Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
PII 80022-4405(96)00029-5
62
room peers, however, are not the only consistent figures with whom children can form relationships and from whom children can seek support on
a daily basis in school. Rather, classroom teachers may serve these functions
as well. Thus, it is important to study the quality of children's relationships
with teachers, as well as peers, when investigating children's early school
adjustment.
Howes and her colleagues (Howes & Hamilton, 1992; Howes & Hamilton, 1993; Howes & Matheson, 1992) have made the greatest strides to date
towards describing features of the teacher-child relationship. These investigators have utilized key constructs from literature on parent-child attachment to define qualities of the teacher-child relationship (i.e., secure,
avoidant, resistant/ambivalent). Other researchers have relied on principles found in attachment theory to characterize the teacher-child relationship, although less explicitly than Howes and her colleagues. Utilizing the
construct of teacher-child relatedness, Lynch and Cicchetti (1992) describe
five teacher-child relationship patterns that vary in emotional quality and
psychological proximity-seeking, based on children's reports of their relationships with teachers: optimal, deprived, disengaged, confused, and average. Alternatively, Pianta and Steinberg (1992) have attempted to define
qualities of the teacher-child relationship using teachers' perceptions as
indexed on the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). The items
used on the STRS were derived from attachment theory and research on
teacher-child interactions, and were designed to tap the dimensions of
warmth/security, anger/dependence, and anxiety/insecurity. Recent analyses of the STRS have revealed three distinct factors: closeness, dependency, and conflict/anger (Pianta, Steinberg, & Rollins, 1995).
We seek to elaborate current thinking about the teacher-child relationship by defining its features or attributes within a relationship quality
perspective (e.g., Berndt & Perry, 1986; Furman & Buhrmester, 1985;
Ladd, Kochenderfer, & Coleman, 1996; Parker & Asher, 1993a; Weiss,
1974). In studies of other interpersonal aspects of the school environment
(e.g., children's friendships), a focus on qualitative features has yielded a
richer understanding of the relationships under investigation (e.g., Parker
& Asher, 1993a) and important insights into the features of friendships that
may impact children's school adjustment (e.g., Ladd, Kochenderfer, &
Coleman, 1996).
Drawing upon past work by Pianta and Steinberg (1992) and others, we
propose that three qualitatively distinct aspects of the teacher-child relationship are related to young children's school adjustment: closeness,
conflict, and dependency. Closeness encompasses the degree of warmth
and open communication that exists between a teacher and a child, and
may function as a support for young children in the school environment.
For example, having a warm affective tie to a significant figure in the
classroom may facilitate positive affect and attitudes towards school. Like-
63
64
65
METHOD
Subjects
A sample of full-day kindergarten children (N= 206) and their teachers (N
-- 16) were recruited, as part of a larger longitudinal project, from eight
public elementary schools located in three midwestern communities in the
United States. Only children with written parental consent were chosen to
participate in the study. In each classroom, at least 80% of the children had
written parental consent to participate. Ninety-eight children (47.6%) were
girls and 108 children (52.4%) were boys. The mean age of the children at
the beginning of the kindergarten year was 5.58 years. The sample was
73.3% Caucasian, 20.4% African-American, 1.9% Hispanic and 4.4% O t h e r
ethnicities. All 206 children completed all measures in the study. T h e 16
teachers were Caucasian females, and their years of teaching experience
ranged from 0 to 23 years (mean = 13.25 years). Teachers provided
complete information for all subjects, and were reimbursed for their
participation in the project. T h e three communities in which the schools
were located were chosen to represent a variety of demographic characteristics, and they ranged from rural to moderately urban (e.g., populations ranged from approximately 2,000 to 100,000).
MEASURES
Teacher-Child Relationship Assessment
The Student-Teacher Relationship Scale. The Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS; Pianta & Steinberg, 1992) was utilized to assess teachers'
perceptions o f different qualities of their relationships with their students.
