Early Childhood Predictors of AtEarly Childhood Predictors of At--risk Boys’ risk Boys’ Relationship Quality With Mothers and Teacher Relationship Quality With Mothers and Teacher

After School EntryAfter School Entry

Mark A. Biernbaum, PhD

University of Washington

Daniel Shaw, PhD

University of Pittsburgh

The Pitt Mother & Child Project

The Pitt Mother & Child Project is an ongoing longitudinal study of child development. Begun in 1991 by Drs. Daniel Shaw and Joan Vondra as the Pitt Mother & Baby Project, the National Institute of Mental Health has since provided continuous funding through the year 2004. Since the project’s initiation, our primary goal has been the identification of factors associated with vulnerability and resiliency among low-income children in the metropolitan area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Towards this end, just over 300 families with infant boys were recruited from area WIC (Women, Infants, and Children Nutritional Supplement Program) Clinics when children were between 6 and 17 months old. Since that time, family assessments have been conducted at participant’s homes and in our laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh when children were ages 1.5, 2, 3.5, 5, 5.5, 6, and 8 years old. We are currently in the midst of seeing children and their families at their homes at age 10 and in our lab at age 11.

Background A child’s transition to school can be complicated for several reasons. Children who have difficulty forming a positive relationship with their teachers, are more likely than students who can form such positive relationships, to experience a variety of negative school outcomes (Stipek, 1997). For children who have difficulty in forming a positive relationship with their teacher, their risk for negative school and other outcomes increases if they also have difficulties in their primary relationship at home (usually with mothers). Thus, it would be helpful to be able to identify those children at risk for both conflictual relations with teachers and mothers in the early school years. If such prediction was possible, and especially if this prediction could be made from easily administered measures in early childhood, then appropriate services could be instigated that might help to ameliorate potential risk for negative relationship quality outcomes after school entry. The early school years are viewed as especially important in helping each child in forming expectations regarding school and the learning process, as well as overall commitment to education (Stipek, 1997). Thus, any intervention that could help children form positive relationships with teachers in the early school years may have many long-term benefits.

Temperament At both 18- and 24-months, mothers completed the Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ; Bates et al, 1979). Two subscales from this measure (Difficulty and Unstoppability) were included here. 18- and 24-month scores were averaged. Research has shown that temperament influences teacher’s views of a student’s “teachability” (Keogh, 1994), student’s academic achievement (Martin et. al., 1994); school-age anxiety symptoms (Kagan, et. al., 1999) and a variety of other negative outcomes.

Externalizing Behavior

At 24-months, mothers completed the Child BehaviorChecklist Ages 2-3 (CBCL; Achenbach, 1992). TheExternalizing broadband score was used here. Research hasindicated that externalizing problems identified early, oftenpersist (Cambell, 1995). Children eventually diagnosed withdisruptive behavior problems are often first referred based onexternalizing symptomology in the classroom (Stanger &Lewis, 1993).

Daily Parenting Stress

At both 18- and 24-months, mothers completed the ParentDaily Hassles (PDH; Crnic & Greenberg, 1990). The totalscore (frequency of hassle by intensity) was used here.Scores from the two assessments were averaged. Dailyparenting stress proved to be a more potent predictor thanmajor life events, and has the potential to exert greaterinfluence over daily parent-child interaction and relationshipquality (Crnic & Greenberg, 1990; Webster-Stratton, 1990).

Maternal Social Support

At both 18- and 24-months, mothers completed the MaternalSocial Support Index (MSSI; Pascoe & Earp, 1984). Thetotal score was used here, and scores from the twoassessments were averaged. Social support has been shownto moderate the impact of stress and depression on parenting(Simons et al., 1993).

Maternal Depression

Mothers completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI;Beck & Beamesderfer, 1974) at both 18- and 24-months.Maternal depression has been associated with a host ofnegative outcomes, especially as they pertain to the parent-child relationship (Downey & Coyne, 1990).

Current AnalysisThe current analysis contains data from 3 time points: (1) 18 month lab visit; (2) 24 month home visit, and (3) the 72-month lab visit. This analysis only includes questionnaire measures on the following constructs:

Outcome Measure The outcome measure used in this investigation was Pianta & Steinberg’s (1991), Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). This measure includes 30-items, rated on a 5-point likert scale, which assess the quality of the relationship between teachers and students. The scale was also administered to each child’s mother (Adult Child Relationship Scale: ACRS) after slight adjustments were made to make the language appropriate for parental use. Two subscales were derived: 1. Conflict: This scale contains 10 items. Standardized item alphas were .92 for teachers

and .86 for mothers. 2. Positive: This scale contains 7 items. Standardized item alphas were .83 for teachers and

.76 for mothers Correlations: STRS-Conflict STRS-Positive ACRS-Positive ACRS-Conflict .225** -.146* -.463** ACRS-Positive .019 .032 STRS-Positive -.439** _____________ * = p < 05 ** = p < .01

Formation of Analysis Groups Aggregation of maternal and teacher reports: We were primarily interested in identifying two groups of children: children with poor relationship quality with BOTH mothers and teachers (Highest Risk) children with positive relationship quality with BOTH mothers and teachers (Lowest Risk). To create these groups, we first summed and averaged mothers’ and teachers’ scores on the Conflict and Positive subscales (thus, after aggregation, each child had one Conflict score and one Positive score). Formation of analysis groups: We then divided the Conflict and Positive score distributions into 5 equal-sized groups, each containing 20% of the scores. The following final analysis groups were then formed: 1. Conflict group (n = 34) had Conflict scores in the top 40%, Positive scores in the bottom

40%, with at least one of these scores in the most extreme 20%. 2. Positive group (n = 36) had Positive scores in the top 40%, Conflict scores in the lowest

40%, with at least one of these scores in the most extreme 20%. 3. Middle group (n = 64) had Conflict and Positive scores in the central 60%, with neither

score in the extreme 20%.

