VOLUME 112, NUMBER 5: 375–391 円 SEPTEMBER 2007 AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION

Prediction of Social Skills in 6-Year-Old Children

With and Without Developmental Delays:
Contributions of Early Regulation and
Maternal Scaffolding
Jason K. Baker
The Pennsylvania State University
Rachel M. Fenning
University of California, Los Angeles
Keith A. Crnic
Arizona State University
Bruce L. Baker
University of California, Los Angeles
Jan Blacher
University of California, Riverside

Abstract
Children’s emotion dysregulation and maternal scaffolding at age 4 were examined as
predictors of social skills at age 6, for 66 children with and 106 without early developmental
delays. Observed scaffolding and regulation during frustrating laboratory tasks related to
later mother, father, and teacher social-skill ratings for children with delays and were stron-
ger predictors of social skills within this group than were developmental level and early
behavior problems. In contrast, fewer associations were found for typically developing
children, with early behavior problems providing the only unique prediction to social skills.
Data support a model in which dysregulation partially mediates the association between
developmental status and social-skill outcomes. Implications for research, prevention, and
early intervention are discussed.

Children with early developmental delays face
many challenges within the social domain. These
children engage in more solitary play, are less pre-
ferred as playmates (Guralnick & Groom, 1987;
Kopp, Baker, & Brown, 1992), and experience
more limited reciprocal friendships (Guralnick &
Groom, 1988) than do their typically developing
peers. Evidence suggests that social problems
among children with certain (e.g., mild) delays
cannot be accounted for by child developmental
level alone (Guralnick & Groom, 1987; Guralnick
et al., 1998) but may, instead, stem from deficits
in specific aspects of social behavior.
Relative to typically developing children, chil-
dren with developmental delays have been found
to exhibit poorer initiation and group entry skills
(Wilson, 1999), more negative and less adaptive
interactive styles (Guralnick et al., 1998), less pos-
itive affective displays (Kopp et al., 1992), and less
social play (Guralnick & Groom, 1987). The im-
portance of understanding the emergence of so-
cial skills among children with developmental de-

