ERIC ED581279: Children's Task Oriented Patterns in Early Childhood: A Latent Transition Analysis

2017·0.35 MB·English

by  ERIC

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ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirect
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
journalhomepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/ecresq
Children’s task-oriented patterns in early childhood: A latent transition
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analysis
Feihong Wanga,⁎, James Alginab, Patricia Snyderc, Martha Coxd, The Family Life Project Key
Investigators1
aAnitaZuckerCenterforExcellenceinEarlyChildhoodStudies,UniversityofFlorida,NormanHall,P.O.Box117050,Gainesville,FL32611-7050,UnitedStates
bSchoolofHumanDevelopmentandOrganizationalStudiesinEducation,CollegeofEducation,UniversityofFlorida,UnitedStates
cSchoolofSpecialEducation,SchoolPsychology,andEarlyChildhoodStudies,CollegeofEducation,UniversityofFlorida,1345NormanHall,P.O.Box117050,
Gainesville,FL,32611-7050,UnitedStates
dDevelopmentalPsychologyProgram,UniversityofNorthCarolinaatChapelHill,UnitedStates
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Weexaminedindividualdifferencesandpredictionsofchildren’spatternsinbehavioral,emotionalandatten-
Task-orientedpattern tionaleffortstowardchallengingpuzzletasksat24and35monthsusingdatafromalargelongitudinalrural
Challengingproblemsolving representativesample.Usinglatenttransitionanalysis,wefoundfourdistincttask-orientedpatternsinproblem-
Latenttransitionanalysis solvingtaskswithinparent-toddler/preschoolerdyadsrepresentingdifferentlevelsofregulatorystrengthsand
Infantattention
weaknesses.Wealsofoundtherelativelymorepositiveandadaptivetask-orientedpatterns(i.e.,thepositive-
Positiveparenting
motivatedpatternandthecontent-compliantpattern)weremorestable,buttherelativelynegativepatterns(i.e.,
Familyeconomicstrains
thenegative-disengagedpatternandtheemotional-mixedpattern)hadmuchmorevariabilityandchangefrom
24to35months.Finally,infantattention,positiveparenting,andfamilyeconomicstrainsalsosignificantly
predictedchildren’stask-orientedpatternsat24monthsaftercontrollingforchildgender,raceandmaternal
education. Thesefindings contribute toprevention/intervention strategies foryoungchildren’soptimalper-
formanceduringchallengingproblemsolvingandtheirlaterschoolsuccess.
1. Introduction pictureoftheregulatorystrengthsandweaknessesinchildren’spursuit
of problem solving and inform interventions that promote problem-
Children’s task-oriented behavior in challenging problem-solving solvingeffortsrelevantforschoolreadiness.
tasks has been of interest to researchers from different theoretical There has been little research on precursors of children’s task-or-
perspectives,includingtheorganizationalperspectiveondevelopment. ientedpatternsduringchallengingproblemsolving.Researchdoesin-
The organizational perspective on development emphasizes that dif- dicatethatchild,parent,andfamilyfactorsmightfosterorcompromise
ferentaspectsofanindividual’sbehavior,emotion,andcognition,in- aspectsofchildren’sregulatoryeffortsinproblemsolving.Forexample,
cluding attention,arecoordinatedinfunctioning towardgoalpursuit infant attention is related to child persistence on task and effortful
suchthatsocial-emotionalandcognitiveaspectsofdevelopmentarenot control (e.g., Gaiter, Morgan, Jennings, Harman,&Yarrow, 1982;
separable(Sroufe&Waters,1976).Researchfromthisperspectivehas Kochanska, Murray,&Harlan, 2000). Positive parenting facilitates
drawnonchallengingproblem-solvingtaskssuchasshapesortingand children’s mood regulation, persistence and compliance (e.g.,
cylinderandpuzzlecompletiontasks(e.g.,Egeland,Sroufe,&Erickson, Young&Hauser-Cram, 2006), but family economic strains have been
1983)toelicitchildren’sbehavior.Thefocihavebeenontheindividual shown to constrain children’s emotional and behavior control (e.g.,
child’sbehaviororsometimesthebehaviorofparentswhoareableto Mistry,Vandewater,Huston,&McLoyd,2002).
support children asneeded during thechallenging tasks.Fewstudies Thepresentstudyexaminedchildren’spatternsoftask-orientedef-
haveexaminedhowdifferentaspectsofchildproblem-solving efforts forts (indicated by their behavioral, emotional, and attentional reg-
might constitute distinct task-oriented patterns or how stable such ulation) during challenging problem-solving tasks at24months (tod-
patternsmightbeinearlychildhood.Identifyingtask-orientedpatterns dlerhood)and35months(preschoolage)andpatternshiftsovertime
and the degree of stability in these patterns may provide a holistic asinformedbytheorganizationalperspectiveondevelopment.Wealso
⁎Correspondingauthor.
E-mailaddresses:[email protected](F.Wang),algina@ufl.edu(J.Algina),[email protected]fl.edu(P.Snyder),[email protected](M.Cox).
1SeeAppendixAforthenamesofTheFamilyLifeProjectKeyInvestigators.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2017.05.006
Received22January2016;Receivedinrevisedform20April2017;Accepted29May2017
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F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
examinedselectchild,parent,andfamilycorrelatesofchildren’stask- interpersonal skills andwork-relatedskills, self-regulation, and social
orientedpatternsat24and35months. competenceinthekindergartenyear(Berhenkeetal.,2011).Children
whodemonstratedconsistentattentionalpersistencethroughpre-K,K,
1.1. Patternsoftask-orientedeffortsfromtheorganizationalperspective and1stgradedemonstratedacademicproficiencyinmath,vocabulary,
reading, language and science tests by second grade (McDermott,
According to the organizational perspective of development Rikoon,&Fantuzzo,2014).
(Sroufe&Waters, 1976), children’s development of self-regulation It is still unclear how these individual aspects of child behavior,
startsininfancywithexternalregulationbycaregivers,changestothe emotion, and attention in problem solving reflect overall patterns of
emergenceofself-regulatorycapacityintoddlerhoodsupportedbythe adaptation in early childhood. While children make great strides in
guidanceofthecaregiver,andthenmovestowardtheestablishmentof their behavior, emotion, and attention regulation through the early
independent self-regulation by the preschool period (Egeland, childhoodyears,thepaceofdevelopmentandthelevelofcoordination
Bosquet,&Levy-Chung, 2002; Kochanska, 1993). In this theoretical and adaptation across behavior, emotion, and attention may vary,
tradition,problem-solvingtasks(e.g.,Egelandetal.,1983;Main,1977; leadingtodiversepatternsofadaptation.Aperson-orientedapproach
Matas,Arend,&Sroufe,1978;Sroufe,1979)arecreatedtoassesschil- has the capacity to depict the coordination and dis-coordination of
dren’squalityofadaptation orself-regulation atagivenage.Specifi- behavior,emotion,andattentioninchildren’stask-orientedeffortand
cally, they are created to tax children’s regulatory capacities across help understand children’s behavior as a “whole” rather than con-
domainsaswellastheircapabilitytouseenvironmentalandpersonal sidering each behavior as a separate entity (Halle, Hair,
resourcestowardthegoalpursuit.Challengingpuzzlesarecommonly Wandner,&Chien,2012).Thisapproachalsohelpsidentifyregulatory
usedinsuchproblem-solvingtaskswithpuzzlespresentedinanorder patterns in children that may be amenable to targeted prevention or
of increasing difficulty (Buckley&Woodruff-Borden, 2006; Davis, interventions(Chazan-Cohen,Halle,Barton,&Winsler,2012).
