This study aimed at investigating the reciprocal longitudinal associations between teacher-and parent-child relationships and children's adjustment behaviors during Grade 1, and the role of the child's temperament in this interplay. The longitudinal study followed Lithuanian children (229 in kindergarten [T0], 337 at the beginning of Grade 1 [T1], 341 at the end of Grade 1 [T2]), their parents, and their Grade 1 teachers (n = 24). The parents and teachers reported on the quality of their relationship with the children during Grade 1. In addition, parents reported on the children's temperament in kindergarten, and the teachers reported on the children's adjustment behaviors during Grade 1. The results showed evocative effects of children's adjustment behaviors at the beginning of Grade 1 on the relationship quality at the end of Grade 1. In particular, prosocial behavior positively predicted teacher-child closeness, and high externalizing problems positively predicted teacher-child and parent-child conflict. In addition, we identified two indirect paths from children's temperamental surgency to closeness with teachers via prosocial behavior and to conflicts with teachers via externalizing problems. The results of the present study suggest that children's characteristics, such as temperament and adjustment behaviors, predict particularly teachers' and, to some extent, parents' perceptions of their relationship quality with the child at the beginning of children's school career.
This Finnish longitudinal study investigated the role of relationships with mothers (n = 631) and teachers (n = 56), and adolescents' (n = 848; 53.9% girls, 46.1% boys) temperament in the development of the adolescents' socioemotional functioning during the transition to lower secondary school (Grade 6 to Grade 7; age in Grade 6: M = 12.32, SD = 0.36). The results showed that mother–adolescent closeness predicted a higher level and teacher–adolescent closeness predicted a smaller decrease in prosocial behavior. Teacher–adolescent conflict predicted a higher level, and mother–adolescent conflict predicted an increase in externalizing problems. Only temperament predicted internalizing problems. In addition, relationship quality both mediated and moderated some of the associations between temperament and socioemotional functioning.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.