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VOLUME 112, NUMBER 5: 375–391 円 SEPTEMBER
Predicting social skills
lays is underscored by strong evidence linking
peer relations to children’s later adjustment and
psychopathology (Kuperschmidt, Coie, & Dodge,
1990; Parker & Asher, 1987), and by the vulner-
ability to social isolation observed among children
with delays (Guralnick, 1999b).
Developmental models of emergent social
competence for typical populations have empha-
sized the contributions of early parenting and
child regulatory abilities to later functioning with
peers (e.g., Dodge, 1991; Garner, Jones, & Miner,
1994; Mize & Pettit, 1997). Although related
models for children with developmental delays
have maintained the importance of early child
regulatory abilities and parent–child co-regulatory
interactions (Guralnick, 1999a), empirical investi-
gations have favored evaluation of more direct,
proximal parent and family constructs (e.g., paren-
tal arranging of socialization opportunities), and
aspects of parental cognition (e.g., attributions
Guralnick, Neville, Connor, & Hammond, 2003).
It is necessary for researchers to examine the spe-
cific contributions of early child regulation and
co-regulatory interactions to later social skills
among children with developmental delays in or-
der to provide a more comprehensive conceptu-
alization of the development of social compe-
tence in this population.
Major strides have been made in attempts to
understand specific components of processing
that may predispose children to maladaptive so-
cial outcomes (see Crick & Dodge, 1994, for a
review). Although emphasis has often been placed
upon understanding social–cognitive mecha-
nisms, increased attention has been devoted to
the interplay between emotion and cognition sys-
tems. Building upon models proposed by Dodge
and colleagues (Crick & Dodge, 1994; Dodge,
1991), Lemerise and Arsenio (2000) advocated for
the centrality of emotion processes in social in-
formation processing. Of particular relevance to
the present study, the authors suggested that in-
dividual differences in emotionality and emotion
regulation represent important biological predis-
positions that critically influence children’s pro-
cessing of social and emotional cues as well as
children’s ability to engage in decision-making
and enact selected responses. Research provides
support for the importance of regulatory abilities
to social information processing, with evidence
suggesting that children who demonstrate diffi-
culty regulating arousal during social problem-
376 䉷 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
2007 AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
solving may be particularly prone to errors in pro-
cessing (Dodge & Newman, 1981).
Many social interaction opportunities for
young children are likely to occur in the context
of emotion and to require varying degrees of child
regulation. For example, social entry situations
may be particularly difficult, thus taxing a child’s
emerging regulatory system more substantially
(Wilson, 1999). Even among typically developing
children, over half of all peer entry attempts fail
(Cosaro, 1979), suggesting that regulation is re-
quired both in anticipation and in response to
peer entry failure. Emotion regulation and emo-
tional expressiveness are separable, but closely re-
lated constructs. Thus, the role of child regulation
in social situations can also be considered in the
effect that a child’s emotional expressiveness has
on the child’s interaction partners. Children who
exhibit more happiness are often better liked by
peers (Denham, McKinley, Couchoud, & Holt,
1990; Sroufe, Schork, Motti, Lawroski, & La-
Freniere, 1985), and those who show more anger
tend to experience less popularity (Denham et al.,
1990; Rubin & Clark, 1983).
The link between child emotion regulation
and social competence has been demonstrated in
numerous studies of young typically developing
children (Blair, Denham, Kochanoff, & Whipple,
2004; Denham et al., 2003; Eisenberg, Fabes,
Guthrie, & Reiser, 2002), and Eisenberg (2001)
suggested that emotion regulation may be key to
understanding broader notions of child affective
social competence. Denham and colleagues
(2003) found that emotional competence in pre-
school predicted children’s social competence in
kindergarten. They also provided evidence that
certain links between regulation and social skills
may be stronger for children who are prone to
negative emotion. Children with developmental
delays have been found to exhibit more negative
interactive styles (Guralnick et al., 1998) and more
behavior problems (B. Baker, Blacher, Crnic, &
Edelbrock, 2002) than have their typically devel-
oping peers, underscoring the notion that the con-
struct of regulation may be particularly important
to the development of social skills in this popu-
lation. Indeed, given that children with delays ex-
perience elevated rates of social failure, these chil-
dren likely require increased arousal regulation
during peer interactions. Unfortunately, the
heightened need for adaptive regulation is accom-
panied by a decreased competency in employing
effective regulatory strategies among children with
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Predicting social skills
delays (Wilson, 1999). The result is likely to be a
downward cycle in which the social failure of chil-
dren with delays and their regulation abilities
transact over time, exacerbating difficulties within
each domain.
In the current study we examined hypotheses
that child dysregulation at age 4 would predict
later social skills at age 6 and that these relations
would be stronger for children with delays. We
investigated two forms of dysregulation in order
to discriminate between aspects of this construct:
emotional and behavioral. The definition of emo-
tion regulation and the belief in the ability to
measure it convincingly has been debated recently
(Cole, Martin & Dennis, 2004). Emotion regulation
is commonly defined as ‘‘the extrinsic and intrin-
sic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluat-
ing, and modifying emotional reactions, especially
their intensive and temporal features, to accom-
plish one’s goals’’ (Thompson, 1994, pp. 27–28).
Because the internal processes involved in emo-
tion regulation cannot be measured with behav-
ioral systems, many researchers consider the be-
havior of a child when significant emotion is
thought to be activated and make assumptions
about regulatory processes (Cole et al., 2004). One
can argue that the observable behavioral ‘‘reac-
tions’’ relevant to dysregulation can be separated
into two types: emotional reactions (i.e., behaviors
that reflect the emotion and its qualities, includ-
ing intensity, duration, and lability) and behavioral
reactions (i.e., behavioral self-management during
a significant emotional experience and how the
behavior relates to the achievement of one’s
goals). In the current study we made this delin-
eation in order to consider specific aspects of
emotion dysregulation as well as the related dys-
regulation of behavioral self-management in the
context of an emotional event.
In addition to testing the predictive potential
of early dysregulation, we also investigated the hy-
pothesis that early maternal scaffolding would re-
late to later child social skills. Early parent–child
interactions have been identified as important to
the development of social skills in typically de-
veloping children. General constructs such as pa-
rental sensitivity and responsiveness have been
linked to children’s social adjustment during the
transition to school (National Institute for Child
Health and Human Development, 2004) and
have been found to predict social skills indepen-
dently from direct social coaching (Mize & Pettit,
1997). In the current study we examined sensitiv-
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J. K. Baker et al.
ity and responsiveness, in coordination with the
provision of appropriate structure, as represented
by maternal scaffolding behaviors. The term scaf-
folding has been used largely in reference to paren-
tal involvement in children’s cognitive and/or lin-
guistic development (Vygotsky, 1978). However,
the process of scaffolding, whereby a more skilled
individual enables a child to achieve higher levels
of functioning by providing an appropriate quan-
tity and form of assistance (e.g., within the child’s
‘‘zone of proximal development’’), need not be
limited to these domains (e.g., see J. Baker &
Crnic, 2005, for a discussion of emotional scaf-
folding). We examined the process of scaffolding
as it applied to three content areas: emotional,
motivational, and technical. Scaffolding was,
therefore, conceptualized as the mothers’ ability
to sensitively co-regulate and structure their chil-
dren through reciprocal interaction, in the areas
of emotion regulation, motivation (e.g., focus,
persistence), and technical skill (e.g., problem-
solving).
Within the specific domain of emotion, par-
enting factors, such as reactions to child emotion,
expressiveness, and parent–child emotion dis-
course, have been linked to a number of child
social skills, including affective perspective-taking,
emotional understanding, and empathetic re-
sponding (Denham, Cook, & Zoller, 1992; Dunn,
Brown, & Beardsall, 1991; Eisenberg et al., 1999;
Garner et al., 1994; Halberstadt, Crisp, & Eaton,
1999; Zhou et al., 2002). Much less is known
about how parent–child interactions that are fo-
cused on the maintenance of motivation and on
the development of children’s problem-solving
abilities might relate to the development of social
skills. Research findings have suggested that chil-
dren’s nonsocial cognitive-processing abilities,
such as the capacity to maintain attention; en-
code, represent, and retrieve relevant information;
and engage in a decision-making process, provide
