Student–teacher relationships in elementary school: The unique role of shyness, anxiety, and emotional problems

A Meta-Analytic Review of Personality and Teacher-Student Relationships

OBJECTIVE

This meta-analysis provides the first comprehensive synthesis of associations between student and teacher personality traits and the quality of teacher-student relationships.

METHOD

Fifty-five studies met the eligibility criteria, contributing a total of 238 effect sizes. We used multivariate meta-analysis with robust variance estimation (RVE) to model the dependency of effect sizes.

RESULTS

Student prosocial behavior (ρ = 0.59) and proactive personality (ρ = 0.48) were the strongest predictors of positive teacher-student relationship quality. All Big Five traits of students, except neuroticism, showed significant positive associations, with all correlations exceeding 0.4 when holding constant with all other moderators. Teacher agreeableness (ρ = 0.31) and conscientiousness (ρ = 0.29) yielded modest associations. Students with less emotional stability or aggressive behaviors were more likely to experience negative teacher-student relationships, such as conflict and dependency.

CONCLUSION

Our findings highlight the critical role of student personality in explaining the quality of teacher-student interactions. Multiple traits appear equally important, as indicated by comparable effect sizes. The literature is relatively limited when it comes to teacher personality. We were unable to examine teacher traits in relation to teacher-student conflict and dependency, but, overall, agreeable and conscientious teacher behaviors appeared to be important for favorable interactions, whereas teacher neuroticism may undermine the quality of such interactions.

Effect of teacher-student relationship on academic engagement: the mediating roles of perceived social support and academic pressure

Although previous research has established that a strong teacher-student relationship can enhance students' academic engagement, the mechanisms underlying this effect remain less explored. Therefore, this study examined the mediating roles of perceived social support and academic pressure in the association between teacher-student relationship and academic engagement. A survey involving 1,058 Chinese university students was conducted, with teacher-student relationship, perceived social support, academic pressure, and academic engagement being the evaluated factors. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that (a) teacher-student relationship directly and positively associated academic engagement, (b) teacher-student relationship indirectly and positively associated academic engagement through perceived social support, and (c) teacher-student relationship indirectly and positively associated academic engagement through both perceived social support and academic pressure. These results indicate that perceived social support and academic pressure are the primary factors mediating the effect of teacher-student relationship on academic engagement among university students.

The effect of student-perceived teacher support on math anxiety: chain mediation of teacher-student relationship and math self-efficacy

Introduction

This study investigates the mechanisms linking students' perceived teacher support with math anxiety, focusing on the mediating roles of the teacher-student relationship and mathematics self-efficacy.

Methods

The research was conducted with 401 fifth-grade students in China, utilizing scales for Students' Perceived Teacher Support, Teacher-Student Relationship, Math Self-Efficacy, and Math Anxiety.

Results

Findings revealed that student-perceived math teacher support, teacher-student relationship, and math self-efficacy were all significantly negatively correlated with math anxiety. It was notably found that student-perceived math teacher support influenced math anxiety through the chain mediation of teacher-student relationship and math self-efficacy. Additionally, the effect of students' perceived emotional support from math teachers on math anxiety, mediated by teacher-student relationship intimacy, was significant only among male students.

Discussion

These results underscore the importance of fostering positive teacher-student interactions and enhancing self-efficacy to reduce math anxiety among primary school students. The gender-specific findings regarding emotional support and relationship intimacy highlight the need for tailored strategies in addressing math anxiety.

A cross-cultural comparison of teacher-student relationship quality in Chinese and Italian teachers and students

Studies comparing teacher-student relationships between Eastern and Western countries are relatively rare. This study compared the affective qualities of teacher-student relationships between Eastern (i.e., China) and Western (i.e., Italy) countries to explore the measurement invariance, latent mean differences, and cultural differences in reporters' (teachers and students) agreement levels. An Italian sample of 31 teachers and 1647 students (46.9% girls; ages 9-14 years) and a Chinese sample of 28 teachers and 1474 students (44% girls; ages 9-14 years) reported on their perceptions of closeness and conflict in the teacher-student relationship. Measures of both student-perceived and teacher-perceived relationships achieved (partial) scalar invariance between the two cultures in the full sample, elementary school subsamples, and junior high school subsamples. Compared to their Chinese peers, the Italian junior high school students reported lower levels of conflict with their teachers, but there was no difference in closeness level. In addition, there was no difference in reporters' agreement across China and Italy in the full sample and in the junior high school subsample, whereas the Italian reporters' agreement on conflict was higher in the elementary school subsample.