Burns, Snyder, Dossett,&Wilkerson, 2004; Harris, Robinson, Researchershavesuggestedbothstabilityandchangeinchildren’s
Chang,&Burns,2007).Forexample,intheseproblem-solvingtasks,the regulatoryprocessesduringthesecondyearoflifeasaresultofboth
tasksthechildinitiallyencountersareusuallywithinthecapacityofthe expected continuity in adaptation and developmental advances in
child,andserveasawarm-uptask.Tasksintroducedlateraredifficult children’sregulatoryrepertoireduringthisperiod(Matasetal.,1978).
enough so that the child needs to exert some regulatory effort to Therefore, we were further interested in depicting the stability and
complete the tasks while parents provide some help for the child as changeinchildren’sregulatoryandadaptationpatternsfrom24to35
deemed necessary (Egeland et al., 1983; National Institute of Child months.Studieshavedemonstratedbothstabilityandchangeinchil-
HealthandDevelopmentEarlyChildCareResearchNetwork(NICHD dren’sadaptationindifferentaspects.Forexample,positiveemotion-
SECCYD),1999). ality was found to be relatively stable in early childhood between 3
Child characteristics in challenging problem-solving tasks include monthsand48monthsofage(Lemery,Goldsmith,Klinnert,&Mrazek,
thoserelevanttothebehavioral,emotional,andattentionalprocesses. 1999).However,otherresearchersreportvariabilityinthestabilityof
Thechildcharacteristicsthattapthebehavioralprocessincludechild children’s behavioral and attentional persistence during challenging
persistence,compliancetoparentdirectives,relianceonhelpfromthe puzzle tasks. For example, Zhou, Hofer, and Eisenberg (2007) found
caregiver, and avoidance of the parent; whereas the child character- that behavioral and attentional persistence was high and stable for
istics that tap the emotional process include task enthusiasm, anger/ somechildren,butmoderateandslightlydecliningforotherchildren,
negativity/aggression, affection shown toward the parent, and nega- andlowinitiallybutrisinglaterinyetanothergroupofchildrenfrom
tivitytowardthecaregiver(Egelandetal.,1983;Egelandetal.,2002; age5–10.Aholisticapproachinexamininghowpatternsofadaptation
Matasetal.,1978).Childpersistencealsoreflectstheattentionalpro- acrossthebehavioral,emotional,andattentionaldomainsat24months
cess(Fredricksetal.,2004).Allofthesecharacteristicsareinterrelated showtransitionsorstabilitiesby35monthshasyettobeexplored.The
constructsinsuggestingchildren’scoordinationofself-regulationthatis present study fills this gap by examining the extent of stability and
critical for children’s learning and development. Nevertheless, re- changeinchildren’staskorientedpatternsacrosslevelsfrom24to35
searchers have focused mostly on understanding the individual child months.
variables (e.g., Berhenke, Miller, Brown, Seifer&Dickstein, 2011) or
thefacilitativeordisruptiveaspectsofparentingbehaviorduringthe 1.2. Predictorsofchildren’stask-orientedpatterns
challengingproblem-solvingtasks(e.g.,Neitzel&Stright,2003).
Forthestudiesthathaveinvestigatedthechildvariables,thereis Physiological studies suggest that children’s learning depends on
evidence of significant relationships between the individual child attention, and focused attention indicates a state that information is
variablesandchildren’sacademicandsocialoutcomes.Forexample,in being processed, facilitated, or enhanced (Lawson&Ruff, 2004;
the behavioral domain, toddlers and preschoolers who are able to Richards,1997).Temperamentliteraturehasfrequentlysuggestedthat
control themselves and comply with parents’ rules are found to be individual differences in infant attention predict socioemotional de-
adaptiveandcompetentattheformalschoolages(Kochanska,Koenig, velopment (Rothbart&Posner, 2006). For example, focused attention
Barry,Kim,&Yoon,2010),butthosewhoaredefiantandaggressivein in infancy is related to higher effortful control and later attention
earlychildhoodaremorelikelytoexperienceschoolfailure(Brennan, duringplayinpreschool(Kochanskaetal.,2000;Lawson&Ruff,2004;
Shaw, Dishion,&Wilson, 2012) and future conduct problems (Shaw, Ruff, Lawson, Parrinello,&Weissberg, 1990) as well as executive
Gilliom,Ingoldsby,&Nagin,2003).Intheemotionaldomain,observed functions in toddlerhood (Johansson, Marciszko, Gredeback,
negativeaffectandemotionalityinpreschoolerswasfoundtoberelated Nystrom,&Bohlin,2015).Therefore,themoreinfantsfocusattention
toteacher-ratedschooladjustmentdifficultiesandemotiondisregula- on objects, the more capable they are of modulating arousal and in-
tion(Herndon,Bailey,Shewark,Denham,&Bassett,2013),butpositive hibitingcompetingactivities.Patternsoftheirtask-orientedbehavioral,
affectinpreschoolerswasrelatedtoteacherratedclassroomadjustment emotional, and attentional efforts during toddlerhood and preschool
andpeeracceptance(Shinetal.,2011).Childenthusiasmhasalsobeen maybedistinctfromotherswhowerelessattentiveininfancy.
treatedasanaspectofchildren’sself-regulation(Duncanetal.,2007) Further, both the sociocultural perspective of cognitive develop-
andisrelatedtointrinsicmotivationforcompetency(Morgan,Busch- ment(Rogoff,1990;Vygotsky,1978)andtheorganizationalperspec-
Rossnagel, Maslin-Cole,&Harmon, 1992), an important factor in tive of child development (Egeland et al., 2002; Kochanska, 1993)
learningfunctioning(Gottfried,Fleming,&Gottfried,2001).Intheat- emphasize the crucial importance of early parenting as a primary
tentional domain, Head Start graduates with higher observed persis- sourcefromwhichchildren’scognitiveproblem-solvingskillsandself-
tence had higher teacher ratings on reading and math skills, greater regulatorycapacitiesevolve.Consequently,patternsofchildren’stask-
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F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
orientedbehavioral,emotional,andattentionaleffortsduringproblem- acceptance, and low harsh punishment) in the first 2 years and chil-
solvingtasksinearlychildhoodareverylikelytobeinfluencedbyearly dren’smoreadaptivetask-orientedperformancepatternsat24and35
parenting to which they have been exposed. Studies have found sig- months. Finally, we hypothesized that perceived family economic
nificantpositiverelationshipsbetweenmaternalresponsivenessorac- strains might be related to children’s task-oriented patterns during
ceptance and children’s positive affect and mood, compliance, and toddlerhood and preschool ages after accounting for both infant at-
persistence (e.g., Erickson&Lowe, 2008; Kochanska&Aksan, 2008; tentionandpositiveparenting.
Spinradetal.,2012;Young&Hauser-Cram,2006)aswellasthedet-
rimentaleffectofmaternalnon-acceptanceandharshcontrolonchil- 2. Methods
dren’s autonomy and exploration in activities (e.g., Grolnick, 2003;
Taylor,Manganello,Lee,&Rice,2010).Forexample,warmandsensi- 2.1. Participants
tiveparentingwasrelatedtoeffortfulcontrolandlowimpulsivityina
sampleofpreschoolers(Spinradetal.,2012),butfrequentrestriction The participants in this study (n=1125) were a subsample from
andcorporalpunishmentinparentswasrelatedtosubsequentaggres- the Family Life Project (FLP; N=1292), a large-scale, longitudinal
sioninchildrenduringearlychildhood(Tayloretal.,2010). observational study of young children from birth to second grade.
Living in poverty has a fundamental negative effect on children’s Families were recruited from three poor rural counties in North
outcomes such as low academic achievement and behavior problems Carolina and three poor rural counties in Pennsylvania (Vernon-
(e.g., Brooks-Gunn, Duncan,&Maritato, 1997; Mistry et al., 2002). Feagans&Cox, 2013). Ninety-eight percent of the primary caregivers
Poverty may be directly reflected in parents’ perceived economic were the biological parent with 1116 mothers participating at 24
pressureandstrains(Mistryetal.,2002),whichhavebeenrelatedto monthsand1082mothersparticipatingat35months.Twopercent(22)
emotionandbehaviordysregulationinchildren(Evans,2004;Mistry ofprimarycaregiversintheoriginalsamplechangedfrom24monthsto
et al., 2002) and physiological markers of stress in children 35months.Thesampleinthepresentstudyincludedparticipantswho
(Evans&English, 2002). For example, a natural experiment on the haddataontheobservedchildvariablesinthepuzzletasksat24or35
impact of family economic strains found relaxed family economic monthsorbothtimepoints.Primarycaregiversweretypicallymothers,
strainswererelatedtodecreasesinchildconductproblems8yearsafter but insomecases, theprimary caregiverwas eithera fatherora re-
the initial assessment of children at the age of 9–13 years (Costello, lative.Themeaneducationlevelfortheprimarycaregiverat2months
Compton,Keeler,&Angold,2003). was14.42(SD=2.82)witharangeof6–22yearsofeducation.The
Manystudieshavefocusedonchildrenofolderageslivinginpov- meanincome-to-needsratioat6monthswas1.81(SD=1.71)witha
erty and have emphasized the meditational role of parenting in the rangeof0–16.49.Income-to-needsratio(INR)meanstheratiobetween
relationshipbetweenperceivedeconomicpressureandchildoutcomes familyincomeandthefederalpovertythresholdforagivenyear.Inthe
(e.g., Bradley&Corwyn, 2002; Conger, Conger,&Martin, 2010; Family Life Project, an INR below 1 was defined as “poor”; an INR
McLoyd,1990).However,parentingmediationmightnotfullyexplain between1and2wasdefinedas“nearpoor”,andanINRabove2was
theassociationbetweenfamilyeconomicstrainsandchildoutcomes.A defined as “not poor” (Garrett-Peters&Mills-Koonce, 2013). Higher
cross-generation study demonstrated that besides the mediation by INRindicatesmoreincomerelativetoneeds(i.e.,lesspoor).Amongthe
parentingfactors,familyeconomicstrainsstillhadadirectassociation childparticipants,51%weremale,and43%wereAfricanAmericans
withobservedprosocialbehavior,receptivevocabulary,andacademic and56%wereEuropeanAmericans.
