Child race and gender as moderators of the association between teacher–child relationships and school adjustment

Abstract

This investigation examines teacher and child perceptions of teacher-child relationships and early school adjustment among children (N = 157) in low-income urban schools. Consistent with prior research, findings indicated that teacher-child relationships were associated with early school adjustment; however, the strength of this association varied depending on perspective (i.e., teacher vs. student) and by student characteristic. Associations between predictor and criterion variables were stronger for within-rater perspectives than across raters. Children's race moderated the association between teacher-child relationships and early school adjustment when examining data from the same source (i.e., teacher) and across raters (i.e., teacher and student). Gender did not moderate these associations. The implications of these findings for future research focused on understanding teacher-child relationships are discussed. C 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Ethnic incongruence and the student–teacher relationship: The perspective of ethnic majority teachers

“…Thus, on average, ethnicDutch teachers' self-reported relationships with Turkish-Dutch students were not comparatively unfavorable. Like previous findings in the United States (see Ewing & Taylor, 2009;Hamre & Pianta, 2001;Hughes et al, 2005;Murray et al, 2008) these results stress the need to go beyond simple majority-minority distinctions and to recognize the distinctions between ethnic minority groups when examining ethnic differences in student-teacher relationship quality. Our second and third hypotheses pertained to the conditions under which the effect of ethnic incongruence would be most pronounced.…”

“…Furthermore, there are indications that ethnic minority students are at risk of developing less positive relationships with their teachers. Although mixed findings have been obtained for Hispanic American students (Ewing & Taylor, 2009;Murray et al, 2008), there is a clear evidence that teachers share less close, and more dependent and conflicted bonds with African American versus European American students (Hamre & Pianta, 2001;Hughes, Gleason, & Zhang, 2005). These findings stress the need for further research into ethnic differences in student-teacher relationship quality.…”

“…The available studies (predominantly from the United States) suggest that the rarity of this research is quite unfortunate because the quality of studentteacher relationships appears to be more important for the school adjustment of ethnic minority children compared to their majority contemporaries (Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, & Howes, 2002;den Brok, van Tartwijk, Wubbels, & Veldman, 2010;Meehan, Hughes, & Cavell, 2003;Murray et al, 2008). Furthermore, there are indications that ethnic minority students are at risk of developing less positive relationships with their teachers.…”

“…Numerous studies in educational and developmental psychology have shown that students' interactions and relationships with their teachers are important for their academic and social adjustment, but relatively few researchers have compared student-teacher relationships for students from different ethnic groups (Ewing & Taylor, 2009;Murray, Waas, & Murray, 2008). The available studies (predominantly from the United States) suggest that the rarity of this research is quite unfortunate because the quality of studentteacher relationships appears to be more important for the school adjustment of ethnic minority children compared to their majority contemporaries (Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, & Howes, 2002;den Brok, van Tartwijk, Wubbels, & Veldman, 2010;Meehan, Hughes, & Cavell, 2003;Murray et al, 2008).…”

Teacher-student relationships during adolescence : the role of parental involvement, behavioral characteristics, gender, and income.

“…In addition, when third and fourth graders rated their peers on level of support received by teachers, girls were still viewed as receiving more support than boys (Hughes et aI., 2001). This higher level of teacher support is related to lower levels of school avoidance for girls (Murray, Waas & Murray, 2008). In the one study examining gender and teacher relationships in high school, 1 t h grade female students rated teachers higher on levels of genuineness than their male counterparts (Drevets, Benton & Bradley, 1996).…”