Classroom-Level Adversity: The Influence of Collective Child Characteristics on First Graders’ Social Skills and Problem Behaviors

• In Event: Social Competence and School Readiness

Abstract

The present study examined (a) classroom-level adversity in relation to children’s social skills and internalizing and externalizing behaviors in first grade, accounting for baseline outcome assessments and child, teacher, and classroom characteristics, and (b) whether child sex, SES, and classroom emotional support moderated examined associations. Data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development were analyzed using multivariate structural equation models. Higher levels of classroom-level adversity were associated with individual increases in internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but not social skills. The association between classroom-level adversity and externalizing behaviors was stronger for girls than boys; and social skills gains were diminished in the presence of high-levels of classroom adversity even when high levels of emotional support were observed.

Authors

• Tashia Abry, Arizona State University

• Jodi Swanson, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Robert H. Bradley, Arizona State University

• Richard Fabes, Arizona State University - Tempe