Evaluation of the Teacher–Student Relationship Inventory in American High School Students

Abstract

This study provided an independent examination of the Teacher Student Relationship Inventory (TSRI), a teacher report measure developed in Singapore. A total of 500 American high school students were rated by 84 teachers. Exploratory factor analysis supported the existence of three factors representing instrumental help, satisfaction, and conflict; 11 of 14 items emerged as relatively pure indicators. Evidence of concurrent validity was provided through correlations, in the expected directions, between students’ ratings of their overall relationships with their teachers (teacher support and negative attitudes towards teachers) and TSRI satisfaction and conflict scores; instrumental help was unrelated to student perceptions of general teacher–student relations. Criterion-related validity was established through significant correlations in the expected directions between TSRI satisfaction and conflict scores and multiple indicators of students’ psychological and academic functioning. Instrumental help co-occurred with greater academic achievement but also with more teacher-observed symptoms of psychopathology. Findings provide initial support for use of the TSRI with American adolescents and suggest teacher-rated satisfaction as particularly relevant to students’ academic and psychological functioning.

Keywords

teacher–student relations high school students teacher-report rating scale independent evaluation

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