Teachers rated 35 statements in terms of how applicable each statement
was to their current relationship with a particular child. Responses ranged
from definitely does not apply (1) to definitely applies (5). T h e Closeness
subscale is comprised of 11 items that index the warmth and open communication in the teacher-child relationship (e.g., "I share an affectionate, warm relationship with this child;" alpha = .90). T h e D e p e n d e n c y
subscale is a reliable four-item index of the degree to which the child is
66
67
tively. T h e present study utilized a five-item index of loneliness that demonstrated adequate internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .75).
Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment. Teachers rated various aspects of children's adjustment to school with the Teacher Rating Scale of
School Adjustment (TRSSA). The TRSSA was developed by the present
investigators, in collaboration with the teachers participating in the present
study. Factor analysis revealed five reliable subscales, four of which are
utilized in the present study: School Liking, School Avoidance, Cooperative
Participation, and Self-Directedness. The School Liking subscale is a fiveitem index of the teacher's perception of how much the child likes school
(alpha = .89). T h e School Avoidance subscale consists of five items that
address the teacher's perceptions of the child's efforts to avoid the classroom environment (alpha = .74). T h e Cooperative Participation subscale is
an eight-item indicator of the degree to which children accept the teacher's authority, and comply with classroom rules and responsibilities (alpha
= .92). Finally, the Self-Directedness subscale consists of nine items that
reflect the extent to which children display i n d e p e n d e n t or self-directed
behavior in the classroom (alpha = .91). For each child, a mean subscale
score was c o m p u t e d by summing the child's score on each item in the
subscale and dividing by the n u m b e r of items comprising the subscale. See
Table 1 for subscale and sample items.
PROCEDURE
Teachers completed the STRS and the TRSSA in N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r of
the kindergarten year. Children were interviewed individually in the fall
semester by trained undergraduate and graduate students. The measures
described above (as well as several additional measures not included in the
present study) were administered on two separate occasions (no more than
40 minutes each) in o r d e r to avoid subject fatigue. Interviewers introduced
themselves to the children, assured them of the confidentiality of their
68
RESULTS
Descriptive Analysis of the Teacher-Child Relationship
Inspection of means for all children on the various aspects o f the t e a c h e r child relationship (as assessed via the STRS) revealed that, overall, children
had relatively close, nonconflictual,
and nondependent
relationships with
w e r e as f o l l o w s : C l o s e -
( M = 1.96, SD = . 8 3 ) , a n d C o n f l i c t
(M = 1.96, SD = .96).
A MANOVA was p e r f o r m e d to examine possible g e n d e r differences in
the quality of children's teacher-child relationships. Teachers r e p o r t e d
having significantly more closeness in their relationships with girls (F(1,
204) = 7.43, p < .01), and significantly m o r e conflictual relationships with
boys (F(1,204) = 6.63, p < .01).
69
70
Table 2
The Teacher-Child Relationship and Children's Early School Adjustment (Overall Results)
R~ Increment
Criterion
Gender
Academic Performance/Readiness
MRT Visual Stanine
.00
MRT Language
.01
Stanine
School Affect and Attitude
Loneliness (child)
.01
School Liking
.00
(child)
School Liking
.03**
(teacher)
School Involvement/
Engagement
School Avoidance
.02*
(child)
School Avoidance
.01
(teacher)
Self-Directedness
.03**
(teacher)
Cooperative Partici.05***
pation (teacher)
Individual
Relational Teacher-Child Gender
Environment Relationship Interaction
Overall R2
.02
.01
.14 .....
.09 ....
.01
.02
.17 .....
.12"**
.02
.03*
.04**
.05**
.02
.00
.09**
.08*
.06***
.22 .....
.01
.32 .....
.01
.04*
.04*
.10"*
.05**
.12 .....
.02
.20 .....
.06***
.48 .....
.01
.59 .....
.08 ....
.52 .....
.02**
.67 .....
s i o n s y i e l d e d s i g n i f i c a n t r e s u l t s f o r all s c h o o l a d j u s t m e n t o u t c o m e s e x c e p t
c h i l d r e n ' s r a t i n g s o f s c h o o l a v o i d a n c e ( w h e r e it a p p r o a c h e d s i g n i f i c a n c e ) .
Academic readiness/performance.