success of children of 2–6 years old (Schofield et al., 2011). In the
present study, we were interested in examining the extent to which 2.2. Procedures
familyeconomicstrainswerelinkedtochildtask-orientedpatternsafter
accounting for the direct effect of infant attention and positive par- Thedatausedinthecurrentstudywerecollectedduringhomevisits
enting. whenthechildrenwere2,6,15,24,and35monthsold.At2months,
primarycaregiversreportedtheir highesteducation levels,aswellas
1.3. Thepresentstudy child gender and race. At 6 months, home visitors used the Infant
BehaviorRecord(IBR;Bayley,1969)questionnairetocollectdataon
Inthepresentstudy,ourspecificresearchquestionswere:(1)are childtemperament.At6,15and24months,homevisitorscompleted
there distinct patterns in children’s approach to challenging puzzle the Home Observation Measurement of Environment Inventory (IT-
tasks intermsoftheirbehavior,emotion,andattention?(2)towhat HOME;Caldwell&Bradley,1984),whichyieldedinformationonpar-
extent do children’s task-oriented patterns at 24 months remain the entingbehavioroftheprimarycaregivers.Theprimarycaregiversre-
same or change at 35 months? and (3) to what extent are infant at- spondedontheEconomicStrainQuestionnaire(Conger&Elder,1994)
tention, positive parenting, and perceived family economic strains at6,15,and24months.At24and35months,thechildandthepri-
duringthefirst2yearsofliferelatedtochildren’stask-orientedpatterns mary caregiver worked on three puzzles of increasing difficulty for
at 24 months and at 35 months? We first examined the patterns in about10minandwerevideotapedbyhomevisitorsforlatercodingof
children’s task-oriented behavioral, emotional, and attentional efforts childbehaviorduringthechallengingpuzzletask(Cox,1997).
at24and35monthsduringchallengingpuzzletasksinthecompanyof
parents.Wethenexaminedthetransitionsandstabilitiesinchildren’s 2.3. Measures
task-oriented patterns from 24 to 35 months. We explored whether
infant attention, positive parenting and perceived family economic 2.3.1. Indicatorsoftask-orientedpatterns
strains during the first 2 years of life were related to the patterns of Atboth24and35monthsofchildage,thesameparticipatingdyads
children’stask-orientedbehavior,emotion,andattentionat24and35 wereaskedtocompletea10-minchallengingparent-childpuzzletask,
months.Wehypothesizedtherewouldbedistincttask-orientedpatterns which involved completing three puzzles of increasing level of diffi-
inchildren’sapproachtochallengingpuzzletasksat24and35months, culty.Parentswereinformedthatthepuzzlesweremeantfortheirchild
and there would be both transitions and stabilities in these patterns tocomplete,buttheycouldhelpastheydeemednecessary.Parentsand
from24to35months.Wealsohypothesizedthatinfantattentionwould children were videotaped, and coding was done based on the video
differ forchildren in different task-oriented patterns during thechal- tapes.Childeffortsduringthepuzzletasksessionwerecodedusingthe
lengingpuzzletasksat24months(toddlerhood)and35months(pre- sixsubscalesonaparent-childinteractioncodingsystem(Cox,1997)
school). We further hypothesized a significant positive relationship adapted from a similar coding system used in the NICHD ECCRN
betweenpositiveparentingbehavior(featuredbyhighresponsiveness, (1999). The positive mood subscale assesses the degree to which the
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F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
child is generally satisfied and content during the session as shown structured interview with each of the primary caregivers and scored
through laughter, smiles, positive vocalization, and body movement. items on two subscales of the IT-HOME (Caldwell&Bradley, 1984):
The negative mood subscale assesses the degree to which the child parentalresponsivenessandparentalacceptanceofthechild.Parentalre-
frowns,fusses,cries,showshostility,dislike,orangertowardtheparent sponsivenessisameancompositeof11itemsacrossbothhomevisitors
aswellasotherdisplaysofdiscontent.Thepersistencesubscaleassesses at6,15and24months.Parentalacceptanceisameancompositeof8
the degree to which the child concentrates and is focused in his/her itemsacrossbothhomevisitorsat6,15,and24months.Inthecurrent
problem-solving efforts toward the puzzle task. The enthusiasm sub- study,apositiveparentingcompositewasmadebyaveragingthemean
scaleassessesthedegreetowhichthechildshowsinterest,eagerness, parentalresponsivenessandmeanparentalacceptancesubscalesacross
confidence, and vigor in his/her problem-solving efforts toward the the6,15,and24monthsofassessmentswithhigherscoresindicating
puzzletask.Thecompliancesubscaleassessesthedegreetowhichthe more positive parenting. The scores ranged from .40 to1. The Cron-
childfollowsparent’sdirectivesandrequestswillingly.Theaggression bach’s alpha for this composite was .69. The correlations among the
subscaleassessesthedegreetowhichthechildshowsovertorcovert subscales across time points ranged from .08 (p=.01, between 6
aggressive behavior (e.g., kicks legs, throws puzzle pieces) or vocali- monthparentalacceptanceand24monthsparentalresponsiveness)to
zations(e.g.,yells,shouts)towardobjectsorpersonsduringthepuzzle .42(p < .001,between15monthsparentalacceptanceand24months
tasksession. parentalacceptance).
This rating system was designed for coding child performance in
challenging situations (Cox, 1997). Ratings focus onboth thequality 2.3.4. Perceivedfamilyeconomicstrains
andquantityofchildperformanceandthustakefrequency,intensity, Perceived family economic strains were reported by the primary
and duration of child behavior, emotion, and attention into account. caregivers on the Economic Strain Questionnaire (Conger&Elder,
Ratings for each subscale range from 1 to 7, with 1 indicating not 1994)withsixitemsat6,15,and24monthsonalikertscaleof1–5for
characteristicofthechildand7indicatinghighlycharacteristicofthechild Items1and2andascaleof1–4forItems3–6.Item1asks“howdifficult
forthespecificsubscale.Thecomplianceandaggressionsubscalesare isitforyoutopayyourfamily’sbillseachmonth”with1being“greatdeal
measures of the behavioral aspect of child task-oriented efforts. The difficulty”and5being“nodifficultyatall”.Item2asks“generally,atthe
positive mood, negative mood, and enthusiasm subscales assess the endofeachmonth,doyouendupwith…‘with1being“notenoughto
emotionalaspectofchildtask-orientedefforts.Thepersistencesubscale makeendsmeet’and5being‘morethanenoughmoneyleftover’.ForItem
measurestheattentionalaspectofchildtask-orientedefforts.Thesesix 3–6,theratingrangesfrom1(stronglydisagree)to4(stronglyagree).One
childcodeswereusedastheindicatorsforlatentpatternsofchildren’s exampleitemis“wehaveenoughmoneytoaffordthekindofclothingwe
task-orientedeffortsduringthechallengingpuzzletask. need”.Overall,thesesixitemsmeasuretheextenttowhichtheprimary
Codersweretrainedbythefirstauthorwhoisalsooneofthemaster caregivers consider their families to be able to make ends meet and
codersofthechildsubscales. Achild-subscale mastercoderachieved whether there is enough money for family necessities such as food,
ICC at or above .90 with other master coders during training and clothing,andmedicalcare.Thevariableofperceivedfamilyeconomic
maintained such level of ICC during coding. The trainees practiced strainsisameancompositeofreversescoresfromItem1–6across6,15,
weekly coding of all the six child subscales for the assigned training and 24 months with higher scores indicating more economic strains.