Advancing a cross-cultural understanding of teacher perceptions of school climate: A latent class analysis using 2018 TALIS data

In recent years, school climate has increasingly received research attention. Most studies have focused only on student perceptions of school climate, whereas little is known regarding teachers’ views, and cross-country comparisons are scarce. To advance cross-country understanding of teacher perceptions of school climate, this study used data from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS) to explore latent classes of teacher perceptions and compared differences between American, Finnish, and Chinese teachers. Latent class analysis revealed that a four-class solution was the most appropriate for each teacher subsample: positive participation and teacher-student relation, positive teacher-student relation, moderate, and low participation for the U.S. and China datasets, while positive teacher-student relation, moderate, negative discipline, and low participation for the Finland dataset. However, measurement invariance across countries was violated. We further investigated the impact of predictors on latent classes of teacher perceptions of school climate. The results revealed varied patterns of cross-cultural differences across countries. Our findings implied that a more reliable and valid scale of teacher perceptions of school climate for cross-country comparison is needed. Tailored interventions are necessary as more than half of teachers perceived moderate and less desired school climate, and educators should consider cultural differences when drawing on experiences from other countries.

School Readiness and Achievement in Early Elementary School: Moderation by Students' Temperament

The goals of this study were to examine the longitudinal relations between school readiness and reading and math achievement and to test if these relations were moderated by temperament. The sample included socio-economically and ethnically diverse twins (N=551). Parents reported on school readiness when children were five years old. Teachers reported on temperament (effortful control, anger, and shyness) three years later. Standardized measures of reading and math were obtained when children were eight years old. Effortful control and shyness moderated the effect of school readiness on reading. Prediction of reading from school readiness was strongest when students were high in effortful control and low in shyness. Effortful control and shyness predicted math beyond school readiness. There were no relations involving anger. Findings demonstrate that temperament can potentiate the relations between school readiness and reading and highlight the importance of promoting school readiness and effortful control, while decreasing shyness.

Catching sight of children with internalizing symptoms in upper elementary classrooms

Teachers play a crucial role in the assessment of children's internalizing symptoms but may not always succeed in accurately identifying such symptoms in class. Using a multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) approach, this study aimed to explore teacher and child characteristics that may explain measurement bias in teachers' ratings of internalizing symptoms at the between- and within-teacher level. Upper elementary school teachers (N = 92, 74.9% female) filled out the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, and Student-Specific Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale for randomly selected children (N = 690, 50.5% girls, Grades 3-6) from their classrooms. Participating teachers and children also responded to several background questions. Multilevel SEMs suggested that teachers' self-efficacy beliefs toward, relationship experiences with, and externalizing symptom ratings of individual children affected their ratings of these children's internalizing symptoms at the within-teacher level. Specifically, given equal levels of internalizing behavior, teachers were likely to systematically under-identify symptoms of anxiety and over-identify bullying for children with more externalizing behavior and conflictual relationships, or in circumstances where teachers had lower self-efficacy. Children with high levels of closeness received systematically higher ratings on somatic complaints and lower ratings on solitary behavior and peer problems. At the between-teacher level, less experienced teachers were more likely to over-identify symptoms of worries than were more experienced teachers, given equal levels of internalizing symptoms. As such, these findings extend the limited body of evidence on children's internalizing symptoms in upper elementary school.

Testing a model of subjective well-being: The roles of optimism, psychological vulnerability, and shyness

This research extended current positive psychological research by investigating the mediating effect of shyness on the association between optimism, psychological vulnerability and subjective well-being. Two hundred fifty-five volunteer university students (131 females and 124 males, mean age = 23.14) participated in the study. The structural equation modeling revealed shyness fully mediated the effect of psychological vulnerability on subjective well-being, while shyness partially mediated the effect of optimism on subjective well-being. Also, bootstrapping procedures confirmed that psychological vulnerability was indirectly associated with subjective well-being through shyness, whereas optimism was directly associated with subjective well-being. The implications for future studies and the limitations of the study were discussed in the context of the relevant literature.

Students' Psychological Adjustment in Normative School Transitions From Kindergarten to High School: Investigating the Role of Teacher-Student Relationship Quality

School transitions require students to adapt to new challenges and situations and can increase the risk of externalizing and internalizing psychological symptoms. The teacher-student relationship seems to be a protective factor for the risk of developing psychological symptoms during school transitions. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the quality of the teacher-student relationship predicts the decrease of internalizing and externalizing symptoms during three school transitions, namely: from kindergarten to primary school (T1), from primary to middle school (T2), and from middle to high school (T3). We recruited 127 kindergarten students (mean age = 5.40, SD = 0.49), 113 fifth grade primary school students (mean age = 10.64, SD = 0.54), and 240 eighth grade students (mean age = 13.88, SD = 0.37) and their teachers (response rate = 95%). Data were collected from 2016 to 2018. Teachers filled out an anonymous survey, acting as informants for the students, reporting demographic details (age, gender), psychological symptoms, and quality of the teacher-student relationship. The data show that a positive teacher-student relationship quality tends to be associated with a reduction of psychological symptoms. A stable, low-conflict teacher-student relationship was confirmed as a protective factor from increased internalizing and externalizing symptoms during all normative school transitions. Furthermore, we see that an increase in teacher-student conflict during the transitions from primary to middle school, and from middle to high school is linked to an exacerbation in students’ externalizing symptoms during the first year of attendance of the new school. Our study confirms the importance of the teacher-student relationship in reducing psychological symptoms associated with school transitions, in every type of transition, favoring an improved psychological adjustment to the new environment. A positive teacher-student relationship represents a protective factor for the development of students. Study limitations are discussed.