a foundation for children’s social–cognitive pro-
cessing (e.g., Crick & Dodge, 1994). As such, par-
ents’ ability to foster processing in nonsocial do-
mains may facilitate important developments in
skills necessary for children’s adaptive social func-
tioning.
Sensitive parental assistance in cognitive and
motivational domains may be of increased im-
portance for the development of social skills in
children with significant delays, who may struggle
with the cognitive load and information-process-
ing demands of complex social problem-solving.
377
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Predicting social skills
Indeed, in some early research focused on this is-
sue in populations with special needs, Freund and
Elardo (1978) found that ratings of parental intel-
lectual stimulation accounted for 8% of the vari-
ance in the social problem-solving of children
with learning disabilities; Herman and Shantz
(1983) reported that a composite of maternal
structuring and interactive play related to the gen-
eration of socially competent responses to hypo-
thetical social vignettes by children with mild to
moderate delays.
Parental behaviors may lay the foundation for
later social skills through their influence on child
regulation. For example, Ramsden and Hubbard
(2002) reported that parents’ ‘‘emotion-coaching’’
philosophy related to child aggression indirectly
through parental report of their 9-year-olds’ emo-
tion regulation. Eisenberg, Gershoff et al. (2001)
similarly found that child emotion regulation me-
diated the link between maternal negativity and
child social competence. It is, therefore, necessary
not only to study the contributions of early reg-
ulation and parent–child interactions to later so-
cial competence, but also to consider potential
pathways that may exist between the two predic-
tors. We predicted here that the relation between
early maternal scaffolding and later child social
skills would be partially mediated by child dysreg-
ulation.
In the current study we evaluated early child
regulatory abilities and maternal scaffolding as
predictors of later social skills among children
with developmental delays as compared to their
typically developing peers. The investigation was
designed to answer questions relating to (a) with-
in-group processes and (b) status group differences
(i.e., how processes may differ depending upon
developmental status and/or how processes may
help to explain developmental group differences).
Processes were examined longitudinally across the
important period of school entry, with develop-
mental status measured at age 3, early predictors
measured at age 4, and social skills measured at
age 6.
Previous findings from our lab, indicating
that children with developmental delays exhibit
significantly more behavior problems than do typ-
ically developing children even by age 3 (B. Baker
et al., 2002), complicate the study of regulation,
parent–child interaction, and later social skills. Be-
havior problems have been linked to child regu-
lation (Cole, Teti, & Zahn-Waxler, 2003; Eisen-
378 䉷 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
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berg, Cumberland et al., 2001), the quality of par-
ent–child interaction (Patterson, 1982; Pettit &
Bates, 1989), and important social outcomes
(Newcomb, Bukowski, & Pattee, 1993). Conse-
quently, we believed that it was necessary to ac-
count for the potential impact of child behavior
problems in examining predictors of children’s so-
cial skills.
We anticipated group differences between
children with and without developmental delays
at age 6 on social-skill measures (Hypothesis 1).
Early child regulatory abilities and parent–child
interactions were expected to relate to social skills
within each status group, and we predicted that
these relations would be stronger for children with
developmental delays (Hypothesis 2). This hy-
pothesis stems not only from aforementioned ev-
idence suggesting the increased importance of reg-
ulation and parent–child interaction for children
with delays, but also from findings suggesting that
relations between early family factors and later
child outcomes may be stronger under conditions
of risk, as in the case of prematurity (Crnic &
Greenberg, 1987) and early child behavior prob-
lems (Denham et al., 2000). In Hypothesis 3 we
predicted that associations between early predic-
tors and later social skills within the group with
delays would remain after controlling for early be-
havior problems and child developmental level.
Early child dysregulation was predicted to partial-
ly mediate the relation between early maternal
scaffolding and later social skills among children
with delays (Hypothesis 4). Next, the combined
sample was considered once again in order to test
the possibility that early dysregulation and par-
ent–child interactions would partially account for
status group differences in social skills between
children with and without developmental delays
(Hypothesis 5).
The above hypotheses were examined in line
with prior theory and in order to answer specific
questions regarding the relations between the pre-
dictors (scaffolding and child dysregulation) and
later social skills. However, we also conducted ex-
ploratory analyses in order to identify which early
factors, including the covariates, best predicted so-
cial skills within each status group over the 2-year
period. We expected that although all four factors
would predict social skills within each group, dys-
regulation and maternal scaffolding would predict
more strongly for children with delays, consistent
with Hypothesis 2 (Hypothesis 6).
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Predicting social skills
Method
Participants
The sample was drawn from an ongoing lon-
gitudinal study of children from age 3 to 9 years
that was designed to examine the emergence of
psychopathology and social competence in chil-
dren with and without developmental delays. All
participants for whom data were available at both
child ages 4 and 6 were included. Although there
were 207 families in the age 4 sample, age 6 social-
skills data were only available for 172 participants
(97 males, 75 females). The 35 families with miss-
ing data at age 6 did not differ from the families
for whom data were available on any variable of
interest. The 172 children were designated as ei-
ther typically developing or as experiencing de-
velopmental delay, based on their age 3 Mental
Development Index on the Bayley Scales of Infant
Development (85 or higher and 75 or lower, re-
spectively; Bayley, 1993). Families resided in ei-
ther Southern California or rural Pennsylvania
and were recruited through local regional centers
and preschools. Exclusion criteria for the larger
study included autism and significant neurologi-
cal and/or motor impairment.
Demographics for the full sample revealed
that 60% of mothers were Caucasian; 15%, Lati-
no; 8%, African American; 2%, Asian, and 16%
identified themselves as ‘‘other,’’ usually mixed
race. Demographic data by developmental status
group can be found in Table 1. Mothers of typi-
cally developing children achieved a significantly
higher educational grade level than did mothers
of children with delays. Family income also dif-
fered by status group, but not once maternal ed-
Table 1. Demographic Variables by Status Group
Typically developing
(n ⫽ 106)
Variable Mean/%
Mean Bayley age 3 MDIb 105.06
Mean maternal grade level completed 15.88
Family income (scale 1–7) 4.86
Mother is Caucasian (%) 68
Child is Caucasian (%) 62
Siblings in the home (%) 76
Mother is married (%) 89
a
Chi-squares are used with the percentage results. bMental Development Index.
*p ⬍ .05. **p ⬍ .01. ***p ⬍ .001.
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ucation was controlled, F (1, 168) ⫽ 1.10, p ⫽
.30. Maternal education was, therefore, covaried
in all analyses in which status group was involved.
The proportion of married to unmarried mothers
differed between status groups, but this variable
was not related to any other variable of interest
and was, therefore, not controlled. No demo-
graphic variables were related to the outcome var-
iables within either status group and were, there-
fore, not included in any within-group analyses.
Procedure
All procedures were approved by the Institu-
tional Review Boards of the three universities in-
volved. Parents visited the centers each year with
their child for lab assessments, and the current
study included the 4- and 6-year time-points.
Questionnaires were mailed to parents prior to the
6-year visit and were collected at the visit. Teacher
measures were collected in the spring quarter of
the academic year in which the 6-year assessment
was conducted rather than at the time of the
home visit, in order to standardize the amount of
exposure that the teachers had to the children.
Outline of laboratory visits. Structured labora-
tory visits occurred when each child was approx-
imately 48 months old. The full laboratory visit
at age 4 included seven segments, all involving
both the mother and child: free-play with age-ap-
propriate toys (10 minutes), a clean-up task (3
minutes), an ‘‘easy’’ problem-solving task (2 min-
utes), a ‘‘medium’’ problem-solving task (3 min-
utes), a ‘‘difficult’’ problem-solving task (5 min-
utes), snack time (5 minutes), and a wait task (5
minutes). The present study included all but the
free-play and snack activities.
Developmental
delays (n ⫽ 66)
SD Mean/% SD t/␹2a
11.63 58.76 11.16 25.78***
2.35 14.52 2.24 3.76***
1.78 4.08 1.93 2.70**
58 1.90
56 .65
66 1.57
76 4.98*
379
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Predicting social skills
Description of laboratory tasks. Task difficulty
was adjusted dependent upon developmental sta-
tus (i.e., to create a mental age [MA] equivalence,
tasks for the typically developing children were
somewhat more complex than those given to the
children with developmental delays). Mothers