cases(i.e.,completingallthesixsubscalesforoneparticipantandthen Scoresrangedfrom6to26.TheCronbach’salphaofthiscompositeis
proceeding to the next participant) and conferenced with the master .80.
codersontheassignedsetsoftrainingcases.Intercoderreliabilitywas
monitored weekly using the intraclass coefficient (ICC) between the 2.4. Analyticstrategy
traineesandthemastercoder(ICC2,1;Shrout&Fleiss,1979)untilan
ICCof.80wasachieved.IfthecodersdidnotachieveICCof.80,the Latenttransitionanalysis(LTA)isusedintheanalysis.LTAexplores
videotapeswouldberedistributedandcodedbyothercodingpairsora changeinchildren’smembershipinthelatentclassesovertimethrough
master coder. Coders were not acquainted with the participants and twosimultaneousmodelingprocesses:latentclassanalysis(LCA)and
werenotinvolvedindatacollection.Eachsubscalewascodedbytwo longitudinalmodeling(Nylund,2007).TheLCAcomponentservesasa
certifiedcoders(acertifiedcoderachievedanICCatorabove.80witha measurement modelidentifying unique patterns inchildren’s task-or-
mastercoderduringtrainingandmaintainedsuchlevelofICCduring iented behavior, emotion, and attention at 24 and 35 months. The
coding) or by one master coder. Coding differences were resolved longitudinalmodelingcomponentdescribestheshiftsortransitionsthat
throughconferencing,andtheconsensuscodeswereusedforanalysis. occurovertimeinchildren’smembershipsinthedifferentregulatory
Forthecurrentstudy,scoresonallsixsubscalesweretreatedasordinal patterns(Nylund,2007).LTAextendslatentclassanalysisinidentifying
variablestoaccount fortheordinal response scaleusedintherating regulatorypatternsandallowingformodelingdatanotonlywithina
process. Table1 shows thefrequency count ofscores foreach ofthe timepointbutalsoacrosstimepoints.Thus,utilizingLTA,wewereable
childsubscales. toexploreboththeconstellationoftheregulatorypatternsatagiven
time point and the developmental continuity and discontinuity in
2.3.2. Infantattention children’stask-orientedbehavior.
Infantattentionwasassessedbyhomevisitorsat6monthsusingthe We conducted a three-step latent transition analysis (LTA) with
11-item Infant Behavior Record (IBR; Bayley, 1969) and Blaise soft- covariate andpredictor variables inMplus 7.3(Muthén and Muthén,
ware.Itemswereratedoneithera5-pointora9-pointscalebasedon 1998Muthén&Muthén,1998-2012)toexamine(1)thenatureofchil-
the home visitors’ global observation of child behavior during two dren’s task-oriented performances at 24 and 35 months, (2) stability
homevisitsat6months.Aninfantattentioncompositewasconstructed andchangeofchildren’stask-orientedpatternsfrom24monthsto35
by averaging the raw scores from the 9-point scales for object or- months,and(3)theprediction ofinfantattention, positiveparenting
ientation, attention span, and endurance across observers and visits, behaviorduringthefirst2years,andperceivedfamilyeconomicstrains
with higher scores indicating higher infant attention. Scores ranged onchildren’stask-orientedpatternsduringthechallengingpuzzletask
from 4.50 to 24. Alpha for infant attention was .88 (Odom, Garrett- atboth24and35months.
Peters,Vemon-Feagans,&FLPInvestigators,2014). Insteponeofthethree-stepLTAprocess,wefollowedtheprocedure
recommendedbyNylund(2007),andestimatedtwo-tofive-classun-
2.3.3. Positiveparenting conditionalLTAmodelstodecidetheoptimalnumberofclassesat24
Parentingbehaviorwasassessedbasedonahomevisitwhenchil- and 35 months. For each model, threshold values for each indicator
dren were 6, 15, and 24 months. Two home visitors conducted a were constrained to be equal across occasions for each latent class,
(cid:25)(cid:25)
F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
Table1
FrequencyCountsoftheLatentPatternIndicators.
PuzzleTaskSubscales 1Notcharacteristic 2 3 4Middle 5 6 7Highlycharacteristic
Compliance 24m 17 65 129 221 197 206 221
(1.61%) (6.16%) (12.22%) (20.93%) (18.66%) (19.51%) (20.93%)
35m 13 16 47 168 256 242 254
(1.31%) (1.61%) (4.72%) (16.87%) (25.7%) (24.3%) (25.5%)
Aggression 24m 703 160 112 43 24 10 4
(66.57%) (15.15%) (10.61%) (4.07%) (2.27%) (.95%) (.38%)
35m 903 53 26 7 5 0 2
(90.66%) (5.32%) (2.61%) (.70%) (.50%) (0%) (.20%)
Positivemood 24m 13 67 338 339 230 60 9
(1.23%) (6.34%) (32.01%) (32.10%) (21.78%) (5.68%) (.85%)
35m 9 47 331 378 177 43 11
(.90%) (4.72%) (33.23%) (37.95%) (17.77%) (4.32%) (1.10%)
Negative 24m 279 258 210 154 84 42 29
Mood (26.42%) (24.43%) (19.89%) (14.58%) (7.95%) (3.98%) (2.75%)
35m 424 268 190 67 36 5 6
(42.57%) (26.91%) (19.08%) (6.73%) (3.61%) (.50%) (.60%)
Enthusiasm 24m 25 130 241 267 267 106 20
(2.37%) (12.31%) (22.82%) (25.28%) (25.28%) (10.04%) (1.89%)
35m 18 66 191 319 302 85 15
(1.81%) (6.63%) (19.18%) (32.03%) (30.32%) (8.53%) (1.51%)
Persistence 24m 28 128 239 232 149 168 112
(2.65%) (12.12%) (22.63%) (21.97%) (14.11%) (15.91%) (10.61%)
35m 10 27 165 358 231 143 62
(1.00%) (2.71%) (16.57%) (35.94%) (23.19%) (14.36%) (6.22%)
Note:n=1,056at24monthsandn=996at35months.n=1,125across24and35months.
implyingthatthemeasurementmodelusedtodefinethelatentclasses zero,respectively.Forexample,iftheratioofprobabilitiesis.1,.5,1.0,
wasinvariantforthepuzzletaskdatacollectedat24and35monthsof 2.0, or 10.0, the log odds are −2.30, −0.69, 0.00, 0.69, and 2.30,
ageandthatthemeansoftheindicatorswereequaloveragesforeach respectively.Theresultsforeachequationshowhowthelogoddsof
latent class in the model. The model selection criteria include the belongingtoaspecificcategoryorpatternversusthebaselinecategory
Bayesianinformationcriterion(BIC;Schwartz,1978)andadjustedBIC, varyasafunctionoftheindependentvariablesintheequation.Once
Akaike’s information criterion (AIC; Akaike, 1973), and entropy theequationsforthethreelogoddsareestimated,theresultscanbe
(Shannon,1948),whichmeasuresclassificationaccuracy.Inaddition, usedtoestimateequationsforallotherpairsofcategories.(seeAgresti,
themodel-impliedresponseprobabilitiesandmodel-impliedmeansfor 2007foradditionalinformationaboutBCLTMs).
theindicatorswereinspectedforeachmodel.Theseresultsindicated The default in Mplus is to treat variables that appear only as in-
usinga4-classmodelinthesubsequentsteps.Seetheresultssectionfor dependent variables, that is, the exogenous variables, asfixed values
modelselectioncriteria. rather thanmeasured variables (Muthén&Muthén,1998-2012,p. 8).
