Abstract
Children's reading success throughout elementary school can be predicted from their emergent literacy skills, behavior, and temperament. The mechanism linking these constructs is complex; the goal of this study was to use latent variable models to test whether the relation between temperament and emergent literacy was mediated by externalizing behavior. Children (N = 211) completed a battery of tests assessing their emergent literacy, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, oppositional defiant behavior, positive reactivity, negative reactivity, and effortful control. In addition, adults rated children's temperament (parents and teachers) and externalizing behavior (parents, teachers, and examiners). Limitations of the measures used in this study, which are discussed at length, precluded use of planned analyses. Results from simplified analyses indicated that, in general, inattention mediated the relations between negative reactivity and effortful control with definitional vocabulary and phonological awareness.
|