were instructed to let their children try each task
on their own and then provide whatever help they
thought was necessary in order for their child to
successfully complete each task. The easy and dif-
ficult problem-solving tasks involved the child
copying a 2-dimensional design with tile blocks.
The medium problem-solving task involved the
child completing a challenging, but developmen-
tally appropriate, paper-and-pencil maze. The
clean-up task followed a free-play period. For this
task, the child was told that it was time to clean
up and that he or she should put all the toys away.
The child was left with the mother to complete
this activity.
The wait task at age 4, which resembled tasks
developed by Greenberg, Carmichael-Olson, and
Crnic (1992) and Grolnick, Bridges, and Connell
(1996), consisted of the child sitting at a table in
front of a large, attractively wrapped present. The
child was told that the present was for him or her
but that it could not be opened until the child’s
mother, who was seated beside the child, finished
completing some paper-and-pencil measures and
the experimenter returned. The child was given a
horse figurine with part of a leg broken off and
told that he or she could play with the toy during
the wait. No other toys or materials were available
to the child.
Coding of Predictor Variables
Early child dysregulation and maternal scaf-
folding were each coded from all five parent–child
tasks (the three problem-solving tasks, clean-up,
and the wait task). Detailed discussions of both
coding systems (with appendices that include an-
chor descriptions) can be found in a previous
study from our laboratory (Hoffman, Crnic, &
Baker, 2006). Brief summaries are provided below.
Regulation at age 4. Child emotion and behav-
ior dysregulation were coded using the Dysregu-
lation Coding System (Hoffman et al., 2006). The
Emotion Dysregulation subscale was adapted
from the parameters presented by Cole, Michel,
and Teti (1994). This scale was designed to mea-
sure the appropriateness of the type, duration, and
intensity of emotional expressions as well as the
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AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
lability and soothability exhibited by the child.
Emotion dysregulation ratings, therefore, involved
emotional expressions exhibited by the children,
but as Cole et al. (2004) suggested, ratings also
captured more process-level features of the ex-
pressions and their relationship to the context,
rather than simply considering the valence of the
emotional expression. The children were assigned
scores ranging from 0 (no evidence of dysregulation)
to 4 (significant dysregulation). A score of 1 reflected
a low degree of emotion dysregulation and de-
scribed individuals who (a) displayed only one or
two brief emotional expressions that were inap-
propriate to the situation and who were able to
regroup on their own or (b) displayed one or two
brief instances of emotional lability and/or vari-
ability in intensity of emotional expression and
usually recovered quickly from inappropriate
emotional experiences. In contrast, a child receiv-
ing a score of 4 showed significant dysregulation
in that he or she displayed several intense emo-
tional expressions or displayed less intense but fre-
quent emotional expressions for the majority of
the segment, was virtually unable to regroup with-
out the help of the parent, and was very labile,
showing extreme variability in the intensity of
emotion and/or very slow recovery from emotion-
al experiences.
Behavior dysregulation was coded separately
from emotion dysregulation and included instanc-
es of poor behavioral management by the child
that impeded his or her ability to complete the
task. This score included expressions of overt non-
compliance or defiant behavior and instances of
disruptive behavior. Behavior dysregulation was
coded on a scale similar to that of emotion dys-
regulation, ranging from 0 (no evidence of dysregu-
lation) to 4 (significant dysregulation). A score of 1
described a child who displayed only one or two
brief inappropriate behaviors during the segment,
with no instances of intense behavior disruption.
A score of 4 indicated that a child displayed sev-
eral intense disruptive behaviors or displayed less
intense, but frequent, disruptive behaviors for the
majority of the segment.
Hoffman et al. (2006) provided a more de-
tailed presentation of the Dysregulation Coding
System and reported reliability for the overall sys-
tem at this time point (age 4 years) at an intraclass
correlation of .90. The Emotion subscale reliabil-
ity was .79 and the Behavior subscale was .90.
Construct validity for the Dysregulation System
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Predicting social skills
within the current sample is also supported by
Hoffman et al. (2006), in that emotion dysregu-
lation was mildly to moderately related to mater-
nal scaffolding and child behavior problems.
Maternal scaffolding at age 4. Maternal scaf-
folding was measured according to the Maternal
Scaffolding Coding System (Maslin-Cole & Spiek-
er, 1990). Highly effective scaffolding involved a
mother providing the optimal level of support
and assistance necessary to allow her child to suc-
ceed beyond what the child would have been able
to achieve alone. Observers rated three dimen-
sions of scaffolding for each task: technical, mo-
tivational, and emotional. Technical scaffolding re-
flected the mother’s ability to structure the task in
such way that it was within the child’s abilities to
successfully complete it with her support. Effec-
tive technical scaffolding included providing dem-
onstrations that were well-timed and designed to
be easily understood by the child, pointing out
critical features of the task, and filling-in substeps
that were too difficult for the child, without over-
simplifying. Motivational scaffolding assessed the
mother’s ability to help the child initially become
engaged with the task and her ability to maintain
the child’s focus on, and enthusiasm for, the task.
Effective motivational scaffolding included clearly
stating the goal of the task for a child who needed
it reiterated, frequently praising and encouraging
for effort, maintaining persistence toward the end
goal even if the child started to lose focus, and
successfully refocusing a child who had become
distracted. Finally, emotional scaffolding captured
the mother’s ability to make the task a positive
experience for the child that would add to the
child’s sense of accomplishment and effectiveness.
This reflected a high degree of acceptance of and
value for the child’s attempts at the task, mainte-
nance of sensitivity toward the child’s emotional
state, shared positive emotions between parent
and child, and statements that contributed toward
the child’s sense of pride and efficacy. Each form
of scaffolding was rated on a 5-point scale ranging
from 1 (low quality scaffolding) to 5 (high quality
scaffolding). (See Hoffman et al., 2006, for further
description of this coding system.)
Construct validity for the scaffolding system
has been generated within the current sample
through its relations with parent expressiveness ( J.
Baker & Crnic, 2005) and with parental depres-
sion and child regulation (Hoffman et al., 2006).
Reliability for the present study was based on re-
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AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
view of 20% of tapes and resulted in intraclass
correlations of .84 for motivational, .87 for emo-
tional, and .90 for technical scaffolding.
Scaffolding and dysregulation were coded
from videotapes by separate teams of trained un-
dergraduates blind to the hypotheses of the study.
For each task, a parent–child dyad was assigned
three scaffolding codes (motivational, emotional,
and technical) and two child dysregulation codes
(emotion and behavior). These codes were aver-
aged over the five tasks in order to increase mea-
surement reliability and to provide a single score
for each form of scaffolding and dysregulation.
Measures
Child behavior problems at age 4 were mea-
sured by the raw score of maternal report on the
Total Problems scale of the Child Behavior
Checklist 1½–5 CBCL (Achenbach, 2000). Raw
scores are thought to be more powerful for statis-
tical testing than are T scores due to a larger range
and slightly higher reliability (C. Edelbrock, per-
sonal communication, 2005). The CBCL is one
of the most widely used parent-report measures of
child socioemotional and behavioral functioning
and has sound reliability and validity (alpha for
the current study ⫽ .95). The CBCL contains a
list of 99 behaviors, which are rated by each par-
ent on a 3-point scale from 0 (not true) to 2 (very
true or often true) for their child and summed for
the Total Score.
Social skills at age 6 were measured through
mother, father, and teacher report on the elemen-
tary-level version of the Social Skills Rating Sys-
tem (Gresham & Elliott, 1990), a widely used
questionnaire that has adequate reliability and va-
lidity and provides a broad assessment of social
skills, problem behaviors, and academic compe-
tence. Only the Social Skills scale was used for
the current study, which included ratings of the
child’s responsibility (parent version only), coop-
eration, self-control, and assertiveness. The Social
Skills scale has high test–retest reliability (parent r
⫽ .84, teacher r ⫽.85) and internal consistency
(parent r ⫽.87, teacher, r ⫽.94; Gresham & Elli-
ott, 1990). The parent and teacher forms are not
identical and measure the child in different con-
texts. Thus, parent and teacher ratings on the So-
cial Skills scale are typically only modestly, but
significantly, correlated, r ⫽ .25, p ⬍ .001 (Gresh-
am & Elliot, 1990).
381
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Predicting social skills J. K. Baker et al.

