Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Middle Childhood: Contexts of Development
- 2 The Significance of Middle Childhood Peer Competence for Work and Relationships in Early Adulthood
- 3 Aggression and Insecurity in Late Adolescent Romantic Relationships: Antecedents and Developmental Pathways
- 4 Middle Childhood Family-Contextual and Personal Factors as Predictors of Adult Outcomes
- 5 Genetic and Environmental Influences on Continuity and Change in Reading Achievement in the Colorado Adoption Project
- 6 Reciprocal Effects of Mothers' Depression and Children's Problem Behaviors from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence
- 7 Middle Childhood Life Course Trajectories: Links Between Family Dysfunction and Children's Behavioral Development
- 8 The Contribution of Middle Childhood Contexts to Adolescent Achievement and Behavior
- 9 Educational Tracking Within and Between Schools: From First Grade Through Middle School and Beyond
- 10 School Environments and the Diverging Pathways of Students Living in Poverty
- 11 The Relations of Classroom Contexts in the Early Elementary Years to Children's Classroom and Social Behavior
- 12 Out-of-School Time Use During Middle Childhood in a Low-Income Sample: Do Combinations of Activities Affect Achievement and Behavior?
- 13 Low-Income Children's Activity Participation as a Predictor of Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes in Middle Childhood and Adolescence
- 14 Healthy Mind, Healthy Habits: The Influence of Activity Involvement in Middle Childhood
- 15 Media Effects in Middle Childhood
- 16 Continuity and Discontinuity in Middle Childhood: Implications for Adult Outcomes in the UK 1970 Birth Cohort
- 17 Mandatory Welfare-to-Work Programs and Preschool-Age Children: Do Impacts Persist into Middle Childhood?
- 18 Effects of Welfare and Employment Policies on Middle-Childhood School Performance: Do They Vary by Race/Ethnicity and, If So, Why?
- 19 Effects of a Family Poverty Intervention Program Last from Middle Childhood to Adolescence
- 20 Experiences in Middle Childhood and Children's Development: A Summary and Integration of Research
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
16 - Continuity and Discontinuity in Middle Childhood: Implications for Adult Outcomes in the UK 1970 Birth Cohort
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Middle Childhood: Contexts of Development
- 2 The Significance of Middle Childhood Peer Competence for Work and Relationships in Early Adulthood
- 3 Aggression and Insecurity in Late Adolescent Romantic Relationships: Antecedents and Developmental Pathways
- 4 Middle Childhood Family-Contextual and Personal Factors as Predictors of Adult Outcomes
- 5 Genetic and Environmental Influences on Continuity and Change in Reading Achievement in the Colorado Adoption Project
- 6 Reciprocal Effects of Mothers' Depression and Children's Problem Behaviors from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence
- 7 Middle Childhood Life Course Trajectories: Links Between Family Dysfunction and Children's Behavioral Development
- 8 The Contribution of Middle Childhood Contexts to Adolescent Achievement and Behavior
- 9 Educational Tracking Within and Between Schools: From First Grade Through Middle School and Beyond
- 10 School Environments and the Diverging Pathways of Students Living in Poverty
- 11 The Relations of Classroom Contexts in the Early Elementary Years to Children's Classroom and Social Behavior
- 12 Out-of-School Time Use During Middle Childhood in a Low-Income Sample: Do Combinations of Activities Affect Achievement and Behavior?
- 13 Low-Income Children's Activity Participation as a Predictor of Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes in Middle Childhood and Adolescence
- 14 Healthy Mind, Healthy Habits: The Influence of Activity Involvement in Middle Childhood
- 15 Media Effects in Middle Childhood
- 16 Continuity and Discontinuity in Middle Childhood: Implications for Adult Outcomes in the UK 1970 Birth Cohort
- 17 Mandatory Welfare-to-Work Programs and Preschool-Age Children: Do Impacts Persist into Middle Childhood?
- 18 Effects of Welfare and Employment Policies on Middle-Childhood School Performance: Do They Vary by Race/Ethnicity and, If So, Why?
- 19 Effects of a Family Poverty Intervention Program Last from Middle Childhood to Adolescence
- 20 Experiences in Middle Childhood and Children's Development: A Summary and Integration of Research
- Author Index
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
There is a large body of evidence pointing to the importance of the early years of life, in laying the foundations for later childhood development and adult outcomes. The early years – by which we mean the period from birth to age 5 – encompass infancy and the preschool period before kindergarten and formal schooling begin. It is a period of far greater change in apparent abilities, propensities, and physical constitution and brain development than at any other time (Caviness, Philipek, & Kennedy, 1993). The basic elements of cognitive and behavioral functioning are set down during this period as are the more intangible elements of development bound up with “risk” and “protection” (Rutter, 1990; Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, & Maritato, 1997; Bynner, 2001; Schoon et al., 2002). These include family circumstances and the behavior and values of parents as well as the individual attributes of children concerned with disposition and temperament through which personality is formed. Such characteristics lie at the heart of children's resilience or vulnerability to adversity on which much subsequent success will depend.
For these reasons, much attention has been given to interventions in the early years that halt or reverse the negative processes that will impede performance on entry into school. Such initiatives as Early Head Start in the United States and Sure Start in Great Britain (Glass, 1999) reflect the well-established belief in policy circles that the earlier intervention begins, the greater the returns to government investment, reinforcing the personal and external resources that children bring with them into the school age period (Schweinhart, Barnes, & Weikart, 1993).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Developmental Contexts in Middle ChildhoodBridges to Adolescence and Adulthood, pp. 327 - 349Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
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