In part A of Step two of the LTA, a 4-class LCA model with four As a result, the exogenous variables are not part of the likelihood
latent classes was estimated for the indicators at 24 months. The function and listwise deletion occurs in cases for which there are
thresholds were constrained to equal those for the indicators at 24 missing scores on any of the exogenous variables. There were some
months in Step one. In part B of Step two, a 4-class LCA model was caseswithmissingdataoninfantattention(n=31),positiveparenting
estimatedfortheindicatorsat35monthsinwhichthethresholdvalues (n=88),andparentalperceivedfamilyeconomicstrains(n=86).To
forthelatent classvariable werefixedatthevalues producedinthe avoidlistwisedeletionduetothesemissingscores,thesevariableswere
outputfromstepone.InStepthree,twobaselinecategorylogisticre- regressedonchildgenderandchildrace,forwhichdatawascomplete.
gressionmodels(BCLRMs)wereaddedtotheLTAmodel.Inthefirst, Inaddition,theresidualsintheseregressionequationswereallowedto
thedependentvariablewasthelatentclassvariableat24monthsand becorrelated.Thisanalyticalstrategybroughtthefourvariablesinto
the independent variables were child gender, child race, mother’s the likelihood function and avoided listwise deletion due to missing
education(i.e.,covariates),andinfantattention,parentingbehaviorin scores.Asaresult,thesamplesizeforthefinalstepwas1125.Sampling
thefirsttwoyears,andparentalperceivedfamilyeconomicstrains(i.e., weightswereappliedateachstepintheanalysis.
predictors).Inthesecondmodel,thedependentvariablewasthelatent
classvariableat35months.Theindependentvariablescomprisedthe
3. Results
latent class variable at 24 months and the independent variables in-
cludedinthefirstmultinomiallogisticregressionmodel.InaBCLRM
3.1. Descriptivestatistics
for K categories, where K=4 in the present study, there are K −1
equations.Therefore,foreachage,therewerethreeequations.Ineach
Response frequencies and percentages for the six child constructs
equation,thedependentvariableisalogarithmofaratiooftheprob-
(i.e., positive mood, negative mood, persistence, enthusiasm, com-
abilitiesofmembershipintwoofthecategories.Oneofthe4categories
pliance,andaggression)arepresentedinTable1.Descriptivestatistics,
is referred to as the baseline category because it provides the prob-
sample size for each independent (covariate or predictor) variable
ability in the denominator for each of the 3 equations. In Mplus, by within the study sample (n=1125), and correlation coefficients are
default,thebaselineorcontrastcategoryisthelastlatentclass.Each
reportedinTable2.Overall,boysexperiencedsomewhatlesspositive
logarithmisreferredtoasabaselinelogoddsorabaselinelogitand
parentingthangirls(r=−.08,p < .05).BeingAfricanAmericanwas
assessesthelikelihoodofbeinginaspecificcategoryversusthebaseline
related to lower maternal education, (r=−.22, p < .001), and less
category.Iftheprobabilityofbeinginthespecificcategoryissmaller,
positive parenting(r=−.44, p < .001),andmore perceived family
equalto,orlargerthantheprobabilityofbeinginthebaselinecategory
economic strains by mothers (r=.23, p < .001). Higher maternal
thenthelogoddsissmallerthanzero,equaltozero,andlargerthan
education was also related to higher positive parenting (r=.47,
(cid:25)(cid:26)
F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
Table2
DescriptiveStatisticsandBivariateCorrelationsAmongCovariates.
ChildRacea ChildGenderb Maternal Infant PositiveParenting FamilyEconomicstrains(6)
(1) (2) Education Attention (5)
(3) (4)
1 1
2 .00 1
3 −.22*** −.01 1
4 −.01 .06+ .05+ 1
5 −.44*** −.08* .47*** .09** 1
6 .23*** −.05+ −.26*** −.06* −.22*** 1
M .51 .43 14.42 17.70 .83 13.47
SD .50 .50 2.82 2.43 .11 3.57
Minimum 0 0 6 4.50 .40 6
Maximum 1 1 22 24 1 26
N 1125 1125 1125 1094 1037 1039
Note:+p<.10.*p<.05.**p<.01.***p<.001.anon-AfricanAmerican=0;AfricanAmerican=1.bgirl=0;boy=1.
p < .001), and less perceived family economic strains (r=−.26, levelsofenthusiasm.Descriptively,alowerpercentageofchildrenwere
p < .001).Higherinfantattentionwasrelatedtosomewhatmorepo- classified in the CC pattern at age 24 months compared to age 35
sitive parenting (r=.09, p < .01) as well as less perceived family months (16.89% to 46.54%). A higher percentage of children were
economicstrains(r=−.26,p < .001).Positiveparentingwascorre- classified in the PM pattern at 24 versus 35 months (36.56% vs.
lated with less perceived family economic strains (r=−.22, 34.68%), and also in the ND pattern (17.53% vs. 5.1%) and the EM
p < .001). pattern(29.01%vs.13.68%)at24monthsversus35months.
Comparisonsofmodel-implied meansacross classes indicated sig-
nificantmeandifferences in34out of36comparisons oflatent class
3.2. Task-orientedpatterns pairs onthe specific child variables (seeTable 3). Aneffectsize was
calculated for each variable on each pair of latent classes. The nu-
In Step 1, we estimated the two- to five-class unconditional LTA meratorwasthemeandifferenceandthedenominatorwasthesquare
modelstodecidetheoptimalnumberofclassesat24monthsand35
rootoftheaverageofthemodel-impliedvariancesforthetwolatent
months. Better models should have smaller values for AIC, BIC, and classesbeingcompared.ThiseffectsizeissimilartoCohen’sdandison
samplesizeadjustedBICandhigherentropyvalues.WefoundAIC,BIC, thesamescaleasCohen’sd.Theeffectsizesranged from.22forag-
and adjusted BIC values were the smallest for the 4-class solution
gressionbetweenPMandCCpatternsto4.54forenthusiasmbetween
(31715.501,32449.23,and31985.493respectively).Entropywas.80.
thePMandtheNDpatterns.Thirtyoutofthe36valuesforCohen’sd
Theseresultsindicatedfourclassesastheoptimalnumberofclassesat wereequaltoorgreaterthan.80,suggestinglargedifferencesamong
24 and 35 months. In addition, the model-implied response prob-
thefourtask-orientedpatternsonthepuzzletaskvariables.
abilitiesandmodel-impliedmeansforthepatternindicatorsweremore
interpretableforfourclassesthanfortheothernumbersofclasses.See
3.3. Transitionprobabilities
Fig.1forthemodel-impliedmeansandclassproportions.
Specifically, at each age, the four classes indicated four distinct
patternsoftask-orientedbehavioral,emotional,andattentionalefforts A major purpose of LTA is to estimate the probabilities of transi-
tioningfrom24monthsto35monthsofagebetweenlatentclasses.The
during challenging puzzle tasks in young children. The negative-dis-
estimated latent transition probabilities reported in Table 4 indicate
engaged(ND)patternhadacombinationoflowestpositivemood,en-
approximately50%stabilityinthePMandCCpatternswith54.4%and
thusiasm,persistence,andcompliancecombinedwiththehighestne-
54.2%ofchildrenwhodisplayedPMorCCpatternsrespectivelyat24
gativemoodandaggression.Thepositive-motivated(PM)patternhada
monthsmaintainingthesamepatternat35months.Therewasalsoa
combination of highest positive mood, enthusiasm, persistence, and
considerable percentage of children with a PM pattern at 24 months
compliance combined with the second lowest in negative mood and
who did not maintain the same pattern at 35 months. Most of the
aggression. The content-compliant (CC) pattern and the emotional-
mixed (EM) pattern differed most on negative mood and compliance childrenwhohadaPMpatternat24monthsbuttransitionedtoanew
pattern at35months, transitioned into theCCpattern (35.9%); very
with the latter showing much higher negative mood and lower com-
fewtransitionedintotheNDpattern(0.7%)ortheEMpattern(9.1%).
pliance than the former pattern. These two patterns showed similar
ForchildrenwithaCCpatternat24months,manytransitionedintothe
PM pattern (35.4%) and very few transitioned into the ND pattern
(3.3%) or the EM pattern (7.1%). There was substantial change for
childrenwithanEMpatternat24months.About16.4%ofthemre-
mainedinthesamepatternat35months,but48.3%and28.1%ofthem
transitioned into the CC and PM patterns respectively. Only a small
percentageofthemtransitionedintotheNDpattern(7.2%).Therewas
also substantial change for children inthe NDpattern at 24months.