Results Hypothesis 2: Early Dysregulation and

Hypothesis 1: Children With Delays Would
Be Rated Lower on Social Skill Measures
Table 2 shows that social-skill ratings among
mothers, fathers, and teachers were significantly
interrelated within both status groups, with the
exception of a trend for the father–teacher corre-
lation within the typically developing group. All
correlations were higher for children with devel-
opmental delays than for typically developing
children, although not significantly so. We per-
formed separate ANCOVAs to examine status dif-
ferences in social skill ratings for each respondent
group, controlling for maternal education. As pre-
dicted, results revealed significantly lower social-
skill ratings for children with developmental de-
lays as compared to typically developing children,
according to mother, father, and teacher reports
(see Table 3).
Table 2. Interrelations Among Social Skills
Rating System Respondents by Status Group
Mother Father
Groupa/Report report report
Typically developing
Mother — .37***
Teacher .23* .21⫹
Developmental delay
Mother — .54***
Teacher .44** .49**
⫹p ⬍.10. *p ⬍ .05. **p ⬍ .01. ***p ⬍ .001.
Scaffolding Would Relate to Later Social
Skills Within Each Status Group
Data reduction and descriptive analyses. Interre-
lations among motivational, emotional, and tech-
nical scaffolding ratings were significant, with rs
ranging from .66 to .76, and subscales were com-
bined to minimize the number of variables in lat-
er regression analyses (subscales were evaluated
separately only for simple correlation analyses).
The scaffolding composite demonstrated an inter-
nal reliability of .88 for the combined sample (typ-
ically developing ⫽ .88, developmental delays ⫽
.87). A composite of overall dysregulation was
similarly generated by averaging the emotional
and behavioral dysregulation ratings, which were
significantly correlated, rs ⫽ .70 for total sample,
.69 for typically developing, and .64 for develop-
mental delays.
Although not a primary focus of the study,
we examined dysregulation and scaffolding ratings
for status group differences. Maternal education
was related to all relevant variables and was, there-
fore, controlled in the analyses. Separate AN-
COVAs indicated a significant difference between
children with and without developmental delays
for the dysregulation composite but not for ma-
ternal scaffolding (see Table 3).
Bivariate correlations between age 4 dysregula-
tion and scaffolding, and age 6 social-skill ratings.
For children with developmental delays, as pre-
dicted and shown in Table 4, early dysregulation
and maternal scaffolding were significantly re-
lated to later social skill ratings across all re-
spondents. In this group, child dysregulation

Table 3. Means by Status Group Adjusted for Maternal Education

Developmental delays Typically developing
Child age/ Rating Mean SE Mean SE F
Age 6/SSRS a

Mother 86.27 2.18 100.84 1.73 26.27***

Father 85.09 2.37 96.21 1.74 13.51***
Teacher 90.31 1.89 105.05 1.48 36.21***
Age 4
Dysregulation composite 1.34 .08 .72 .06 33.58***
Scaffolding composite 3.07 .08 3.22 .06 1.58
CBCLb Total Problems 44.58 2.74 30.79 2.17 14.96***
a
Social Skills Rating System. bChild Behavior Checklist.
***p ⬍ .001.

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Predicting social skills J. K. Baker et al.

Table 4. Correlations Between Early Regulation and Scaffolding and Later Social Skills by Status Group
SSRSa at 6 Developmental delay SSRS at 6 Typically developing
Mother Father Teacher Mother Father Teacher
Child age/Rating (n ⫽ 65) (n ⫽ 50) (n ⫽ 54) (n ⫽ 100/101) (n ⫽ 85/86) (n ⫽ 88/89)
Age 4
Dysregulation
Emotion ⫺.26* ⫺.41** ⫺.28* ⫺.11 ⫺.07 ⫺.08
Behavior ⫺.42** ⫺.48*** ⫺.56*** ⫺.10 .00 ⫺.11
Composite ⫺.38** ⫺.49*** ⫺.48*** ⫺.12 ⫺.03 ⫺.11
Scaffolding
Motivational .32* .26⫹ .46*** .24* .20⫹ .17
Emotional .26* .32* .39** .16 .28** .17
Technical .40** .35* .52*** .08 .09 .12
Composite .36** .35* .50*** .18⫹ .22* .17
Note. Slashes for sample size in the typically developing group represent different available data for dysregulation and
scaffolding.
⫹p ⬍ .10. *p ⬍ .05. **p ⬍ .01. ***p ⬍ .001.

