The Association Between Teacher Connection and Flourishing Among Early Adolescents in 25 Countries

Abstract

We aimed to determine whether early adolescents who report higher levels of teacher connection have a greater prevalence of flourishing and whether this association is present across levels of parent connection. We analyzed cross-sectional data, collected in the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (2016–2019), from 33,269 11- to 13-year-olds in 25 countries. The teacher connection score, analyzed as quartiles, asked about care, support, and respect from teachers. The flourishing score (range 0–10) was based on items about self-acceptance, purpose in life, positive relations, growth, environmental mastery, and autonomy. The prevalence (95% confidence interval) of flourishing (score > 8) was 66.0% (65.4%, 66.5%). The covariate-adjusted difference in flourishing prevalence between those in highest and lowest quartiles of teacher connection was 26.8% (25.2%, 28.5%). This difference was similar across groups with varying levels of parent connection. Teacher connection may contribute to adolescent flourishing, in addition to academic achievement and the avoidance of negative outcomes.

Keywords

psychological well-being eudaimonic well-being adolescent students teachers parents

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Akiva

White

A. M.

Colvin

Wardrip

P. S.

(2022). Can we efficiently help adults strengthen their relational practice? Journal of Youth Development, 17(4), 26–47. https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2022.1199

J. S.

Cooney

T. M.

(2006). Psychological well-being in mid to late life: The role of generativity development and parent–child relationships across the lifespan. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30(5), 410–421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025406071489

Ben-Arieh

Casas

Frones

Korbin

J. E.

(2014). Multifaceted concept of child well-being. In Ben-Arieh

Casas

Frones

Korbin

J. E.

(Eds.), Handbook of child well-being (pp. 1–27). Springer Science+Business Media Dordrech.

Benson

P. L.

Scales

P. C.

Syvertsen

A. K.

(2011). The contribution of the developmental assets framework to positive youth development theory and practice. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 41, 197–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-386492-5.00008-7

Butler

Quigg

Bates

Jones

Ashworth

Gowland

Jones

(2022). The contributing role of family, school, and peer supportive relationships in protecting the mental wellbeing of children and adolescents. School Mental Health, 14(3), 776–788. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09502-9

Carter

C. S.

(2014). Oxytocin pathways and the evolution of human behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 65(1), 17–39. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115110

Casas

(2011). Subjective social indicators and child and adolescent well-being. Child Indicators Research, 4(4), 555–575. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-010-9093-z

Casas

González-Carrasco

(2021). Analysing comparability of four multi-item well-being psychometric scales among 35 countries using Children’s Worlds 3rd wave 10 and 12-year-olds samples. Child Indicators Research, 14(5), 1–33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09825-0

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . (2009). School connectedness: Strategies for increasing protective factors among youth. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED511993.pdf

10.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, TB Prevention . (2023). Youth risk behavior survey: Data summary & trends report, 2011–2021. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf

11.

Chen

Kubzansky

L. D.

VanderWeele

T. J.

(2019). Parental warmth and flourishing in mid-life. Social Science & Medicine, 220, 65–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.10.026

12.

Children’s

Worlds.

(2020). Children’s worlds: International survey of children’s lives and well-being, wave 3, 2016 to 2019: Guidance on using and analysing data sets version 2: 21st March 2020. [provided via personal communication from ISCWeB team regarding shared dataset]. Children’s Worlds Project (ISCWeB).

13.

Children’s Worlds International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB) . (2021). Wave III reports. Children’s Worlds Project (ISCWeB). https://isciweb.org/the-data/wave-3/

14.

Chu

P. S.

Saucier

D. A.

Hafner

(2010). Meta-analysis of the relationships between social support and well-being in children and adolescents. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29(6), 624–645. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2010.29.6.624

15.

Ciarrochi

Morin

A. J. S.

Sahdra

B. K.

Litalien

Parker

P. D.

(2017). A longitudinal person-centered perspective on youth social support: Relations with psychological wellbeing. Developmental Psychology, 53(6), 1154–1169. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000315

16.

Cortina

K. S.

Arel

Smith-Darden

J. P.

(2017). School belonging in different cultures: The effects of individualism and power distance. Frontiers in Education, 2, 56. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2017.00056

17.

Cozolino

(2014). The neuroscience of human relationships: Attachment and the developing social brain. WW Norton & Company.

18.

Crous

(2017). Child psychological well-being and its associations with material deprivation and type of home. Children and Youth Services Review, 80, 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.06.051

19.

