Early Childhood Research Quarterly 17 (2002) 239–258 An eco-behavioral approach to examining the contextual effects of early childhood classrooms  Susan Kontos a,∗ , Margaret Burchinal b , Carollee Howes c , Steve Wisseh e , Ellen Galinsky d a Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, 1269 Fowler House, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1269, USA b Department of Child Development and Family Studies, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North Carolina, USA c Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA d Families and Work Institute, Purdue University, 1269 Fowler House, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1269, USA e Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center, University of North Carolina, USA Received 15 August 2001; accepted 15 October 2001 Abstract The purpose of the study was to determine what child characteristics (age, gender, language) and classroom characteristics (activity, teacher involvement) typically accompany complex interactions with objects and peers in ethnically diverse early childhood classrooms, and whether global classroom quality contributes additional variance to children’s interactions with objects and peers when child and class- room characteristics are accounted for. Two hundred and twenty-five children (mean age = 59.5 months, 50% females) from 61 classrooms in 46 centers in the state of Hawaii participated. An eco-behavioral framework was used to examine ecological factors that “set the stage” for children’s complex inter- actions with objects and peers. Complex interactions with peers were most likely for girls, especially English-speaking, when there was no teacher involvement, and in creative activities. Complex inter- actions with objects were most likely for English-speaking children and in creative activities. Child activity moderated the association between teacher involvement and complex interactions with objects. Global classroom quality was not a significant predictor of complex interactions with objects or peers. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Inc. Keywords: Eco-behavioral; Early childhood classrooms; Complex interactions  A version of this paper was presented at the 1999 Biennial Conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, NM. ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-765-494-2942; fax: +1-765-496-1144. E-mail address: kontos@cfs.purdue.edu (S. Kontos). 0885-2006/02/$ – see front matter © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Inc. PII:S0885-2006(02)00147-3