was inversely correlated with social skill ratings,
and maternal scaffolding was positively related
to social skill outcomes. For children with typ-
ical development, relations between early scaf-
folding and later social skills were far less con-
sistent, and no significant relations were found
between the dysregulation and social-skill vari-
ables among these children (see Table 4). The
composites for dysregulation and scaffolding
were modestly correlated in each group (devel-
opmental delays: r ⫽ ⫺.39, p ⬍ .01; typically
developing: r ⫽ ⫺.21, p ⬍ .05).
In every case, correlations between the pre-
dictors and later social skills were higher for chil-
dren with delays. In order to test whether status-
group differences in the associations were statis-
tically significant, relations between the composite
predictor variables and Social Skills Rating System
ratings for each status group were transformed
into z scores and compared. Results indicate that
the correlations differed significantly between
children with and without developmental delays
for the associations between the dysregulation
composite and father, p ⬍ .01, and teacher Social
Skills Rating System, p ⬍ .05, and between the
scaffolding composite and teacher Social Skills
Rating System, p ⬍ .05. The correlations for the
dysregulation composite and mother Social Skills
Rating System differed at the level of a trend, p
⬍ .10.
Hypothesis 3: Early Dysregulation and
Maternal Scaffolding Would Predict to Later
Social-Skill Ratings for Children With Delays,
Above and Beyond Behavior Problems and
Relative Developmental Level
We considered teacher ratings first in order to
examine the predictive potential of early dysreg-
ulation and maternal scaffolding to later social
skills, above and beyond early behavior problems
and relative MA (among children with develop-
mental delays). Table 5 shows regressions for each
predictor variable, with Bayley Mental Develop-
ment Index entered on Step 1, mother CBCL to-
tal problems score on Step 2, and either dysreg-
ulation or scaffolding on Step 3. As predicted,
both early dysregulation and scaffolding remained
significant predictors of later teacher social-skill
ratings, each accounting for 7% of the variance
above and beyond early behavior problems and
child developmental level.
The above analyses were replicated with
mother- and father-reported social skills. Consis-
tent with teacher report of social skills, early dys-
regulation predicted above and beyond develop-
mental level and early behavior problems as per
both mother, ␤ ⫽ .30, p ⬍ .05, and father report
of social skills, ␤ ⫽ .37, p ⬍ .05. Scaffolding re-
sults were also consistent with teacher reports for
mothers, ␤ ⫽ .26, p ⬍ .05, but were not signifi-
cant for fathers.

