THE IDENTIFICATION IN INFANCY OF CHILDREN AT COGNITIVE AND BEHAVIORALRISK - THE JERUSALEM KINDERGARTEN PROJECT

The aim of this research was to assess the valve of personal and envir onmental attributes measured during infancy in the prediction of cogni tive competence and behavior problems in kindergarten children. The sa mple consisted of 503 Jerusalem kindergarten children who during infan cy attended neighborhood well-baby clinics. Information about early gr owth, development, and family factors come from the clinic files. Chil d functioning at kindergarten was assessed directly and by parent and teacher reports. Although demographic variables contributed strongly t o outcome for both boys and girls, the composition of these demographi c variables and the contribution of other variables to outcome varied by gender of child and outcome measure. For girls, infancy variables w ere more predictive of cognitive competence than of behavior problems, whereas the opposite was true for boys. The implications of the resul ts for the early identification of risk and for intervention are discu ssed.