Only17.7%ofchildrenwhostartedwiththeNDpatternat24months
remainedinthatpatternat35monthsandsimilarpercentagestransi-
tion into the CC (32.1%), the PM (24.6%), and the EM patterns
(25.6%).
3.4. Predictorsoftask-orientedpatterns
Fig.1.Estimatedmeansandpercentagesforthefour-classperformancepatternsat24
and35months.PM=Thepositive-motivatedpattern.ND=Thenegative-disengaged
pattern.CC=Thecontent-compliantpattern.EM=theemotional-mixedpattern. Resultsforpredictionoftask-orientedpatternsareshowninTable5
(cid:25)(cid:27)
F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
Table3
EffectSizeforComparisonsofLatentClassesonPuzzleTaskVariables.
Variable Comparison
PMvs.ND PMvs.CC PMvs.EM NDvs.CC NDvs.EM CCvs.EM
PositiveMood 2.04* 1.78* 0.96* −0.62* −1.22* −0.80*
Enthusiasm 4.54* 2.76* 2.10* −1.84* −2.04* −0.38
Persistence 3.12* 0.96* 1.66* −2.02* −1.46* 0.64*
Compliance 3.52* 0.26* 2.16* −3.14* −1.68* 1.78*
NegativeMood −2.08* 0.24 −1.66* 2.26* 0.90* −1.94*
Aggression −1.40* 0.22* −1.02* 1.44* 0.80* −1.12*
*Significantmeandifferenceatα=.05.
Table4 (i.e., higher probabilities) of being in the PM pattern versus the EM
Estimatedlatenttransitionprobabilityinchildren’stask-orientedpatternsfrom24to35 pattern(b=5.13,p < .001,bz=.51).Havinglowerinfantattention
months. wasrelatedtohigherlogodds(i.e.,higherprobabilities)ofbeinginthe
ND versus the EM pattern (b=−.17, p < .01, b =.40). And less
PM(35Mo) ND(35Mo) CC(35Mo) EM(35Mo) z
perceivedeconomicstrainswasrelatedtohigherlogodds(i.e.,higher
PM(24Mo) 54.4% 0.7% 35.9% 9.1% probabilities)ofbeingintheCCversustheEMpatternat24months
ND(24Mo) 24.6% 17.7% 32.1% 25.6% (b=−.10,p < .01,b =−.36).
z
CC(24Mo) 35.4% 3.3% 54.2% 7.1% Wealso examinedthe additional predictor effects withother pat-
EM(24Mo) 28.1% 7.2% 48.3% 16.4%
terns as the contrast patterns. Specifically, with the ND pattern as a
Note: PM=The positive-motivated pattern. ND=The negative-disengaged pattern. contrast pattern at 24 months, children with higher infant attention,
CC=Thecontent-compliantpattern.EM=theemotional-mixedpattern.Boldarethe andmorepositiveparentinghadarelativelyhigherprobabilityofbeing
percentagesofchildrenwhoremainedinthesametask-orientedpatternsfrom24months inthePMpatternthantheNDpattern(b=.20,p < .001,b =.47;
z
to35months.Percentagesineachrowsumto100%. b=6.33,p < .001,b =.63,respectively).Also,withtheCCpattern
z
asacontrastpatternat24months,childrenwithhigherinfantattention
for 24 months and in Table 6 for 35 months. For dichotomous in-
hadrelativehigherprobabilitiesofbeinginthePMpatternthaninthe
dependent variables, unstandardized coefficients (b) with the corre-
CC pattern (b=.16, p < .01, b =.37). Further, children with less
z
sponding standard errors are reported. For the other independent
positive parenting had relative higher probabilities to be in the ND
variables,unstandardizedcoefficientswiththecorrespondingstandard
pattern(b=−4.15,p < .01,b =.42)thanintheCCpattern.At35
errors and standardized coefficients (bz) are reported. Each un- months,nosignificantpredictorzeffectsemerged.
standardized coefficientrepresentsthedifferenceinthelogodds (in-
dicatingprobabilitiesorlikelihood)forchildrenwhodifferbyonepoint
ontheindependentvariable.Basedontheresultsshowninthesecond 4. Discussion
columnofTable5,the−.54coefficientforchildgendermeansthatthe
logoddsforgirlsislowerby.54thanisthelogoddsforboys.The.03 Thisstudycontributestotheliteraturebyidentifyingdistincttask-
coefficientforinfantattentionmeansthatthelogoddsdifferby.03for oriented patterns during challenging tasks administered to young
two children who differ by one point on infant attention. Each stan- children at home in the presence of their caregivers, the transition
dardizedcoefficientrepresentsthedifferenceinthelogoddsforchil- probabilitiesofthetask-orientedpatterns,andtheeffectsofchildat-
drenwhodifferbyonestandarddeviationontheindependentvariable. tention,parentingbehavior,andperceivedfamilyeconomicstrainson
The.07standardizedcoefficientforinfantattentionmeansthatthelog children’smembershipintask-orientedpatterns.Wefoundfourdistinct
oddsdiffersby.07fortwochildrenwhodifferbyonestandarddevia- task-oriented patterns in problem-solving tasks within parent-child
tiononinfantattention.InTables5and6,werefertothenumerator dyads at 24 and 35 months: the positive and motivated (PM), the
categoryastheoutcomepatternandthedenominatorcategoryasthe compliantcontent(CC),theemotionalmixed(EM),andthenegative
contrastpattern. disengaged(ND)patterns.Wealsofoundthattherelativelymorepo-
We found some significant predictors of children’s task-oriented sitiveandadaptivetask-orientedperformancepatterns(i.e.,thePMand
patterns at 24 and 35 months after child gender, race and maternal CCpatterns)tendedtobemorestable,buttherelativelydisadvantaged
educationwerecontrolled.At24months,withtheEMpatternasthe patterns (i.e., ND and EM patterns) had much more variability and
contrastpattern,morepositiveparentingwasrelatedtohigherlogodds changefrom24to35months.Wefurtherfoundsignificanteffectsof
infant attention, positive parenting, and family economic strains on
Table5
Unstandardizedcoefficientsaandstandardizedcoefficientsbforthecovariateandpredictoreffectson24-monthtask-orientedpatternwithdifferentreferencegroups.
OutcomePattern PM24m ND24m CC24m
ContrastPattern EM ND CC EM CC EM
Childgender −.54*(.21) −.56*(.24) −.04(.25) .02(.25) .52+(.28) −.50+(.28)
Childrace .08(.23) −.46+(.27) −.76**(.25) .55*(.27) −.30(.29) .84**(.28)
Maternaleducation .08+(.05).23 .11*(.05).32* .04(.05)(.12) −.03(.05)−.12 −.07(.05)−.20 .04(.05).12
Infantattention .03(.04).07 .20***(.05).47*** .16**(.05).37** −.17**(.06)−.40** −.04(.06)−.09 −.13*(.06)−.30*
Positiveparenting 5.13***(1.37).51* 6.33***(1.39).63*** 2.18(1.63).22 −1.19(1.22)−.12 −4.15**(1.62)−.42** 2.96+(1.661).30
Perceivedfamilyeconomicstrains −.05(.04)−.18 .00(.04).00 .05(.04).18 −.05(.03)−.18 .05(.04).18 −.10**(.043)−.36**
Note:+p<.10.*p<.05.**p<.01.***p<.001.aStandarderrorswereprovidedinthebracketsaftertheunstandardizedcoefficients.bStandardizedcoefficientswereprovided
forcontinuespredictorsafterstandarderrors.N=1125.Thesamelatentclasspair(e.g.,PMvs.ND)withtheoutcomepatternasthecontrastpattern(i.e.,NDvs.PM)havethesame
estimatedcoefficientwiththeoppositesignsandarenotrepeatedinthetable.
(cid:25)(cid:28)
F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
Table6
Unstandardizedcoefficientsaandstandardizedcoefficientsbforthecovariateandpredictoreffectson35-monthtask-orientedpatternwithdifferentreferencegroups.