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Predicting social skills
Table 5. Hierarchical Regressions Predicting 6 Year Teacher Social-Skill Ratings From Early
Dysregulation and Maternal Scaffolding Among Children With Developmental Delays
Variable
Regression 1
Step 1: Bayley MDIa
Step 2: Mom CBCLb Total at 4
Step 3: Dysregulation at 4
Regression 2
Step 1: Bayley MDI
Step 2: Mom CBCL Total at 4
Step 3: Maternal Scaffolding at 4
Note. Regression 1: R2 ⫽ .16, p ⬍ .01, for Step 1; ⌬R2 ⫽ .12, p ⬍ .01, for Step 2; ⌬R2 ⫽ .07, p ⬍ .05, for Step 3.
Regression 2: R2 ⫽ .16, p ⬍ .01, for Step 1; ⌬R2 ⫽ .12, p ⬍ .01, for Step 2; ⌬R2 ⫽ .07, p ⬍ .05, for Step 3.
a
Mental Development Index. bChild Behavior Checklist.
*p ⬍ .05. **p ⬍ .01.
We performed separate regressions for the
above analyses in order to evaluate whether rela-
tions between the predictors and later social skills
were maintained after controlling for other im-
portant child factors and to provide a basis for
examination of the mediation hypothesis.
Hypothesis 4: Early Dysregulation Would
Mediate the Relation Between Early Maternal
Scaffolding and Later Social Skills Among
Children With Developmental Delays
To reduce the number of analyses, we selected
teacher report as the outcome measure for the re-
maining mediation analyses because these data re-
flect the most independent measurement (i.e.,
likely possessed the least shared method variance
with parent–child interaction measures). Previous
analyses revealed that the prerequisite significant
associations between the predictor and outcome
variables were present (see Hypothesis 3 section;
Baron & Kenny, 1986). The final prerequisite, that
scaffolding and dysregulation were associated
once developmental level and behavior problems
were controlled, was also met, ␤ ⫽ ⫺.25, p ⬍ .05.
We initially used the causal-steps approach to me-
diation (Baron & Kenny, 1986) in order to test
whether the association between scaffolding and
social skills would be reduced once child dysreg-
ulation was controlled. A hierarchical regression
predicting Teacher Social Skills Rating System was
performed in which child developmental level
and behavior problems were entered on Step 1,
the dysregulation composite was entered on Step
2, and the scaffolding composite was entered on
384 䉷 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
B SE B ␤
.54 .17 .40**
⫺.19 .07 ⫺.35**
⫺6.75 2.89 ⫺.33*
.54 .17 .40**
⫺.19 .07 ⫺.35**
6.12 2.66 .31*
Step 3. Results indicated that the association be-
tween scaffolding and social skills was reduced af-
ter controlling for dysregulation, original ␤ ⫽ .31,
p ⬍ .05, final ␤ ⫽ .24, p ⬍ .10. We then em-
ployed the product-of-coefficients method
(MacKinnon & Dwyer, 1993; Sobel, 1982) in or-
der to provide a more direct test of whether the
mediating variable significantly carried the effect
of the predictor variable on the outcome variable.
Results indicated that the indirect effect of par-
enting through child dysregulation (after control-
ling for developmental level and behavior prob-
lems) was not significant, indicating that dysreg-
ulation did not seem to carry the effect of mater-
nal scaffolding on later social skills, Sobel ⫽ 1.38,
p ⫽ .17. These findings indicate that although the
relation between scaffolding and social skills was
reduced somewhat after controlling for dysregu-
lation, dysregulation did not appear to mediate
this relation. An anonymous reviewer suggested
that mediation analyses be conducted in which
scaffolding was examined as a mediator of the re-
lation between dysregulation and social skills.
Similar to the original analyses, the relation be-
tween dysregulation and social skills was reduced,
original ␤ ⫽ ⫺.33, p ⬍ .05; final ␤ ⫽ ⫺.26, p ⬍
.10, but scaffolding was not found to mediate the
relation, Sobel ⫽ ⫺1.35, p ⫽ .18.
Hypothesis 5: Early Dysregulation and
Maternal Scaffolding Would Partially
Mediate the Relation Between Developmental
Status and Later Social Skills
We did not perform mediation analyses for
scaffolding, given that the prerequisite associa-
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Predicting social skills
tion between status and scaffolding did not exist
(see Hypothesis 1 section, above). In order to ex-
amine whether early dysregulation mediated the
relation between developmental status group and
later teacher social-skill ratings (controlling for
maternal education and child behavior prob-
lems), we initially used the causal steps method.
It was first necessary to establish that the relevant
variables were related. After controlling for ma-
ternal grade level and child behavior problems,
we found that status was associated with both
dysregulation, F(1, 162) ⫽ 24.11, p ⬍ .001, and
teacher-rated social skills, F(1, 131) ⫽ 17.75, p ⬍
.001. Dysregulation and social skills were also re-
lated, partial r ⫽ ⫺.33, p ⬍ .001. We then per-
formed a hierarchical regression in which mater-
nal education, child behavior problems, and the
early child dysregulation composite were entered
on Step 1 and status group assignment was en-
tered on Step 2. Partial mediation was suggested
in that the association between status group and
social skills was reduced after controlling for dys-
regulation, original ␤ ⫽ ⫺.33, p ⬍ .001; final ␤
⫽ ⫺.25, p ⬍ .01. Given that the association be-
tween status and social skills was reduced but re-
mained significant, we used the product-of-coef-
ficients method in order to test whether partial
mediation was present (i.e., whether the indirect
effect of status through dysregulation was signif-
icant). Results from the product-of-coefficients
analysis indicated that dysregulation partially car-
ried the effect of developmental status on social
skills, Sobel ⫽ ⫺2.46, p ⬍ .05. In short, evidence
supported the hypothesis that child dysregula-
tion partially mediated the relation between de-
velopmental status and later social skills, but the
mediation hypothesis was not supported for scaf-
folding.
Table 6. Correlations Among Variables Used in the Stepwise Regression Analyses
Variable 1 2
1. Developmental level — ⫺.06
2. Behavior problems ⫺.06
3. Dysregulation ⫺.50***
4. Scaffolding .34**
5. Social skills .40**
Note. Correlations in the upper right corner correspond to the typically developing group. Bolded correlations in the
lower left correspond to the group of children with delays.
*p ⬍ .05. **p ⬍ .01. ***p ⬍ .001.
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AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
Hypothesis 6: Exploratory Regression to
Identify the Strongest Predictors of Social Skills
in Each Status Group
We conducted stepwise regressions for each
status group, predicting to age 6 teacher social-
skill ratings. All four of the early variables were
entered as potential predictors: child behavior
problems, relative developmental level (Bayley
MDI), dysregulation, and maternal scaffolding (in-
terrelations can be found in Table 6). As shown
in Table 7, for the typically developing children,
one significant model emerged. Early child behav-
ior problems at age 4 predicted 16% of the vari-
ance in social skills at age 6. For children with
developmental delays, different predictors sur-
faced. Within this group, two models were pre-
sent. The first model consisted of one predictor,
maternal scaffolding, and accounted for 24% of
the variance in later social skills. The second mod-
el consisted of maternal scaffolding and dysregu-
lation and predicted 33% of the variance (see Ta-
ble 7). Although we expected that all variables
would predict somewhat within each status group,
the hypothesis that early dysregulation and ma-
ternal scaffolding would predict social skills better
among children with delays was strongly support-
ed.
Discussion
These findings suggest that emerging social
skills are tied to children’s early developmental
status, regulatory skills, and supportive parent–
child interactions. Validating a wealth of previous
work in this area (e.g., Guralnick et al., 1998;
Kopp et al., 1992; Wilson, 1999), lower social-skill
ratings for children with delays than for typically
developing children were apparent across all re-
3 4 5
⫺.21* .27* .08
— .12 ⫺.12 ⫺.40***
.13 — ⫺.21* ⫺.11
⫺.30* ⫺.39** — .17
⫺.40** ⫺.48*** .50*** —
385
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Predicting social skills
Table 7. Stepwise Regressions Predicting Teacher Ratings of Social Skills at Age 6 From Early Variables
Group/Model
Typically developing (TD)
Model 1: Mom CBCLa Total at 4
Developmental delays (DD)
Model 1: Maternal scaffolding at 4
Model 2: Maternal scaffolding at 4
Dysregulation at 4
Note. TD regression: R2 ⫽ .16, p ⬍ .001. DD regression: R2 ⫽ .24, p ⬍.001, for Model 1; R2 ⫽ .33, p ⬍ .05, for Model 2.
a
Child Behavior Checklist.
*p ⬍ .05. ***p ⬍ .001.
spondents. These findings underscore the notion
that specific deficits in social-interactive behavior
seem to characterize the population of children
with early identified mild to moderate develop-
mental delays. In addition, respondents reporting
on children with delays consistently displayed
higher levels of agreement than did those report-
ing on typically developing children (although
these differences were not statistically significant).
Higher agreement among reporters for children
with delays is consistent with earlier findings from
this sample, which indicated higher parental
agreement on reports of behavior problems for
children with delays (B. Baker et al., 2002).
The current findings suggest that the social
skills of children with delays at age 6 can be pre-
dicted, in part, from observations conducted 2
years earlier. Virtually all the parenting and child
regulation variables measured at age 4 were related
to later social skills among children with devel-
opmental delays, and the scaffolding and dysreg-
ulation composites emerged as the most robust
predictors for this group. These findings strongly
support theories suggesting that early parent–child
interaction and child regulation are key to under-
standing the development of social skills in this
population (Guralnick, 1999a). Furthermore,
