Preschool peer interactions and readiness to learn: Relationships between classroom peer play and learning behaviors and conduct

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record. ***Note: Figures may be missing from this format of the document Promoting young children's readiness to learn is a national priority. This mandate is clearly stated within the first of our National Education Goals, which reads that all American children will start school ready to learn by the year 2000 (U.S. Department of Education, 1992). Unfortunately, many young children in America are facing increasingly stressful and ―socially toxic ‖ environments that threaten the development of competencies necessary for early school success (Garbarino, 1995). Approximately one in five American children currently lives in poverty (Children's Defense Fund, 1998) and is exposed to multiple risk factors—including poor health care, lack of appropriate housing, family stress, and community violence—that severely threaten their development (Huston, McLoyd, & Garcia Coll, 1994). Poor children are more likely than nonpoor children to have difficulties in school, ranging from behavioral and emotional difficulties to retention and poor school performance (Duncan, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1994). These risks are especially pronounced for children living in densel