OutcomePattern PM35m ND35m CC35m
Contrastpattern ND CC EM CC EM EM
Childgender −.79*(.37) .40*(.19) −.19(.29) 1.20***(.36) .60(.41) −.59*(.29)
Childrace −.27(.36) −.19(.21) .17(.30) .08(.35) .45(.40) .37(.30)
Maternaleducation −.05(.08)−.14 .04(.04).12 .10*(.05).29* .09(.07).26 .15+(.08).43+ .06(.05).17
Infantattention .08(.07).19 −.02(.04)−.05 .04(.06).09 −.10(.07)−.23 −.05(.08)−.12 .06(.05).14
Positiveparenting 2.66(1.81).27 1.66(1.24).17 2.41(1.57).24 −1.11(1.68)−.10 −.25(1.80)−.03 .75(1.45).08
Perceivedfamilyeconomicstrains −.05(.06)−.18 −.02(.03)−.07 −.04(.04)−.14 .03(.06).11 .01(.06).04 −.01(.04)−.04
Note:+p<.10.*p<.05.**p<.01.***p<.001.N=1125.aStandarderrorswereprovidedinthebracketsaftertheunstandardizedcoefficientsbStandardizedcoefficientswere
providedforcontinuespredictorsafterstandarderrors.Thesamelatentclasspair(e.g.,PMvs.ND)withtheoutcomepatternasthecontrastpattern(i.e.,NDvs.PM)havethesame
estimatedcoefficientwiththeoppositesignsandarenotrepeatedinthetable.
children’stask-orientedpatternsat24months. toadditional empiricalinvestigation. Testing differentdevelopmental
Thefindingoffourdistinctandconsistenttask-orientedpatternsat sequelae of the different task-oriented patterns in early childhood as
both toddler and preschool ages suggests thatasearly asthetoddler relatedtoschoolreadinessandadjustmentinfutureresearchmayhelp
age,differentchildrenhavedifferentconstellationsofbehavior,emo- earlychildhoodservicestailorsupportforchildrenwithdifferenttask-
tion,andattentioninchallengingproblem-solvingtasksinthepresence orientedpatterns.Forexample,forchildrenwithaPMpattern,itmay
ofacaregiverathome.Thesedifferentconstellationsreflectchildren’s beimportanttoadjustthelevelofchallengeswithencouragementto
differentpatternsofearlycapacitiesandqualitieswithwhichtheyac- sustaintheirinterest,persistence,andtaskcommitmentinconsidera-
commodate and adapt to age-appropriate challenges. Understanding tion of the “Yerkes-Dodson law” (Yerkes&Dodson, 1908) that mod-
patterns of efforts in adapting to age-appropriate challenges may be eratelevelofarousalpromotesbestperformance.Forchildrenwithan
relevanttounderstandingtheirlatereffortinacademicsettingswhere ND pattern, it may be important to direct scaffolding efforts toward
challengesareexpectedforlearningtooccur.Indeed,extantliterature enhancingtheirregulatorycapacitiesinbehavior,emotion,andatten-
hasprovidedevidencesupportingthatdiscretecapacitiesandqualities tion (Hammond, Muller, Carpendale, Bibok,&Liebemann-Finestone,
arerelatedtoschoolreadiness.Forexample,children’sabilitytofocus 2012).ForchildrenwithaCCpattern,theymightnotshowexceptional
attentionandpersistinchallengingtasksisrelatedtopositiveeduca- performanceonachallengingproblem-solvingtaskorgaintheatten-
tionaloutcomes(e.g.,Berhenkeetal.,2011;McDermottetal.,2014). tion of teachers for misbehavior, but they may benefit from teacher
Children who exhibit self-control and who follow directions and be- effortstomotivatetheirenthusiasmandpersistenceduringchallenging
haviorexpectationsindevelopmentallyappropriatecontextsaremore problemsolvingtasks.ForchildrenwithanEMpattern,interventionsin
likelytoadoptsocietalvaluesandrules(Kochanskaetal.,2010)and regardtoemotionregulationstrategiesalongwithfosteringinterestand
benefitfromlearning.Inthisstudy,takingadvantageofaperson-or- persistence toward challenging problem solving may be necessary to
iented approach to analysis within the context of challenging puzzle preparethemforexpectationsassociatedwithformalschoolingwhere
tasks,wecontributetotheliteraturebydelineatingaholisticpicture self-regulation is emphasized and academic challenges are norms
about young children’s constellations of regulatory strengths and (Eisenberg,Valiente,&Eggum,2010).Furthertestingofthesepotential
weaknesses under challenges that may be relevant to their school prevention and intervention approaches will help elucidate the prac-
readinessandperformanceinacademicsettings. tical relevance of identifying young children’s task-oriented patterns
Specifically,childrenwiththepositivemotivated(PM)patternde- towardchallengingproblemsolvingtasks.
monstrate relativelyhighlevelsofpositivemood,enthusiasm,persis- The transition probability findings from the LTA addressed our
tenceandcomplianceandlownegativemoodandaggressionthatmay second major research question with interesting patterns of stability
representbehavioral,emotional,andattentionalregulatorycapacities and transitions. Specifically, the PM pattern was rather stable from
necessaryforschoolreadiness.Childreninthecontentcompliant(CC) toddlertopreschoolagesandveryfewchildrentransitionedintothe
pattern,whilebeingverycompliant,mightnotenjoychallengingtasks NDpattern.Thisgivesevidencethatthepositiveperformancepattern
andmightmightnotfulfilltheirfullpotentialinproblemsolvingtasks. may tend to be self-reinforcing once established, consistent with the
Childrenintheemotionalmixed(EM)pattern showhigherpositive propositionfromdevelopmentalsystemstheorythatanindividualisa
mood(ascomparedtotheCCandNDpatterns)ANDhighernegative self-organizing entity with continuity in behavior (Thelen&Smith,
mood(ascomparedtothePMandCCpatterns),whichmightindicate 2006).Itisalsolikelythattheenvironmentmighthavesupportedthe
difficulties in regulating the valence of affect and mood during chal- development of positive regulatory efforts in children as numerous
lengingproblem-solvingtasks.Childrenwiththenegativedisengaged studieshavesuggested.Forexample,Hammondetal.(2012)demon-
(ND) pattern, however, might possess relative lower levels of beha- stratethatparental scaffoldingatage3supportschildren’sexecutive
vioral,emotional,andattentionalcontrolforschoolreadiness.Children functionatage4.Ourstudyalsofoundtheeffectofpositiveparenting
who were positive and motivated and those who were content and onchildren’stask-orientedpatternsaspresentedbelow.Further,chil-
compliantmaybemorelikelytoadjustwellsociallywhentransitioning dren with a positive performance pattern might gain more positive
intokindergartenbutchildrenwhowereemotionalmixedornegative feedback, which might facilitate a positive cycle of supporting the
and disengaged could experience more emotional difficulties in tran- maintenanceofpositiveperformanceovertime.Forexample,research
sition to school. Also, given the relative high level of positive mood, ingenotype-environmentcorrelationssupportsthatchildrenmayevoke
enthusiasm, persistence, and compliance and low level of negative environmental responses given their own genotype and phenotypic
moodandaggressioninchildrenofthePMpattern,itisreasonableto behaviors(Plomin,DeFries,&Loehlin,1977;Scarr&McCartney,1983).
