Transactional Links Between Teacher–Child Relationship Quality and Perceived Versus Sociometric Popularity: A Three‐Wave Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This study examined how peer relationships (i.e., sociometric and perceived popularity) and teacher-child relationships (i.e., support and conflict) impact one another throughout late childhood. The sample included 586 children (46% boys), followed annually from Grades 4 to 6 (M(age.wave1) = 9.26 years). Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was applied. Results stress the importance of peer relationships in shaping teacher-child relationships and vice versa. Higher sociometric popularity predicted more teacher-child support, which in turn predicted higher sociometric popularity, beyond changes in children's prosocial behavior. Higher perceived popularity predicted more teacher-child conflict (driven by children's aggressive behavior), which, in turn and in itself, predicted higher perceived popularity. The influence of the "invisible hand" of both teachers and peers in classrooms has been made visible.

Developmental Links Between Disobedient Behavior and Social Classroom Relationships in Boys With Psychiatric Disorders in Special Education

“…However, this result was not confirmed in a study by Leflot et al (2011). Interestingly, effects of peers on teachers are shown to be stronger and more consistent than the reverse effect of teachers on peers (Mercer and DeRosier 2008;De Laet et al 2014). More consistent findings showed that peer rejection reduced the support children received from teachers 2 to 3 years later (De Laet et al 2014;Hughes and Chen 2011;Leflot et al 2011;Mercer and DeRosier 2008).…”

“…A possible explanation for the impact of the teacher-child on peer relationships comes from social referencing theory (Hughes et al 2001), which presumes that the teacher serves as a social referent for children, thereby allowing classmates to make inferences about children's likability based on their observations of teacherchild interactions. It has indeed been found that receiving more teacher support increased the likelihood of later higher appraisal by peers (Hughes and Chen 2011;De Laet et al 2014;Mercer and DeRosier 2008). However, this result was not confirmed in a study by Leflot et al (2011).…”

“…However, from the teacher's perspective, behavior problems such as disobedience and provoking confrontations represent a major challenge (Hamre et al 2008). As might be expected, studies in mainstream education have shown that children's externalizing behavior negatively influences teacher-child closeness and conflict, which in turn increases children's externalizing behavior (De Laet et al 2014;Doumen et al 2008;Mercer and DeRosier 2008). These findings suggest that children with behavior problems may get caught in a vicious cycle of negative interactions.…”

“…Therefore, when examining developmental links between children's behavior and social relationships in the classroom, it is important to include both teacher-child and peer relationships to disentangle their effects on children's behavioral development, and also take into account the links between teacher-child and peer relationships. Empirical studies have shown that teacher-child and peer-child relationships can reinforce one another (Hughes and Chen 2011;De Laet et al 2014;Leflot et al 2011;Mercer and DeRosier 2008). A possible explanation for the impact of the teacher-child on peer relationships comes from social referencing theory (Hughes et al 2001), which presumes that the teacher serves as a social referent for children, thereby allowing classmates to make inferences about children's likability based on their observations of teacherchild interactions.…”

Aceitação e rejeição de alunos por seus professores em diferentes níveis escolares

“…Alguns estudos, embora em número menor (Laet et al, 2014), sugerem haver a influência inversa, ou seja, que a relação estabelecida com os pares pode interferir nas interações vivenciadas pelos alunos com seus professores. Pesquisas indicam que a rejeição pelos pares prediz a baixa preferência do professor, predição esta que pode ser mais forte do que a predição da rejeição pelos pares a partir da baixa preferência do professor (Hughes & Chen, 2011;Mercer & DeRosier, 2008).…”