71
72
uniquely accounted for 10% of the variance in school liking, and both
D e p e n d e n c y and Conflict uniquely contributed 2% to the variance. Children with more teacher-reported Closeness in their teacher-child relationships liked school more than did children with less close relationships with
their teachers. In addition, children with more conflictual or d e p e n d e n t
teacher--child relationships liked school less than did children with less
teacher-child Conflict or Dependency.
73
74
75
76
with a significant adult figure in the school environment (and vice versa;
i.e., cognitive and emotional maturity are coexistent).
It is not surprising that teachers have closer relationships with children
who they perceive as having more positive attitudes towards school. Teachers may feel closer to children who express school liking and who seem to
enjoy most o f the activities in the classroom. Children who share a close
relationship with the teacher may perceive the school environment as a
supportive one, and this may p r o m o t e positive attitudes towards school.
Finally, closeness in the teacher-child relationship affords children the
opportunity to openly express feelings and concerns, and therefore elicit
appropriate help and guidance in their attempts to adjust to the school
environment. A supportive teacher-child relationship may therefore enable children to b e c o m e self-directed and responsible participants in the
classroom. It is also possible that teachers find it easier to form and
maintain close relationships with children who are acting in an independ e n t and responsible manner.
T h e present study also provides some preliminary evidence that the
general quality of the relational environment o f the classroom may be a
relevant variable for future investigation. T h e overall level of d e p e n d e n c y
and conflict present in the classroom was related to teachers' ratings of
individual children's school attitudes and cooperative participation. In
addition, the mean level of conflict was related to teachers' ratings of
children's self-directed behavior. Thus, it seems that in classrooms that
have a relatively conflictual atmosphere, there is also the perception that
children like school less and are less positively involved in the classroom
(i.e., less self-directed a n d / o r lower in cooperative participation). It is also
plausible that a particular classroom may consist of less mature children
(who are perhaps less self-directed and cooperative), which might foster
perceptions o f d e p e n d e n c y or feelings of conflict between the teacher and
the children in the classroom in general. The finding that children in
classrooms characterized by high D e p e n d e n c y are reported to like school
more (than children in less d e p e n d e n t classrooms) is not consistent with
our hypotheses; however, it acts to stimulate further conceptualization of
the relational environment constructs. Future studies designed specifically
to address the effects o f the classroom environment on children's adjustm e n t to school may help to tease apart these relationships.
In addition to these dimensions of the teacher-child relationship and
the relational environment of the classroom, the present study also provided evidence that certain child characteristics (i.e., gender) play an
important role in determining children's early school adjustment. Teachers perceived girls as having m o r e positive school attitudes, and also as
being more positively involved (i.e., self-directed and cooperatively participatory) in the school environment than boys. These findings are consistent with research suggesting that, at an early age, girls participate more in
77
78
relationships with their students are associated with children's performance on academic tasks, children's feelings of loneliness and school
avoidance desires, and teachers' reports of various school adjustment
o u t c o m e indices. I m p o r t a n t decisions often made by children's classroom
teachers, including grade retention decisions, are undoubtedly based on
indicators such as these. Thus, the quality of children's teacher-child
relationships may have far-reaching significance in terms of the various
educational trajectories that children follow t h r o u g h o u t their schooling
experience.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Preparation o f this article was supported by National Institute of Mental
Health Grant MH-49223 to Gary Ladd. We thank the participating parents,
teachers, and students for making this study possible.
REFERENCES
Asher, S. R., Parkhurst, J. T., Hymel, S., & Williams, G. A. (1990). Peer rejection and
loneliness in childhood. In S. R. Asher &J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood
(pp. 253-273). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Berndt, T.J., & Perry, T. B. (1986). Children's perceptions of friendships as supportive
relationships. Developmental Psychology, 22, 640-648.
Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1994). The relative contributions of peer and teacher-child
relationships to children's early school adjustment. Paper presented at the 13th
Biennial Conference on Human Development, Pittsburgh, PA, April 1994.
Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1996). Interpersonal relationships in the school environment and children's early school adjustment: The role of teachers and peers. In K.
R. Wentzel & J. Juvonen (Eds.), Social motivation: Understanding children's school
adjustment (pp. 199-225). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bowlby,J. (1982). Attachment and loss (Vol. 1). New York: Basic Books.
