Children's Social and Scholastic Lives in Kindergarten: Related Spheres of Influence?

• Published in: Child development Vol. 70; no. 6; pp. 1373 - 1400
• Main Authors: Ladd, Gary W., Birch, Sondra H., Buhs, Eric S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, USA and Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishers Inc 01.11.1999; Blackwell Publishers; Blackwell; University of Chicago Press for the Society for Research in Child Development, etc; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Achievement; Antisocial behavior; At Risk Persons; Behaviour; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child Behavior; Child development; Child, Preschool; Children; Educational psychology; Elementary school students; Factors; Family background; Family Influence; Family, School, and Community; Female; Friendship; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Interpersonal relationships; Kindergarten; Kindergarten Children; Kindergarten education; Kindergartens; Male; Peer Group; Peer groups; Peer relations; Peer Relationship; Personality Assessment; Personality Development; Predictor Variables; Preschool children; Primary Education; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Pupil and student. Academic achievement and failure; Relationship Quality; School adjustment; Social Adjustment; Social Development; Social Environment; Social integration; Stress Variables; Student Adjustment; Student Participation; Students - psychology; Teacher Student Relationship; Young children; Human; Preschool age; Peer relation; School adaptation; Teacher pupil relation; Social interaction; Nursery school; Family environment; Cognition; Child; School environment; Stress
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-8624.00101

Evidence from two studies conducted with kindergarten samples (N = 200, M age = 5.58 years; N = 199, M age = 5.47 years) supported a series of interrelated hypotheses derived from a child X environment model of early school adjustment. The findings obtained were consistent with the following inferences: (1) Entry factors, such as children's cognitive maturity and family backgrounds, directly as well as indirectly influence children's behavior, participation, and achievement in kindergarten; (2) as children enter school, their initial behavioral orientations influence the types of relationships they form with peers and teachers; (3) stressful aspects of children's peer and teacher relationships in the school environment adversely impact classroom participation and achievement; and (4) classroom participation is an important prerequisite for achievement during kindergarten. Collectively, these findings illustrate the need to revise prevailing theories of school adjustment, and the research agendas that evolve from these perspectives, so as to incorporate interpersonal risk factors that operate within the school environment.