Descriptive Statistics

Variable Sample Conflict Middle Positive n = 311 n = 34 n = 64 n = 36 Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Mean (SD) _______________________________________________________________________________________ Mother’s Education 12.7 (1.8) 12.3 (2.8) 12.6 (1.3) 13.1 (1.4)

Mother’s Occupation 1.3 (1.9) 1.7 (2.1) 1.1 (1.7) 1.3 (2.0)

Mother’s Age 25.1 (9.8) 25.0 (8.8) 26.0 (9.6) 24.0 (11.1)

Mother’s Race 52% Caucasian 56% Caucasian 59% Caucasian 70% Caucasian

Family Income 1100 (600) 1000 (700) 1000 (500) 1300 (600)

BDI-Total 8.8 (5.9) 11.0 (5.0) 8.7 (6.6) 6.9 (4.6)

MSSI-Total 24.1 (4.7) 23.6 (4.0) 23.9 (4.8) 24.9 (5.0)

PDH-Total 86.9 (15.7) 98.8 (14.2) 85.7 (15.2) 78.8 (11.3)

ICQ-Total 34.9 (7.4) 40.2 (7.8) 33.3 (5.9) 33.0 (7.3)

CBCL-Externalizing 53.9 (9.2) 58.3 (10.3) 53.9 (8.3) 49.9 (8.2)

_________________________________________________________________________________

Chi-Square analyses indicated that there were no differences between analysis groups on maternal education or

maternal occupation; significant differences in the percentage of Caucasian mothers were found. A MANOVA

demonstrated no significant differences between groups on maternal age; a significant difference between the

Positive group and the Middle group was found for family income. Future analyses will attempt to control for the

influence of maternal race and family income.

MANOVA

Because this is an exploratory analysis meant to generate hypotheses rather than confirm them, we performed a MANOVA using our 72-month analysis groups to further reduce the number of variables in the model. The multivariate test was significant (Wilks’ Lamda F (10, 230), p < .001, eta-squared = .162), and was followed with univariate tests. The results of these tests are illustrated below: Measure F df p eta-squared MSSI (social support) 1.05 2 .353 .017 ICQ (temperament) 10.75 2 <.001 .153 PDH (daily hassles) 14.95 2 <.001 .201 CBCL-Externalizing 8.35 2 <.001 .123 BDI (depression) 3.48 2 .034 .055 Post-hoc Scheffe testing indicated that there were significant differences between the Conflict and Positive group on the ICQ, the PDH, the CBCL, and the BDI. Thus, these were the variables retained for the next analysis.

Results: Logistic Regression We then entered the PDH, BDI, CBCL, and ICQ scores into a logistic regression to ascertain their ability to correctly predict group membership for the Conflict and Positive groups. All measures were entered simultaneously. The final solution (after 5 iterations) was highly significant (–2 LL = 44.91, goodness of fit = 120.58, 2 (4) = 40.78, p <.0001). 95% CI for Exp (B) Variable B (S.E.) Wald df Sig Exp(B) Low High ____________________________________________________________________________ PDH 2.462 (.78) 9.914 1 .0016 11.73 2.53 54.32 BDI 1.00 (.55) 3.35 1 .0674 2.72 .93 7.96 ICQ .784 (.48) 2.704 1 .1001 2.19 .86 5.57 CBCL .098 (.50) .039 1 .8433 1.10 .42 2.92 ____________________________________________________________________________ Classification Table: Observed Predicted Positive Conflict Percent Correct Positive 28 5 84.85% Conflict 4 24 86.21% Overall 85.48%

•Maternal perception of daily parenting stress at 18- and 24-months proved to be an extremely robust predictor of later relationship quality with both mothers and teachers in first grade.

•The measure of parenting stress used here, the Parent Daily Hassles (Crnic & Greenberg, 1990) may have been especially relevant. The PDH is a complex, multi-faceted measure that is likely tapping several constructs at once, potentially including:

1. parental distress tolerance

2. frequency of parenting stressors

3. sense of parenting efficacy

4. difficult child behaviors

·Other measures did differentiate between the Conflict and Positive groups. Children at greatest risk for problem relationships with both mother and teacher in first grade had mothers who, when theses children were toddlers:

1. felt significantly more depressed

2. perceived their toddler as temperamentally difficult; and

3. perceived their toddler as prone to displaying higher levels of externalizing behaviors

Conclusions

Limitations:

•Exploratory analysis: This analysis was hypothesis-generating, not hypothesis-confirming. Whether or not other investigators using similar measures could obtain the same level of predictive accuracy is unknown.

•Questionnaires only: This analysis only made use of questionnaire data, even though a variety of behavioral and observational data is available at all relevant time points. Future analyses will attempt to broaden the model presented here to include such measures.

Future Directions:

•Although the current analysis only contains questionnaire data, this may also be viewed as a strength, in that the measures used here could constitute an effective early childhood screening instrument if their predictive efficacy could be validated by future studies.

•Early childhood intervention programs, like Early Start and Head Start, could use such a screen to target intervention components more successfully and to identify those families most at risk for problematic school-age outcomes.

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