Associations between preschool social-emotional measures and gender and race Authors 1. Denise Vega Ruvalcaba, B.A. - Early Childhood Education Institute, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa 2. Shinyoung Jeon, Ph.D. - Early Childhood Education Institute, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa 3. Lisa Eshenour, M.S. - Early Childhood Education Institute, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa 4. Sherri Castle, Ph.D. - Early Childhood Education Institute, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa Abstract Introduction. Young children rapidly develop social-emotional skills that are necessary to interact with teachers and friends, accomplish goals, and regulate their emotions. In addition, social-emotional competence has been linked to higher academic achievement as well as positive adult outcomes later in life. Even though much research has documented the importance of young children's social-emotional skills for their short- and long-term outcomes, social-emotional skills have been defined in several ways, and measures assessing social-emotional skills vary. Thus, this study examined how social-emotional skills were captured consistently or differently by measures, especially informants, and how these differences are associated with children's gender and race/ethnicity. Method. This study used a dataset of children (n = 764; 409 boys; Black /African American =236, Hispanic/Latino=319, Other races=127, White=82) from a local Early Head Start (EHS)/Head Start (HS) program. Four approaches to measuring children's social-emotional development were used: 1) a direct, task-based assessment of executive function (Minnesota Executive Function Scale; MEFS), 2) an examiner rating scale of children's behavior (Leiter-3), 3) a teacher rating scale of children's behavior (Devereux Early Childhood Assessment for Preschoolers/Toddlers (DECA-P2, DECA-T) and 4) a direct observation of children's individual behaviors (Child Observation in Preschool (COP). Results. Results showed consistent patterns across measures that boys had lower social-emotional competence compared to girls. Boys had lower executive function (M= 93.73, SD = 10.66, girls M= 95.91, SD=8.26), t(723) = 3.12, p < .01. Teachers reported boys having more behavioral concerns (M=52.9, SD =10.07, girls M=47.56, SD=8.56), t(638) = -7.31, p < .001 and these ratings were consistent with assessor ratings. Observed behaviors showed boys being more disruptive (M=.02, SD =.05, girls M=.01, SD =.03), t(563) = -3.74 , p< .001 . Additionally, Black /African American children had lower social-emotional competence compared to children of other races based on teachers' reports. However, this racial difference was not apparent in direct observation of children's individual behaviors or the direct assessment of executive function. Conclusion. Gender differences are evident in young children's social-emotional development. Boys might require additional support in the EHS/HS program to help them acquire the social-emotional skills they need to have better academic and social outcomes in the future. However, measures and informants are associated with how children were rated based on their race/ethnicity. These results suggest that further research is needed to examine measurement invariance tests for social-emotional skills across race/ethnicity. Denise Vega Ruvalcaba Assistant Project Director, CAP-Tulsa Research Partnership Early Childhood Education Institute<http://education.ou.edu/ecei>|OU-Tulsa