Cummings

(2009). Methods for estimating adjusted risk ratios. STATA Journal, 9(2), 175–196.

20.

Cummings

(2011). Estimating adjusted risk ratios for matched and unmatched data: An update. STATA Journal, 11(2), 290–298. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536867X1101100208

21.

Cummings

(2013). Missing data and multiple imputation. JAMA Pediatrics, 167(7), 656–661. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.1329

22.

Damon

Menon

Cotton Bronk

(2003). The development of purpose during adolescence. Applied Developmental Science, 7(3), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532480XADS0703_2

23.

Diener

Wirtz

Tov

Kim-Prieto

Choi

D.-w.

Oishi

Biswas-Diener

(2010). New well-being measures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97(2), 143–156. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9493-y

24.

Feeney

B. C.

Collins

N. L.

(2015). Thriving through relationships. Current Opinion in Psychology, 1, 22–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2014.11.001

25.

Feldman

(2017). The neurobiology of human attachments. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(2), 80–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.11.007

26.

García-Moya

(2020). The importance of connectedness in student-teacher relationships: Insights from the teacher connectedness project. Palgrave Pivot. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43446-5

27.

García-Moya

Brooks

Morgan

Moreno

(2015). Subjective well-being in adolescence and teacher connectedness: A health asset analysis. Health Education Journal, 74(6), 641–654. https://doi.org/10.1177/0017896914555039

28.

García-Moya

Bunn

Jiménez-Iglesias

Paniagua

Brooks

F. M.

(2019). The conceptualisation of school and teacher connectedness in adolescent research: A scoping review of literature. Educational Review, 71(4), 423–444. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2018.1424117

29.

Garner

Yogman

Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Council on Early Childhood . (2021). Preventing childhood toxic stress: Partnering with families and communities to promote relational health. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052582. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-052582

30.

Hodges

Cordier

Joosten

Bourke-Taylor

Speyer

(2018). Evaluating the psychometric quality of school connectedness measures: A systematic review. PLoS One, 13(9), e0203373. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203373

31.

Huppert

F. A.

Abbott

R. A.

Ploubidis

G. B.

Richards

Kuh

(2010). Parental practices predict psychological well-being in midlife: Life-course associations among women in the 1946 British birth cohort. Psychological Medicine, 40(9), 1507–1518. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291709991978

32.

Huta

Waterman

A. S.

(2014). Eudaimonia and its distinction from hedonia: Developing a classification and terminology for understanding conceptual and operational definitions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(6), 1425–1456. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-013-9485-0

33.

Ivtzan

Lomas

Hefferon

Worth

(2015). Second wave positive psychology: Embracing the dark side of life. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315740010

34.

Jose

P. E.

Ryan

Pryor

(2012). Does social connectedness promote a greater sense of well‐being in adolescence over time? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(2), 235–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00783.x

35.

Kern

M. L.

Waters

L. E.

Adler

White

M. A.

(2015). A multidimensional approach to measuring well-being in students: Application of the PERMA framework. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 10(3), 262–271. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2014.936962

36.

Keyes

C. L.

Shmotkin

Ryff

C. D.

(2002). Optimizing well-being: The empirical encounter of two traditions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 1007. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.1007

37.

Kutsyuruba

Klinger

D. A.

Hussain

(2015). Relationships among school climate, school safety, and student achievement and well‐being: A review of the literature. The Review of Education, 3(2), 103–135. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3043

38.

Lee

L. O.

Aldwin

C. M.

Kubzansky

L. D.

Chen

Mroczek

D. K.

Wang

J. M.

Spiro

(2015). Do cherished children age successfully? Longitudinal findings from the veterans affairs normative aging study. Psychology and Aging, 30(4), 894–910. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000050

39.

Lerner

R. M.

Lerner

J. V.

Almerigi

J. B.

Theokas

Phelps

Gestsdottir

Naudeau

Jelicic

Alberts

(2005). Positive youth development, participation in community youth development programs, and community contributions of fifth-grade adolescents: Findings from the first wave of the 4-H study of positive youth development. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 17–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431604272461

40.

McNeely

Falci

(2004). School connectedness and the transition into and out of health-risk behavior among adolescents: A comparison of social belonging and teacher support. Journal of School Health, 74(7), 284–292. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2004.tb08285.x

41.

Moran

K. M.

Turiano

N. A.

Gentzler

A. L.

(2018). Parental warmth during childhood predicts coping and well-being in adulthood. Journal of Family Psychology, 32(5), 610–621. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000401

42.

