PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K Schoff

Publications and source records attributed to K Schoff.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Interpersonal problem solving in preschool and first grade: developmental change and ecological validity.

Examined problem-solving strategies, their correlation with multiple-informant ratings of behavior problems and social competence, and developmental change over a 2-year period. Shure's (1999) model targets children's production of alternative solutions to interpersonal problems. Others have found that solution quality correlates more highly with adjustment. Children (N = 208, M age = 60 months) completed the Preschool Interpersonal Problem Solving (PIPS) task in Head Start and again 2 years later. Many children achieved substantial gains in problem-solving skill as measured by PIPS. The prosocial or forceful quality of children's responses correlated with observational, caregiver, and teacher ratings of behavior problems and social competence. Quality of response appeared more important than solution quantity in predicting ecologically valid behaviors, implying that interventions should concentrate on response content more than quantity.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Family instability and the problem behaviors of children from economically disadvantaged families.

This longitudinal study examined the relation between family instability and the problem behaviors of children from economically disadvantaged families. Family instability was assessed when the children were ages 5 and 7 and included number of residence changes, changes of intimate caregiver relationships, and recent negative life events. The results showed direct concurrent relations between family instability and preschool children's externalizing behavior in the context of other family process variables, relations between subsequent family instability and 1st-grade children's internalizing behavior (i.e., with preschool behavior ratings controlled), and an effect for persistent instability across grade. Moderator effects were also found for child variables, including gender, temperamental adaptability, and prior externalizing scores.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

The relations between cluster indexes of risk and promotion and the problem behaviors of 6- and 7-year-old children from economically disadvantaged families.

This study examined the relations between alternative representations of poverty cofactors and promotion processes and teacher reports of the problem behaviors of 6- and 7-year-old children from economically disadvantaged families (N = 159). The results showed that single-index representations of risk and promotion variables predicted child aggressive behaviors but not child anxious/depressed behaviors. An additive model of individual risk indicators performed similarly. Smaller indexes representing clusters of parent adjustment variables and family instability variables, however, differentially predicted aggressive and anxious/depressed behaviors, respectively. The results suggest the importance of promotion processes and of representing environmental adversity at varying levels of specificity for children from economically disadvantaged families.

Caregivers↗

Contextual risk, caregiver emotionality, and the problem behaviors of six- and seven-year-old children from economically disadvantaged families.

This study explored the relations between additive and cumulative representations of contextual risk, caregiver emotionality, child adaptability, and teacher reports of the problem behaviors of 6- and 7-year-old children (N = 155) from economically disadvantaged families. The results showed relations between both risk representations and child problem scores and provided evidence that the relation for cumulative risk may be moderated by caregiver negative emotionality and caregiver positive emotionality and partially mediated by child adaptability. The results suggest the importance of exploring alternative representations of contextual risk and the conditions under which contextual risk influences child behavior.

Adaptation, Psychological↗