Effects of INSIGHTS on Children with High Maintenance Temperaments
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Early Childhood Research Quarterly 30 (2015) 128–139 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Early Childhood Research Quarterly Getting a good start in school: Effects of INSIGHTS on children with high maintenance temperaments a,∗ b a a Meghan P. McCormick , Erin E. O’Connor , Elise Cappella , Sandee G. McClowry a Department of Applied Psychology, New York University, United States b Department of Teaching and Learning, New York University, United States a r t a b i s c l e i n f o t r a c t Article history: This study investigated the efficacy of INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament (INSIGHTS) in supporting the Received 19 March 2014 behaviors and engagement of low-income kindergarten and first-grade children with high-maintenance Received in revised form temperaments. INSIGHTS is a temperament-based social–emotional learning intervention that includes 22 September 2014 teacher, parent, and classroom programs. Participants in the study included N = 435 children (Mean Accepted 3 October 2014 age = 5.38 SD = 0.61) from 22 under-resourced, urban elementary schools who were randomly assigned Available online 14 October 2014 to INSIGHTS or a supplemental after-school reading program. Sixty-nine children were identified as having a high-maintenance temperament, characterized by low levels of task persistence and high Keywords: Temperament levels of motor activity and negative reactivity. Individual growth modeling showed that children with high-maintenance temperaments in INSIGHTS evidenced faster reductions in disruptive behav- Social–emotional learning Intervention iors and off-task behaviors across kindergarten and first grade than their peers in the supplemental Disruptive behaviors reading program. Such children in INSIGHTS also had lower overall levels of both disruptive behaviors Engagement and off-task behaviors and higher levels of behavioral engagement than children in the comparison group at the end of first grade. Intervention effects for children with high-maintenance temperaments were partially mediated through improvements in their relationships with their teachers. Implica- tions for social–emotional learning intervention for high-risk children and early educational policy are discussed. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction temperamental characteristics and classroom engagement may be particularly problematic for low-income, urban children who are Young children who exhibit disruptive behaviors and are dis- already at substantial risk for poor social–emotional development engaged in the classroom have fewer opportunities to learn. (Herman, Trotter, Reinke, & Ialongo, 2011). Consequently, they are at-risk to achieve lower levels of academic Early intervention is needed to support children at risk for aca- skills than their engaged, non-disruptive peers (Raver, Garner, demic problems (Bossaert, Doumen, Buyse, & Verschueren, 2011). & Smith-Donald, 2007). Given evidence that up to one third of Social–emotional learning (SEL) programs intervene on an inter- students fail to learn because of psychosocial problems, behav- related set of children’s cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills ioral issues in early elementary school settings have widespread known to be critical for successful academic performance (Zins & implications (Epstein, Atkins, Cullinan, Kutsch, & Weaver, 2008). Elias, 2007). While some SEL programs focus directly on students, One group of children at special risk for disruptive behaviors and others – particularly those targeting young children – also sup- poor behavioral engagement are children with high-maintenance port teachers in being more responsive to their students (Bierman temperaments (Connor, Rodriguez, Cappella, Morris, & McClowry, et al., 2014; Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Stoolmiller, 2008). Providing 2012). As described by McClowry (2002), such children have emotional support in the classroom can assist children in meet- temperaments low in task persistence and high in negative reac- ing the new environmental demands imposed by school (Curby, tivity and motor activity. Negative associations between these Rimm-Kaufman, & Ponitz, 2009). Temperament theory is a helpful framework for understanding why and how children differ in their responses to school. Temper- ∗ ament is a rubric that refers to the consistent reaction style that Corresponding author at: New York University, Applied Psychology Department, an individual exhibits across a number of settings, particularly in 246 Greene Street, New York, NY 10003, United States. Tel.: +1 2015721613. E-mail address: [email protected] (M.P. McCormick). response to stress or change (McClowry, 2014). Intervention based http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.10.006 