Beyond repeating and growing patterns: Validating an instrument of rotating pattern understanding in preschool children","authors":"Xueliang Chen , Jian Xiang , Xiao Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.008","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.008","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Research on patterning skills in preschool children has mostly focused on repeating and growing patterns. This study introduced rotating patterns as an additional pattern type and validated a self-designed instrument to assess 138 Cantonese-speaking preschool children’s (age in years: <em>M</em> = 4.98, <em>SD</em> = .33) understanding of rotating patterns based on three-wave longitudinal data. Rasch modeling was employed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the instrument. The results suggested that our instrument assessed a unidimensional construct, with items exhibiting local independence and covering a broad spectrum of easy, medium, and high difficulty levels. The instrument also possessed adequate reliability and was associated with measures of arithmetic competence and Chinese word reading, providing evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. While most items were found to be longitudinally invariant, some displayed differential functioning over time, suggesting changes in item difficulty over the assessment period. Overall, the validated instrument appears suitable for evaluating the rotating patterning skill of children aged 5 to 6 years. This study makes an important contribution by expanding the conceptualization of preschoolers’ patterning abilities to include rotating patterns, a previously underexplored domain. The psychometrically robust instrument presented in this research can also be readily utilized by scholars to further investigate the development and educational implications of children’s patterning skills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48348,"journal":{"name":"Early Childhood Research Quarterly","volume":"74 ","pages":"Pages 57-68"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144988431","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-25DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2025.08.004
Anne-Elina Salo , Katja Upadyaya , Mirjam Kalland , Sami Hyttinen , Katariina Salmela-Aro , Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen
Being included in play and forming positive peer relationships are critical for children to meet their need to belong in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Loneliness and ostracism, then, threaten meeting this need. In this study, five-year-old children’s (N = 31,169) loneliness and ostracism were examined through ECEC teacher observations. About one-sixth of the children were evaluated as lonely and close to one-tenth as ostracized often to very often. Groups of children were then formed, based on different combinations in these threats to belonging: 1) rare threats (80.2%), 2) frequently lonely (rarely ostracized) (10.5%), 3) accumulated threats (7.7%), and 4) frequently ostracized (rarely lonely) (1.6%). Multinomial regression analysis with pairwise comparisons suggested differences between the groups in children’s social-emotional functioning, vocabulary, and language background but not in gender. It is vital to equip ECEC teachers with competencies to observe and address loneliness and ostracism, to build safe and inclusive peer communities for all children, and to develop children’s social-emotional skills. Implications for ensuring that every child can build peer relationships, access play, and learn to positively include their diverse peers are discussed.
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