Obradović Jelena
Stanford University School of Education 485 Lasuen Mall Stanford, CA 94305-3096.
J Appl Dev Psychol. 2010 Mar;31(2):109-117. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2009.09.004.
Homeless children show significant developmental delays across major domains of adaptation, yet research on protective processes that may contribute to resilient adaptation in this highly disadvantaged group of children is extremely rare. This study examined the role of effortful control for adaption in 58 homeless children, ages 5-6, during their transition to school. Effortful control skills were assessed using children's performance on four standard executive functioning tasks. Adaptive functioning was assessed by teacher report of academic competence, peer competence, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Variable-focused and person-focused results indicate that effortful control may be an important marker of school readiness and resilience. Controlling for child IQ, parenting quality, and socio-demographic risks, effortful control emerged as the most significant predictor of all four salient developmental domains of adaptation as well as of resilient status of homeless children. Implications of these findings are discussed for future research and design of interventions.
无家可归儿童在主要适应领域存在显著的发育迟缓，但对于可能有助于这一极度弱势儿童群体实现适应性恢复力的保护机制的研究却极为罕见。本研究调查了58名5至6岁无家可归儿童在入学过渡期间，努力控制能力对其适应能力的作用。通过儿童在四项标准执行功能任务中的表现来评估努力控制技能。通过教师对学业能力、同伴能力以及内化和外化症状的报告来评估适应功能。聚焦变量和聚焦个体的结果表明，努力控制可能是入学准备和恢复力的重要标志。在控制了儿童智商、养育质量和社会人口风险因素后，努力控制成为无家可归儿童所有四个显著适应发展领域以及适应恢复力状态的最显著预测因素。本文讨论了这些研究结果对未来研究和干预设计的启示。