0885-2006/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. M.P. McCormick et al. / Early Childhood Research Quarterly 30 (2015) 128–139 129 on temperament theory seeks to enhance the fit between a child’s development (DuPaul et al., 2004). Moreover, transactional theo- temperament and the environment. Responsive teaching and ries of development suggest that early disruptive behaviors and parenting strategies are implemented to assist children in poor engagement can cause disruption in multiple life domains meeting environmental expectations. In other words, although over time, thus, increasing the risk for negative life outcomes temperament itself is not the target of intervention, the envi- such as aggression and delinquency (Bradshaw, Schaeffer, Petras, ronment is modified to appropriately respond to a child’s & Ialongo, 2010). temperament. There is evidence that teacher–child relationship quality may INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament (INSIGHTS) is a universal help explain part of the association between high-maintenance SEL intervention with behavioral supports that integrates theory, temperament and maladaptive behaviors in school (Leflot, van research, and clinical strategies in its teacher, parent, and class- Lier, Verschueren, Onghena, & Colpin, 2011). Rooted in attachment room programs. The curricula for the programs are summarized theory, teacher–child relationship quality can be conceptual- in Appendix A and explained more fully in O’Connor, Cappella, ized as the presence of closeness (i.e., consistent warm, positive McCormick, & McClowry, 2014. In brief, using a temperament inter- interactions that encourage communication) and the absence of ventionist perspective, INSIGHTS aims to enhance the fit between conflict (i.e., consistent antagonistic, disharmonious interactions) children’s temperaments and their immediate environments at between teachers and students (O’Connor & McCartney, 2007). school and at home. INSIGHTS has shown evidence for efficacy in Temperament and ecological theories suggest that when chil- three prevention trials (O’Connor, Rodriguez, Cappella, Morris, & dren form close and non-conflictual relationships with teachers, McClowry, 2012; O’Connor et al., 2014). In the most recent study, there is likely to be goodness of fit between their temper- we found evidence of positive effects on teaching practices and ament and the relational environment of the classroom and classroom behavioral engagement (Cappella et al., in press) as well school (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998; Zentner & Shiner, 2012). as student attention and math and reading achievement (O’Connor, Recent work demonstrates that, regardless of child temper- Cappella, McCormick, & McClowry, in press). The effects of the ament, teacher–child relationship quality in early elementary intervention were consistent across children. However, because school is associated with fewer problem behaviors (O’Connor, INSIGHTS is temperament-based, the next logical step in testing Dearing, & Collins, 2011) and more adaptive behavioral engage- the intervention theory is to examine differential effects based on ment (Roorda, Koomen, Spilt, & Oort, 2011) within and across various temperament types. Indeed, we already found that kinder- time. Wu, Hughes, and Kwok (2010) found that longitudinal asso- garten children with shy temperaments in INSIGHTS demonstrated ciations between teacher–child relationship quality and behaviors more rapid growth in math and critical thinking skills than their are particularly critical for high-risk students in urban elementary peers who were not shy (O’Connor et al., in press). Magnified effects schools. were partially mediated by increases in behavioral engagement – Additionally, in a recent study using the NICHD Study of a behavior that is particularly challenging for children with shy Early Child Care and Youth Development, Rudasill, Niehaus, Buhs, temperaments. and White (2013) found that teacher–child relationship conflict The next step for this work is to consider whether children in early elementary school fully mediated the effect of having with high-maintenance temperaments benefit differentially from a difficult temperament (defined as high motor activity, high the INSIGHTS intervention. A high-maintenance temperament is anger/frustration, low approach, and low inhibitory control) on similar to Thomas and Chess (1977) description of a difficult aggressive behaviors, peer victimization, relational aggression, child, but reframed with a more neutral label. Using data on and prosocial peer interactions in third grade. Taken together, the temperament styles of 883 school-aged children, McClowry empirical findings suggest that the goodness of fit between (2002) conducted a series of factor analyses that identified the the student and his or her environment can be enhanced by