Behavioural and cardiovascular changes in children moving from kindergarten to primary school

The effect of changing school environment from kindergarten to primary school and of the degree of structure of school tasks was examined in relation to behavioural and cardiovascular (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) patterns. Changing school environment was associated with an increase in the duration of stereotyped behaviours. The accompanying psychophysiological variables, which in kindergarten follow the simple motor activity/arousal model, are reversed in primary school where less motor activity is accompanied by higher states of physiological arousal. The results suggest that children develop cardiovascular responses as part of an adjustment to cope with changes in the environment.