Murray

(2009). Parent and teacher relationships as predictors of school engagement and functioning among low-income urban youth. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 29(3), 376–404. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431608322940

43.

Nahkur

Casas

(2021). Fit and cross-country comparability of Children’s Worlds psychological well-being scale using 12-year-olds samples. Child Indicators Research. 14(7), 2211–2247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-021-09833-0

44.

National Research Council Division on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on National Statistics, Panel on Measuring Subjective Well-Being in a Policy-Relevant Framework . (2013). Subjective well-being: Measuring happiness, suffering, and other dimensions of experience ( Stone

A. A.

Mackie

, Eds.). The National Academies Press.

45.

Pekel

(2017). Getting relationships right: 55 leaders discuss what it will take to create schools and youth programs where developmental relationships thrive. Search Institute. https://www.search-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2017-Pekel-GettingRelationshipsRight.pdf

46.

Pianta

R. C.

(1999). Enhancing relationships between children and teachers. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10314-000

47.

Porges

S. W.

(2022). Polyvagal theory: A science of safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 16, 871227. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2022.871227

48.

Quin

(2017). Longitudinal and contextual associations between teacher–student relationships and student engagement: A systematic review. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), 345–387. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654316669434

49.

Racine

McArthur

B. A.

Cooke

J. E.

Eirich

Zhu

Madigan

(2021). Global prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19: A meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 175(11), 1142–1150. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2482

50.

Raghunathan

T. E.

Lepkowski

J. M.

Van Hoewyk

Solenberger

(2001). A multivariate technique for multiply imputing missing values using a sequence of regression models. Survey Methodology, 27(1), 85–95.

51.

Reddy

Rhodes

J. E.

Mulhall

(2003). The influence of teacher support on student adjustment in the middle school years: A latent growth curve study. Development and Psychopathology, 15(1), 119–138. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579403000075

52.

Rees

Main

(2015). Children’s views on their lives and well-being in 15 countries: A report on the Children’s worlds survey, 2013–14. Children’s Worlds Project (ISCWeB). https://isciweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/ChildrensWorlds2015-FullReport-Final.pdf

53.

Rees

Savahl

Lee

B. J.

Casas

(2020). Children’s views on their lives and well-being in 35 countries: A report on the Children’s worlds project, 2016–2019. Children’s Worlds Project (ISCWeB). https://isciweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Childrens-Worlds-Comparative-Report-2020.pdf

54.

Resnick

M. D.

Bearman

P. S.

Blum

R. W.

Bauman

K. E.

Harris

K. M.

Jones

Tabor

Beuhring

Sieving

R. E.

Shew

(1997). Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the national longitudinal study on adolescent health. JAMA, 278(10), 823–832.

55.

Rodgers

C. R.

Raider‐Roth

M. B.

(2006). Presence in teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 12(3), 265–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/13450600500467548

56.

Roorda

D. L.

Koomen

H. M.

Spilt

J. L.

Oort

F. J.

(2011). The influence of affective teacher–student relationships on students’ school engagement and achievement: A meta-analytic approach. Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493–529. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311421793

57.

Rose

I. D.

Lesesne

C. A.

Sun

Johns

M. M.

Zhang

Hertz

(2022). The relationship of school connectedness to adolescents’ engagement in co-occurring health risks: A meta-analytic review. The Journal of School Nursing, 10598405221096802. https://doi.org/10.1177/10598405221096802

58.

Rothrauff

T. C.

Cooney

T. M.

J. S.

(2009). Remembered parenting styles and adjustment in middle and late adulthood. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 64(1), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbn008

59.

Ryan

R. M.

Deci

E. L.

(2001). On happiness and human potentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 141–166. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141

60.

Ryff

C. D.

(1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069

61.

Ryff

C. D.

(2014). Psychological well-being revisited: Advances in the science and practice of eudaimonia. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 83(1), 10–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000353263

62.

Ryff

C. D.

(2017). Eudaimonic well-being, inequality, and health: Recent findings and future directions. International Review of Economics, 64(2), 159–178. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-017-0277-4

63.

Ryff

C. D.

Boylan

J. M.

Kirsch

J. A.

(2021). Eudaimonic and hedonic well-being: An integrative perspective with linkages to sociodemographic factors and health. In Lee

M. T.

Kubzansky

L. D.

VanderWeele

T. J.

(Eds.), Measuring well-being: Interdisciplinary perspectives from the social sciences and the humanities (pp. 92–135). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197512531.003.0005

64.