expect that this task-oriented pattern probably indicates regulatory WealsofoundthatmanychildrenshiftedfromtheCC,NDandEM
strengthsacrosslevelsforschoolsuccesswhereaschildrenwithCC,EM patternstothePMpatternandthepercentagesofchildrenwhoshifted
and ND patterns probably possess different levels of regulatory intotheNDandEMpatternsaremuchsmallerthanthosewhoshifted
strengthsandweaknessesthatwarrantattention. intothePMandCCpatternsfrom24to35months.Theseshifts,while
Nevertheless,thehypothesesdescribedaboveshouldbesubjected testifyingtothediscontinuityandcomplexityaspectsofdevelopment
(cid:26)(cid:19)
F.Wangetal. (cid:40)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:75)(cid:76)(cid:79)(cid:71)(cid:75)(cid:82)(cid:82)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:53)(cid:72)(cid:86)(cid:72)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:70)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:52)(cid:88)(cid:68)(cid:85)(cid:87)(cid:72)(cid:85)(cid:79)(cid:92)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:26)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:25)(cid:22)(cid:178)(cid:26)(cid:22)
according to the dynamic systems theory of development positiveemotionaltoneandcleardirectionswithtoddlersofexuberant
(Thelen&Smith, 2006), correspond well with the developmental ad- temperamenthadtoddlerswhoshowedmoreeffortfulcontrolatpre-
vancesinchildren’scapacitiesforself-controlacrossdomainsbypre- school ages as compared to mothers of exuberant toddlers who had
schoolages(e.g.,Kochansca,1993;Sroufe,1979).Thesenaturalshifts moreneutralemotionaltone andused reasoning andexplanationsto
provide evidence for the organizational perspective of development communicate with their children. Further, it should be noted that
thatbypreschoolageschildrenstarttoestablishtheirindependentself- childrenmayalsoelicitcertainparentingbehaviorswhichiscommonly
regulation abilities (e.g., Egeland et al., 2002; Kochanska, 1993). called the “child effect” on parents (Author Reference, 2013; Plomin
Therefore, it may be important to offer support or intervention for etal.,1977;Scarr&McCartney,1983).Achildwhoispersistentontask
childrenwhoarestrugglingwithestablishingtheirself-regulatoryre- withmuchenthusiasmandpositiveaffectislikelytodrawmoreposi-
pertoireintermsofbehavior,emotion,andattentionregulationstarting tiveaffectandsupportfromparentsthanachildwhoisfussy,whining,
atagethree. and resistant in engaging in a task. The occurrence of genotype-en-
The fact that a small number of children shifted from the more vironmentcorrelationinwhichchildrenevokeresponsesfromtheen-
adaptivepattern(e.g.,PMpattern)intothelessadaptivepattern(e.g., vironment has been discussed by behavioral geneticists (e.g., Plomin
NDpattern)indicatesthatthepatternshiftsarenotnecessarilyparallel etal.,1977;Scarr&McCartney,1983).Futurestudyofchildren’stask-
to the natural advances in regulatory capacities from toddler ages to oriented patterns may consider alternative parenting behaviors and
preschool ages. When negative individual or environmental events additional child factors asrelated tochildren’s behavioral, emotional
occur,whichcouldhavebeenmorelikelyinthepredominantlylow- andattentionaleffortstowardchallengingproblemsolving.
incomeruralsampleinvolvedinthepresentstudy,childrenmaylose Wefoundthatperceivedfamilyeconomicstrainsdifferentiatedthe
theinitialregulatoryadvantagesandacquireregulatorypatternsthat CCpatternversustheEMpatternsignificantly:childrenofparentswith
are not adaptive. This possibility is demonstrated in studies that ex- fewereconomicstrainsweremorelikelytobeintheCCthanintheEM
amine developmental discontinuity due to negative events. For ex- pattern.ItisworthnotingthatchildrenintheEMpatternactuallyhad
ample,Weinfield,Sroufe,andEgeland(2000)reporteddiscontinuityin significantly higher infant attention than children in the CC pattern.
attachment classification from infancy to early adulthood due to the Themajordifferencesinthesetwopatternswerethatchildreninthe
interruptionofmaternaldepression,maltreatmentexperience,andex- EMpatternhadmuchhighernegativemoodandlesscompliancethan
posuretoadversefamilyfunctioning. thoseintheCCpattern.Consideringthatfamilyeconomicadversityand
Withregardtothethirdresearchquestion,resultsontheeffectsof strainsarerelatedtoemotionandbehaviordysregulation(Evans,2004;
child attention, parenting behavior, and perceived family economic Mistry et al., 2002) and physiological markers of stress
strains on children’s membership in the task-oriented pattern at 24 (Evans&English,2002),itmaybethathighperceivedfamilyeconomic
months indicate different sources of regulatory strengths and weak- strains imply high stress in the family that interrupts children’s reg-
nesseswithinthechildandtheenvironment.Thefindingthatchildren ulationoftheirmoodandbehaviorsuchthattheirtask-orientedpattern
higherininfantattentionweremorelikelytobeinthePMpatternthan showsmorenegativemoodandnon-compliance.
intheNDandCCpatternsat24monthshelpsexplainhigherlevelsof Therewerenosignificanteffectsofthesechild,parent,andfamily
behavioral,emotional,andattentionaleffortsinthePMpatternandis variablesonchildren’stask-orientedpatternsat35monthsafterchild
consistent with the literature. Specifically, Cuevas and Bell (2014) gender, race, and maternal education were controlled and after ac-
foundthatinfantattentionat5monthsissignificantlyrelatedtohigher countingformembershipeffectsat24months.Additionalpost-hoctests
executivefunctionperformanceatagetwo,three,andfour.Infantat- of the predictor effects on children’s task-oriented patterns at 35
tention did not significantly predict membership in the PM pattern monthswithoutcontrollingforchildren’stask-orientedpatternsat24
versustheEMpatternbutdidpredicthigherprobabilityofmembership months did not yield any significant prediction. This prediction of
intheEMpatterncomparedtotheNDandCCpatterns.Thisindicates patternsat24monthsbutnotat35monthsmayhavebeenduetothe
that while the EM pattern may suggest difficulties in regulating the shortertimespanbetweencollectionofthepredictordataandthe24
valence of affect and emotion, children in this pattern may have monthspuzzletasks.Alternatively,theremightbesomeunknownde-
strength in attentional capabilities. From the positive development velopmentalorenvironmentalchangesthatoccurredbetween24and
perspective(Cabrera&theSRCDEthnicandRacialIssuesCommittee, 35monthsthatwedidnottestinourmodels.Forfutureresearch,itis
2013),thisattentionalqualitycanbedrawnupontohelpthesechildren necessarytoreplicatethepredictoreffectsonchildren’stask-oriented
movetowardbeingnotonlyattentive,butalsopositiveandmotivated patterns in early childhood to help understand the role of each pre-
inchallengingproblem-solvingsettings. dictorinchildren’stask-orientedpatternsatdifferenttimepoints.
Wealsofoundaparentingeffectinthatchildrenwithamorepo-
sitivelyratedparentingenvironmentweremorelikelytobeinthePM 4.1. Limitationsandstrengths
andCCpatternsthanintheNDandEMpatterns.Thisfindingsuggests
that more positive parenting with higher responsiveness and accep- The sample comprised rural children who lived in predominantly
tance in the first two years is related to more positive task-oriented low-incomehouseholds.Findingsfromthisstudyneedtobereplicated
patterns(e.g.,PM&CCpatterns)towardchallengingproblemsolving withsamples ofother types tovalidatefurther the task-oriented pat-
asearlyastoddlerhood. Itispossiblethatparents’abilitytorespond terns in young children and the predicting effects of child attention,
appropriatelytochildren’scuesandneedsandtheirabilitytoaccept parenting behavior, and perceived family economic strains. Second,
ratherthandisproveofchildren’sinitiativesandbehaviorsmayfacil- whilethechildvariableswerecodedinarigorouswaythatfocusedon
itate children’s curiosity, interest, persistence, and behavioral and children’s problem-solving efforts regardless of parents’ support, the
emotionregulation.Allthesefacilitatedchildqualitiespavethewayfor taskwasadministeredinthepresenceoftheparent.Withoutparents
a well-coordinated positive motivated task-oriented pattern under present,children’stask-oriented efforts mightdiffergiventhelackof
challengingproblem-solvingtasks.Supportingmaternalresponsiveness availableexternalresourcesandsupportinthepresenceofachallen-
toandacceptanceofchildren’sbehaviorinthefirsttwoyearsmaybe ging task. It is their internalized skills and independent efforts that
importantdirectionsinearlyinterventionservicestohelpsupporttheir matterthemostinnavigatingtheirchallenges,theskillsandeffortsthat
children’s behavioral, emotional and attentional regulation when are likely to beemphasized in academic learning where children are
workingtowardchallengingtasks. expected to grow and adapt as independent problem solvers. Future
Other studies have also considered how parental factors may in- replicationmaybeneededtoexaminechildren’stask-orientedefforts
teract with child factors in predicting child outcomes. For example, duringproblem-solvingtaskswithoutthepresenceofparents.Further,
Cipriano and Stifter (2010) reported that parents who showed a thecurrentstudyfocusesonidentifyingdistincttask-orientedpatterns
(cid:26)(cid:20)
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