Preschoolers and Disruptive Behavior: Using Multiple Measures to Examine Intervention Processes

By examining intervention processes, this dissertation seeks to better understand the links between preschool children’s disruptive behaviors and the quality of teacher-child interactions. Using multiple reporters and multiple measurements, this research investigates intervention selection, intervention implementation, and the teacher-child relationship as assessed from the child’s perspective. The proposal follows the Curry School of Education Guidelines for Manuscript Style Dissertations and includes the theoretical and empirical justification for the three studies, followed by a description of each study. The three studies are reviewed in the following order: Study 1 is titled Teacher and TA Ratings of Preschoolers Externalizing Behavior: Agreement and Associations with Observed Classroom Behavior; Study 2 is titled Program and Teacher Characteristics Predicting the Implementation of Banking Time with Preschoolers who Display Disruptive Behaviors; and Study 3 is titled Internal Working Models and Secure Base Behavior: Preschool Children’s Representations of the Teacher-Child Relationship.