A growing number of researchers are examining how teacher–student relationships contribute to child and adolescent development. Much of this work is based on two distinct theoretical perspectives: social support and attachment. The current study investigates the importance of teacher–student relationships from each of these perspectives among low-income children and youth in a large urban environment. Study 1 focused on 157 children in kindergarten, and Study 2 focused on 171 early adolescents. Findings indicated that teacher social support and teacher–student relationships contributed to indicators of school adjustment among both samples, and to the emotional and behavioral adjustment of early adolescents. Analyses of specific dimensions of relationships suggested that attachment-based constructs were more consistently and strongly associated with adjustment indicators than were teacher social support constructs. Preliminary implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed.
AchenbachT. M. (1991). Manual for the teacher’s report form and 1991 profile. Burlington: Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont.
2.
AnanR. M.BarnettD. (1999). Perceived social support mediates between prior attachment and subsequent adjustment: A study of urban African American children. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1210-1222. doi:10.1037//0012-1649.35.5.1210
3.
ArmsdenG. C.GreenbergM. T. (1987). The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 16, 427-454. doi:10.1007/BF02202939
4.
BakerJ. A.GrantS.MorlockL. (2008). The teacher-student relationship as a developmental context for children with internalizing or externalizing behavior problems. School Psychology Quarterly, 23, 3-15. doi:10.1037/1045-3830.23.1.3
5.
BerginC.BerginD. (2009). Attachment in the classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 21, 141-170. doi:10.1007/s10648-009-9104-0
6.
BirchS. H.LaddG. W. (1997). The teacher-child relationship and children’s early school adjustment. Journal of School Psychology, 35, 61-79. doi:10.1016/S0022-4405(96)00029-5
7.
BoothC. L.RubinK. H.Rose-KrasnorL. (1998). Perceptions of emotional support from mother and friend in middle childhood: Links with social-emotional adaptation and preschool attachment security. Child Development, 69, 427-442.
8.
BowlbyJ. (1979). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. London, England: Tavistock.
9.
BrewsterA. B.BowenG. (2004). Teacher support and the school engagement of Latino middle and high school students at risk for school failure. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 21, 47-67.
10.
CohenS.WillisT. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310-357. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.98.2.310
11.
DemarayM. K.MaleckiC. K.DavidsonL. M.HodgsonK. K.RebusP. J. (2005). The relationship between social support and student adjustment: A longitudinal analysis. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 691-706. doi:10.1002/pits.20120
12.
FitzsimonsG. M.KayA. C. (2004). Language and interpersonal cognition: Causal effects of variations in pronoun usage on perceptions of closeness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 547-557. doi:10.1177/0146167203262852
13.
GranotD.MayselessO. (2001). Attachment security and adjustment to school in middle childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25, 530-541. doi:10.1080/01650250042000366
14.
GreenbergM.LenguaL. (1995). Scale construction for the Seattle Personality Inventory (Fast Track Project Technical Report). Seattle, Washington: University of Washington.
15.
GreenbergM. T.SpeltzM. L.DeKlyenM. (1993). The role of attachment in the early development of disruptive behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 191-213.
16.
GreshamF. M.ElliottS. N. (1990). Social Skills Rating System. Circle Pines, NY: American Guidance Services.
17.
GuestK. C.BiasiniF. J. (2001). Middle childhood, poverty, and adjustment: Does social support have an impact?Psychology in the Schools, 38, 549-560. doi:10.1002/pits.1042.abs
18.
GulloneE.RobinsonK. (2005). The Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment–Revised (IPPA-R) for children: A psychometric investigation. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 12, 67-79. doi:10.1002/cpp.433
19.
HamreB. K.PiantaR. C. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of children’s school outcomes through eighth grade. Child Development, 72, 625-638. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00301
20.
HamreB. K.PiantaR. C. (2005). Can instructional and emotional support in the first-grade classroom make a difference for children at risk of school failure?Child Development, 76, 949-967. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00889.x
21.
HayesA. F.CaiL. (2007). Using heteroscedasticity-consistent standard error estimators in OLS regression: An introduction and software implementation. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 709-722.
22.
HeitzmannC. A.KaplanR. M. (1988). Assessment methods for measuring social support. Health Psychology, 7, 75-109. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.7.1.75
23.
HenricssonL.RydellA. M. (2004). Elementary school children with behavior problems: Teacher-child relations and self-perceptions. A prospective study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 50, 111-138. doi:10.1353/mpq.2004.0012
24.
HuebnerE. S. (1991). Initial development of the Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale. School Psychology International, 12, 231-240. doi:10.1177/0143034391123010
25.
HughesJ. (2012). Teacher-student relationships and school adjustment: Progress and remaining challenges. Attachment & Human Development, 14, 319-327. doi:10.1080/14616734.2012.672288
26.
Institute for Research and Reform in Education. (1998). Research Assessment Package for Schools (RAPS): Manual for elementary and middle school assessments. Philadelphia, PA: Author.
27.
KomproeI. H.RijkenM.RosW. J.WinnubstJ. A.HartH. (1997). Available support and received support: Different effects under stressful circumstances. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14, 59-77. doi:10.1177/0265407597141003
28.
LaddG. W.BirchS. H.BuhsE. S. (1999). Children’s social and scholastic lives in kindergarten: Related spheres of influence?Child Development, 70, 1373-1400. doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00101
29.
LazarusR. S. (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
30.
