Sample A: Cover Page of Thesis, Project, or Dissertation Proposal

the Overactive-Disruptive group, Coolahan et al. (2000) found that children who engaged
in disruptive play were also hyperactive and had conduct problems in the classroom.
These children demonstrated a general lack of emotional competence as defined by
Denham (1998, 2005): Their antisocial play and conduct problems denote a lack of
socially appropriate expressions of emotions and an inability to understand peers‘
expressions of emotions; and their high activity levels imply a lack of the ability to
regulate emotions.
In addition to these two groups, Coolahan et al. (2000) introduced a third group:
Children who engaged in disconnected play (i.e., ―hovering‖ outside play groups,
wandering, refusing play invitations) were also characterized as inattentive and passive
during classroom activities and as having low levels of motivation. These children
possessed some components of emotional competence as defined by Denham (1998,
2005), but apparently lacked others: Whereas they do not display behaviors implying a
lack of the abilities to understand peers‘ emotional expressions and to regulate emotions,
their disconnected play denotes a lack of socially appropriate expressions of emotions
(e.g., not reciprocating social and emotional exchanges when refusing play invitations).
Clearly, the work of Coolahan et al. (2000) and Mendez et al. (2002) suggests that
children demonstrating social-emotional competence and active, engaged classroom
behaviors have strong developmental advantages over their less socially skilled and
disengaged peers.
In addition to a variable-centered approach, Mendez et al. (2002) examined
relations between children‘s social-emotional and academic competencies from a person-
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