Testing how teachers’ self-efficacy and student-teacher relationships moderate the association between bullying, victimization, and student self-esteem

Abstract

This study investigated how teachers' self-efficacy for intervening in social dynamics and teacher-student relationships directly impact students' selfesteem, and indirectly buffer the negative association between both bullying and victimization and students' self-esteem. Teachers play a key role in shaping the peer relations in the classroom, and they might also be able to lessen the negative impact of bullying and victimization on students' self-esteem. Multilevel regression analysis on a sample of 59 Dutch teachers and 1,490 of their 5th grade students indicated that student-reported bullying and victimization were negatively related to students' self-reported self-esteem. Better student-perceived student-teacher relationships were related to higher selfesteem for all students, with additional increases in self-esteem for victims but decreases in the self-esteem of bullies. Teacher-reported self-efficacy was only related to lower self-esteem in bullies. Implications of these results and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Developing self-esteem-based curriculum as a foundation for sustainable education: A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis

“…This analysis concludes that integrating self-esteem and curriculum does not have many networks, and it is potentially developed because this study has novelty for educational science. Generally, self-esteem will be associated with other interesting research themes such as self-esteem and the will to win in athletes (Ahmed et al, 2021;Nikander et al, 2022;Noguri et al, 2022), subjective income (Li et al, 2021;Luo et al, 2021;Mahadevan et al, 2021;Wong, 2021), educators (Masoom, 2021;Vašašová et al, 2021), and students (Sultana and Kabir, 2021;Terblanche et al, 2021;van Aalst et al, 2021;Fairlamb, 2022). By elaborating the research theme with the results of the analysis in Figures 6, 7, the development of this study will be more powerful in the future.…”

Prejudice and Ethnic Bullying Among Children: The Role of Moral Disengagement and Student-Teacher Relationship

“…Teachers may contribute to children's working models of peer relationships, by fostering useful skills for self-regulation and child-to-child interactions, and by hindering aggressive interactions (Bouchard and Smith, 2017). A strong bond with significant others, such as teachers, may also increase students' sense of being valued and trusted and facilitate social sharing of experiences and feelings, which may inhibit bullying behaviors (Cho and Lee, 2018;van Aalst et al, 2021). As a matter of fact, children securely attached with teachers are less likely to be involved in bullying (Cho and Lee, 2018).…”

“…As a matter of fact, children securely attached with teachers are less likely to be involved in bullying (Cho and Lee, 2018). This protective role of reorganizing relational schemas is particularly relevant for those children with insecure previous experiences of attachment or problem behaviors, such as aggression, and compensates for negative relationships with peers (Sabol and Pianta, 2012;van Aalst et al, 2021).…”

“…When bullies have a close relationship with their teachers, they may wish to comply with the rules and norms set by them, in order to appear nice at their eyes, not disappoint them, and maintain or improve such a lovely bond. Their attempt to avoid any damage to this relationship may also be associated with their worry of undermining their selfesteem, which is related to positive student-teacher relationships (van Aalst et al, 2021).…”

Teachers Can Make a Difference in Bullying: Effects of Teacher Interventions on Students’ Adoption of Bully, Victim, Bully-Victim or Defender Roles across Time

“…While the existing research provided key insights into the role of teachers in bullying interventions, it largely relied on cross-sectional and variable-centered approaches (Bayram Özdemir et al, 2021 ; Campaert et al, 2017 ; van Aalst et al, 2021 ), so it is not clear whether teacher interventions were followed by changes in student bullying behaviors and whether the effects differed for students with distinct bullying-related roles, including the most vulnerable group of bully-victims (Yang et al, 2016 ). The research has typically used teacher self-report to assess teacher interventions and student self-reports to measure bullying-related student behaviors, which are both susceptible to social desirability bias (Wachs et al, 2019 ).…”