Ryff

C. D.

Keyes

C. L. M.

(1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.719

65.

Ryff

C. D.

Singer

(2003). Flourishing under fire: Resilience as a prototype of challenged thriving. In Keyes

C. L. M.

Haidt

(Eds.), Flourishing: Positive psychology and the life well-lived (pp. 15–36). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10594-001

66.

Ryff

C. D.

Singer

B. H.

(2008). Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 13–39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-006-9019-0

67.

Scales

P. C.

Roehlkepartain

E. C.

Houltberg

B. J.

(2022). The elements of developmental relationships: A review of selected research underlying the framework. Search Institute. https://www.search-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ElementsofDevelopmentalRelationships-FINAL.pdf

68.

Scales

P. C.

Van Boekel

Pekel

Syvertsen

A. K.

Roehlkepartain

E. C.

(2020). Effects of developmental relationships with teachers on middle‐school students’ motivation and performance. Psychology in the Schools, 57(4), 646–677. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22350

69.

Sharkey

J. D.

You

Schnoebelen

(2008). Relations among school assets, individual resilience, and student engagement for youth grouped by level of family functioning. Psychology in the Schools, 45(5), 402–418. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20305

70.

Steiner

R. J.

Sheremenko

Lesesne

Dittus

P. J.

Sieving

R. E.

Ethier

K. A.

(2019). Adolescent connectedness and adult health outcomes. Pediatrics, 144(1), e20183766. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-3766

71.

Tapia-Fonllem

Fraijo-Sing

Corral-Verdugo

Garza-Terán

Moreno-Barahona

(2020). School environments and elementary school children’s well-being in northwestern Mexico. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 510. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00510

72.

ten Bokkel

I. M.

Roorda

D. L.

Maes

Verschueren

Colpin

(2022). The role of affective teacher–student relationships in bullying and peer victimization: A multilevel meta-analysis. School Psychology Review, 52(2), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2022.2029218

73.

Thompson

R. A.

(2006). The development of the person: Social understanding, relationships, conscience, self. In Damon

Lerner

R. M.

(Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Social, emotional, and personality development (Vol. 3, 6th ed.) (pp. 24–98). Wiley.

74.

VanderWeele

T. J.

(2017). On the promotion of human flourishing. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(31), 8148–8156. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1702996114

75.

VanderWeele

T. J.

Knol

M. J.

(2014). A tutorial on interaction. Epidemiologic Methods, 3(1), 33–72. https://doi.org/10.1515/em-2013-0005

76.

Wang

M.-T.

Degol

J. L.

(2016). School climate: A review of the construct, measurement, and impact on student outcomes. Educational Psychology Review, 28(2), 315–352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9319-1

77.

Waters

Cross

Shaw

(2010). Does the nature of schools matter? An exploration of selected school ecology factors on adolescent perceptions of school connectedness. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3), 381–402. https://doi.org/10.1348/000709909X484479

78.

Wentzel

K. R.

(1998). Social relationships and motivation in middle school: The role of parents, teachers, and peers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(2), 202–209. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.90.2.202

79.

Wentzel

K. R.

(2016). Teacher-student relationships. In Wentzel

K. R.

Miele

D. B.

(Eds.), Handbook of motivation at school (2 ed.) (pp. 211–229). Routledge.

80.

Whitaker

R. C.

Dearth-Wesley

Herman

A. N.

(2021). Childhood family connection and adult flourishing: Associations across levels of childhood adversity. Academic Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2021.03.002

81.

Whitaker

R. C.

Dearth-Wesley

Herman

A. N.

Nagel

K. E.

Smith

H. G.

Weil

H. F. C.

(2020). Association of childhood family connection with flourishing in young adulthood among those with type 1 diabetes. JAMA Network Open, 3(3), e200427. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.0427

82.

Whitaker

R. C.

Dearth-Wesley

Herman

A. N.

van Wingerden

A.-S. N.

Winn

D. W.

(2022a). Family connection and flourishing among adolescents in 26 countries. Pediatrics, 149(6), e2021055263. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-055263

83.

Whitaker

R. C.

Herman

A. N.

Dearth‐Wesley

(2022b). Relational health as a pathway from trauma to flourishing in school communities. Journal of School Health, 93(7), 628–637. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.13282

84.

Zullig

K. J.

Koopman

T. M.

Patton

J. M.

Ubbes

V. A.

(2010). School climate: Historical review, instrument development, and school assessment. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 28(2), 139–152. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734282909344205

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.77 MB