moderation analyses and stepwise regressions sug-
gest that early parenting and child dysregulation
may take on increased importance in the context
of developmental risk.
In the current study we took a conservative
approach to examining the predictive potential of
child regulation and parent–child interaction.
First, early child behavior problems were ad-
dressed in the analyses. Current debates regarding
the validity of the construct of emotion regulation
(Cole et al., 2004) make it important to separate
386 䉷 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
B SE B ␤
⫺.27 .07 ⫺.40***
9.78 2.42 .49***
6.72 2.58 .34*
⫺6.86 2.65 ⫺.34*
this construct from related factors. Results from
the current study revealed that dysregulation re-
mained a significant predictor of social skills after
removal of the variance shared with behavior
problems and that dysregulation was a stronger
predictor of social skills than were behavior prob-
lems. These findings ensure that dysregulation did
not simply predict later social skills as a result of
covariation with broader aspects of child ‘‘diffi-
cultness’’ and provide additional support for the
dysregulation construct. The control for child de-
velopmental level was also conservative. Among
children with developmental delays, parent–child
interaction and child dysregulation each predicted
above and beyond the children’s relative devel-
opmental functioning. Indeed, developmental lev-
el within the group of children with delays no
longer predicted social skills once dysregulation
and scaffolding were considered. These findings
support the premise that social skills are not fully
dependent upon children’s developmental level
(Guralnick, 1999b) and uniquely expand this idea
to address variability among children with devel-
opmental delays (as opposed to clarifying differ-
ences between children with and without delays).
Given that both early maternal scaffolding
and child dysregulation were predictive of later
social skills among children with developmental
delays, it was important to consider potential ex-
planatory pathways. We found here that child
dysregulation did not mediate the association be-
tween maternal scaffolding and later social skills.
This finding suggests either that the contribution
of early maternal scaffolding to later social skills
is unique or that other factors might mediate the
association. We controlled child behavior prob-
lems in the analysis in order to examine the
unique effects of dysregulation. However, the in-
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Predicting social skills
direct effect of scaffolding on later social skills
may be partially accounted for by the shared var-
iance of behavior problems and dysregulation.
With respect to the potential for early dysreg-
ulation to partially mediate the relations between
developmental status group and later social skills,
our findings support a model in which child de-
velopmental delay poses a risk factor for dysreg-
ulation, which, in turn, contributes to problems
in the development of appropriate social skills.
Furthermore, these results were significant above
and beyond the variance that dysregulation shared
with child behavior problems, suggesting that dys-
regulation uniquely carried the effect. Given that
children’s deficits in regulation were apparent pri-
or to formal school entry, the current findings
suggest clear avenues for early identification dur-
ing the preschool period. Observational classroom
batteries designed to assess problems in children’s
emerging regulatory systems have been success-
fully implemented for young typically developing
children (Denham, 2006; Raver, Smith-Donald,
Hayes, & Jones, 2005), and our findings suggest
the importance of extending such efforts to chil-
dren with developmental delays. Children with
delays who demonstrate difficulties in early regu-
lation could benefit from a range of services, in-
cluding social-skills training and specific coaching
for emotion regulation.
The finding that maternal scaffolding
emerged as the best predictor of later social skills
for children with delays is striking. Child charac-
teristics such as regulation and behavior problems
are more proximal to social skills and seem to be
reliable predictors of social competence. Conse-
quently, evidence that parenting behaviors pre-
dicted not only above and beyond, but better
than child factors among children with delays sug-
gests important implications for targeted interven-
tion and prevention efforts. The scaffolding mea-
sure in the current study included the mothers’
ability to focus and motivate their children; break
down and teach tasks in a structured manner; and
provide emotional support, demonstrate sensitiv-
ity and acceptance, and share emotion with their
child. Indeed, each form of scaffolding (emotion-
al, motivational, and technical) was associated
with children’s later social skills. Parent training
for children with developmental delays has a long
history and has frequently emphasized behavior
management and skill acquisition (e.g., B. Baker,
1996). Findings from the current study, along with
evidence from extensive research on typically de-
䉷 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
2007 AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
veloping children (see Eisenberg, Cumberland, &
Spinrad, 1998) and recent investigations of chil-
dren with delays (e.g., Wilson, 1999), suggest a
potential new direction for parent training in dis-
abilities. Intervention could be extended to in-
clude teaching parents techniques related to the
sensitive application of co-regulatory parenting
behaviors across several domains.
Throughout the analyses, relevant demo-
graphic variables were controlled and analyses
were conducted to address attrition. However, cer-
tain limitations should be noted. First, the longi-
tudinal approach to prediction provides addition-
al evidence for causal pathways but does not
prove causation. A second limitation concerns the
measurement of social skills. Although the early
predictor variables were measured through careful
observation and coding, child social skills were as-
sessed solely through adult report. However, there
are certain benefits to this approach, in that pre-
diction across types of measurement can remove
shared method variance and minimize potential
biases. In the current study we also maximized the
validity of the report measures by relying upon
multiple informants. Given the significant agree-
ment among respondents and the consistency of
findings across informants, confidence in the va-
lidity of the social-skill measures is high. None-
theless, future studies relating parenting and child
regulation to careful observational measurement
of child social skills, building upon systems such
as those used by Kopp et al. (1992), Wilson
(1999), and Guralnick and colleagues (e.g., Gur-
alnick & Groom, 1987; Guralnick et al., 1998),
would provide valuable information. Although
many aspects of child functioning were assessed
at an early age in the present study, social skills
were not measured during the preschool period.
Among children with delays, scaffolding was
found to predict better than several child factors
that were related to social skills (behavior prob-
lems and dysregulation). However, the possibility
cannot be ruled out that early social skills at age
4 might predict as well or better than other child
and/or family factors (as suggested by Guralnick,
Hammond, Connor, & Neville, 2006).
A final limitation concerns the modest find-
ings for typically developing children. The fact
that early dysregulation was not associated with
later social skills within this group should be in-
terpreted with caution. Because the current study
included children with developmental delays,
who were predicted to exhibit higher levels of dys-
387
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Predicting social skills
regulation, the coding system utilized may not
have been subtle enough to differentiate among
the lower levels of child dysregulation found in
the low risk, typically developing group. Indeed,
the mean level of dysregulation for the typically
developing children was fairly low, with higher
levels of dysregulation generally not reported for
this group. Future studies would benefit from the
inclusion of typically developing children who ex-
hibit higher risk for difficulties with regulation.
Alternatively, it is possible that social skills are
more easily predicted in children with delays, due
to the increased variability of social skills within
this group (the SDs were larger in the group with
delays), and/or the potential for more stability in
the social skills of children with delays as com-
pared to their typically developing peers (Gural-
nick et al., 2006). However, these factors would
not explain why dysregulation was not a predictor
for typically developing children. Replication is
clearly necessary in order to provide a more com-
prehensive examination of these processes in pop-
ulations without developmental delays.
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Received 2/13/06, accepted 11/05/06.
Editor-in-charge: William E. MacLean, Jr.
䉷 American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
2007 AMERICAN JOURNAL ON MENTAL RETARDATION
J. K. Baker et al.
This article was based on activities of The Collab-
orative Family Study, supported by National In-
stitute for Child Health and Human Develop-
ment Grant 34879-1459 (Keith Crnic, principal
investigator; Bruce Baker, Jan Blacher, and Craig
Edelbrock, co-principal investigators). We are in-
debted to our staff and doctoral students at Penn-
sylvania State University, University of California,
Los Angeles, and University of California, River-
side. We especially appreciate the participation of
the families who made this research possible. Re-
quests for reprints should be sent to Jason K. Bak-
er, The Pennsylvania State University, Psychology,
Child Study Center, University Support Bldg. 1,
University Park, PA 16802. E-mail: jkb169@psu.
edu
391