LevittM. J.Guacci-FrancoN.LevittJ. L. (1993). Convoys of social support in childhood and early adolescence: Structure and function. Developmental Psychology, 29, 811-818. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.29.5.811
31.
MaasC. J. M.HoxJ. J. (2004). The influence of violations of assumptions on multilevel parameter estimates and their standard errors. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 46, 427-440.
32.
MaleckiC. K.DemarayM. K. (2002). Measuring perceived social support: Development of the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (CASSS). Psychology in the Schools, 39, 1-18. doi:10.1002/pits.10004
33.
MaleckiC. K.DemarayM. K. (2003). What type of support do they need? Investigating student adjustment as related to emotional, informational, appraisal, and instrumental support. School Psychology Quarterly, 18, 231-252. doi:10.1521/scpq.18.3.231.22576
34.
MaleckiC. K.DemarayM. K. (2006). Social support as a buffer in the relationship between socioeconomic status and academic performance. School Psychology Quarterly, 21, 375-395. doi:10.1037/h0084129
35.
MaleckiC. K.DemarayM. K.ElliottS. N. (2000). The Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University.
36.
MaleckiC. K.ElliottS. N. (1999). Adolescents’ ratings of perceived social support and its importance: Validation of the student social support scale. Psychology in the Schools, 36, 473-483. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1520-6807(199911)36:6<473::AID-PITS3>3.3.CO;2-S
37.
MantzicopoulosP. (2005). Conflictual relationships between kindergarten children and their teachers: Associations with child and classroom content variables. Journal of School Psychology, 43, 425-442. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2005.09.004
38.
MarchantG. J.PaulsonS. E.RothlisbergB. A. (2001). Relations of middle school students’ perceptions of family and school contexts with academic achievement. Psychology in the Schools, 38, 505-519. doi:10.1002/pits.1039.abs
39.
MashburnA. J.HamreB. K.DownerJ. T.PiantaR. C. (2006). Teacher and classroom characteristics associated with teachers’ ratings of pre-kindergartners’ relationships and behaviors. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 24, 367-380. doi:10.1177/0734282906290594
40.
MurrayC.GreenbergM. T. (2001). Relationships with teachers and bonds with school: Social emotional adjustment correlates for children with and without disabilities. Psychology in the Schools, 38, 25-41. doi:10.1002/1520-6807(200101)38:1<25::AID-PITS4>3.0.CO;2-C
41.
MurrayC.WaasG. A.MurrayK. M. (2008). Child race and gender as moderators of the association between teacher-child relationships and school adjustment. Psychology in the Schools, 45, 562-578. doi:10.1002/pits.20324
42.
MurrayC.ZvochK. (2011). The Inventory of Teacher-Student Relationships: Factor structure, reliability, and validity among African American youth in low-Income urban schools. Journal of Early Adolescence, 31, 493-525. doi:10.1177/0272431610366250
43.
PiantaR. C. (1996). Manual and scoring guide for the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale. Charlottesville: University of Virginia.
44.
PiantaR. C. (1999). Enhancing relationships between children and teachers. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
45.
ReidM.LandesmanS.TrederR.JaccardJ. (1989). “My Family and Friends”: Six-to twelve-year-old children’s perceptions of social support. Child Development, 60, 896-910. doi:10.2307/1131031
46.
ReioT. G.MarcusR. F.Sanders-ReioJ. (2009). Contribution of student and instructor relationships and attachment style to school completion. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 170, 53-71. doi:10.3200/GNTP.170.1.53-72
47.
ReynoldsW. M. (1989). Reynolds Child Depression Scale professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
48.
ReynoldsW. M.AndersonG.BartellN. (1985). Measuring depression in children: A multimethod assessment investigation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 13, 513-526. doi:10.1007/BF00923138
49.
RosenfeldL. B.RichmanJ. M.BowenG. L. (2000). Social support networks and school outcomes: The centrality of the teacher. Child and Adolescent Social Work, 17, 205-226.
50.
SabolT. J.PiantaR. C. (2012). Recent trends in research on teacher-child relationships. Attachment & Human Development, 14, 213-231. doi:10.1080/14616734.2012.672262
51.
SaftE. W.PiantaR. C. (2001). Teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with students: Effects of child age, gender, and ethnicity of teachers and children. School Psychology Quarterly, 16, 125-141. doi:10.1521/scpq.16.2.125.18698
52.
SeidmanE.AllenL. A.MitchellJ. L.MitchellC. (1995). Development and validation of adolescent-perceived microsystem scales: Social support, daily hassles, and involvement. American Journal of Community Psychology, 23, 355-388. doi:10.1007/BF02506949
53.
SpiltJ. L.KoomenH. M.ThijsJ. T.van der LeijA. (2012). Supporting teachers’ relationships with disruptive children: The potential of relationship-focused reflection. Attachment and Human Development, 14, 305-318. doi:10.1080/14616734.2012.672286
54.
SuldoS. M.McMahanM. M.ChappelA. M.BatemanL. P. (2014). Evaluation of the teacher-student relationship inventory in American high school students. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 32, 3-14. doi:10.1177/0734282913485212
55.
TerryT.HuebnerE. S. (1995). The relationship between self-concept and life satisfaction in children. Social Indicators Research, 35, 39-52. doi:10.1007/BF01079237
56.
Van RyzinM. (2010). Secondary school advisors as mentors and secondary attachment figures. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 131-154. doi:10.1002/jcop.20356
57.
WethingtonE.KesslerR. C. (1986). Perceived support, received support, and adjustment to stressful life events. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 27, 78-89. doi:10.2307/2136504