Bretherton, I. (1985). Attachment theory: Retrospect and prospect. In I. Bretherton &
E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of
the Societyfor Research in Child Development, 50, (1-2, Serial No. 209).
Carpenter, C.J. (1983). Activitystructure and play: Implications for socialization. In M.
Liss (Ed.), Social and cognitive skills: Sex roles and children's play (pp. 117-145). New
York: Academic Press.
Cassidy,J., & Asher, S. R. (1992). Loneliness and peer relations in young children. Child
Development, 63, 350-365.
Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regression~correlation analysis far the
behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., & Kupersmidt, J. B. (1990). Peer group behavior and social
status. In S. R. Asher &J. D. Coie (Eds.), Peer rejection in childhood (pp. 1%59). New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. (1986). Metropolitan Readiness Tests: Iz,vel One. San Diego:
CA: Author.
Furman, W., & Buhrmester, D. (1985). Children's perceptions of the personal relationships in their social networks. Developmental Psychology, 21, 1016-1024.
Howes, C., & Hamilton, C. E. (1992). Children's relationships with child care teachers:
79
Stability and concordance with parental attachments. Child Development, 63, 867878.
Howes, C., & Hamilton, C. E. (1993). The changing experience of child care: Changes
in teachers and in teacher-child relationships and children's social competence
with peers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 8, 15-32.
Howes, C., & Matheson, C. C. (1992). Contextual constraints on the concordance of
mother-child and teacher-child relationships. New Directionsfar Child Development,
57, 25-40.
Ladd, G. W. (1989). Children's social competence and social supports: Precursors of
early school adjustment? In B. H. Schneider, G. Attili, J. Nadel, & R. Weissberg
(Eds.), Social competencein developmentalperspective (pp. 271-291). Amsterdam: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Ladd, G. W. (1990). Having friends, keeping friends, making friends, and being liked
by peers in the classroom: Predictors of children's early school adjustment? Child
Development, 61, 1081-1100.
Ladd, G. W. (1996). Shifting ecologies during the 5-7 year period: Predicting children's school adjustment during the transition to grade school. In A. Sameroff & M.
Haith (Eds.), Reason and responsibility: The passage through childhood (pp. 363-386).
Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Ladd, G. W., Kochenderfer, B.J., & Coleman, C. C. (1996). Friendship quality as a
predictor of young children's early school adjustment. Child Development, 67, 11031118.
Ladd, G. W., &Price, J. M. (1987). Predicting children's social and school adjustment
following the transition from preschool to kindergarten. Child Development, 58,
1168-1189.
Lynch, M., & Cicchetti, D. (1992). Maltreated children's reports of relatedness to their
teachers. New Directionsfar Child Development, 57, 81-108.
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1987). Peer relations and later personal adjustment: Are
low-accepted children at risk? PsychologicalBulletin, 102, 357-389.
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1993a). Beyond peer group acceptance: Friendship and
friendship quality as distinct dimensions of peer adjustment. In W. H. Jones & D.
Perlman (Eds.), Advances in personal relationships (Vol. 4, pp. 261-294). London:
Kingsley Press.
Parker, J. G., & Asher, S. R. (1993b). Friendship and friendship quality in middle
childhood: Links with peer group acceptance and feelings of loneliness and social
dissatisfaction. DevelopmentalPsychology, 29, 611-621.
Pianta, R. C., & Steinberg, M. (1992). teacher-child relationships and the process of
adjusting to school. New Directionsfar Child Development, 57, 61--80.
Pianta, R. C., Steinberg, M., & Rollins, K. (1995). The first two years of school:
Teacher-child relationships mad deflections in children's school adjustment. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 295-312.
Saft, L. (1994). A descriptive study of the Student Teacher Relationship Scale with
preschoolers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Virginia.
Weiss, R. S. (1974). The provisions of social relationships. In Z. Rubin (Ed.), Doing unto
others, (pp. 17-26). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Wentzel, K. R. (1993). Does being good make the grade? Social behavior and academic
competence in middle school. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 357-364.