Development in the Preschool Years

Development in the Preschool Years: Birth to Age Five reports a prospective longitudinal analysis of influences on development in the years from birth to age five. While speculation on the ways in which young children grow tends to be in terms of generalities, this volume emphasizes the role of empirical data in such discourse, and attempts to relate observations to an antecedent set o f quantitative findings. At a more particular level, the investigation considers six aspects of development: motor, intellectual, language, somatic, social, and physical development. The book is organized into three parts. The first part contains chapters that review of the corpus of longitudinal studies, specific approaches, and recent research; and describe the methods used to generate and analyze the data. The second part provides multivariate regression analyses of the data in six domains while the third part presents a discussion of the findings. The fundamental intent of this investigation is to make a contribution to policy formation for the early years of life.

Preface1 Old Man River's Children Introduction The River and the People The Metropolitan Area2 Longitudinal Studies Terminology Retrospective Study Prospective Study Case Studies and Small Sample Studies Contemporary Design Archival Studies3 Procedures Introduction The Cohort Variables Gathering and Processing Data Data Subsets Data Analysis4 Motor Development Introduction Motor Development Hypotheses Measures Results Discussion5 Intellectual Development Introduction Intellectual Development Hypotheses Measures Results Discussion6 Language Development Introduction Language Development Hypotheses Measures Results Discussion7 Somatic Development Introduction Somatic Development Hypotheses Measures Results Discussion8 Social Development Introduction Social Development Hypotheses Measures Results Discussion9 Physical Development Introduction Measures Physical Development Hypotheses Results-Height Results-Weight Discussion10 Discussion Regression Models and Variance Stages of Development Comparative Influences Influences on Child DevelopmentBibliographyAuthor IndexSubject Index