Social Experience of Transition to School: Learning and Health Outcomes, 2004-2005

The overall aim of this study was to look at how children respond to the experience of starting school and their adaptation after six months of the start of their first term. The primary aim was to explore physical stress responses of children before, during and after starting school, measured via morning and evening saliva samples at specific time points throughout the twelve-month study. Additionally, the aims were to examine relationships between these responses and children's behaviour, their learning ability and their physical health outcome (common cold and flu). The following hypotheses were tested:<br> <br> Aim 1:<ul><li>social adaptation at school entry (T2) and follow-up (T3) will be associated with cortisol at each corresponding time point</li><li>temperament will be associated with awakening cortisol levels and with diurnal change in cortisol across all time points</li></ul>Aim 2:<ul><li>social adaptation at school entry (T2) will be associated with temperament at baseline (T1) such that greater externalising behaviour at baseline will be positively associated with high social adaptation at school entry</li><li>the relationship between social adaptation and cortisol across all time points will be mediated by temperament</li></ul>Aim 3:<br> i) learning and memory<br> <ul><li>academic competence assessed at follow-up (T3) will be individually predicted by cortisol across all time points such that higher cortisol levels will be associated with poorer performance</li></ul>ii) illness<ul><li>greater cortisol reactivity to stress at school entry (T2) will predict a greater occurrence of respiratory infections and more frequent General Practitioner visits during the six months' follow-up period (T2-T3)</li><li>temperament will be associated with illness reports at follow-up (T3), specifically, high surgency scores will be negatively associated with upper respiratory infections (URI) incidence</li></ul><br> <br>