Changes in Character Virtues are Driven by Classroom Relationships: A Longitudinal Study of Elementary School Children

Kendra J Thomas,Jonathan B Santo,Josafá Da Cunha

doi:10.1007/s12310-022-09511-8

Kendra J Thomas, Jonathan B Santo + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-022-09511-8

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the role of school relationships in shaping students’ character development in middle childhood. Students and teachers completed surveys on student–teacher relationships, peer relationships, social-emotional learning (SEL), parent-teacher communication, and character strengths of fairness, hope, bravery, teamwork, self-regulation, social responsibility, and prosocial leadership. Participants were 1881 Brazilian children in fourth or fifth grade across 288 classrooms and 60 schools. Data were analyzed using a multi-level model framework. Higher student–student relationships were associated with higher starting scores of character strengths paired with a stronger increase among classes whose relationships improved over time. Higher quality student–teacher relationships were associated with a larger increase in character strengths among boys. Teachers’ usage of SEL strategies, student–teacher relationships and student peer relationships were important predictors of both classroom baselines and the change in character strengths across time. Most of the existing literature on character strengths is based on older adolescent samples from affluent countries and with little Latin American representation. This study supports existing literature on the relevancy of character strengths in the educational context, but adds the importance of seeing it as a contextual and relational outcome.

Highlights

The purpose of this study is to understand the role of school relationships and socio-emotional learning (SEL) in shaping students’ character development in middle childhood
This provided an intra-class correlation coefficient such that 70.26% of the variability in the various character strengths was at the within-individual level, 27.80% at the individual level, leaving 1.93% of the variability at the classroom level
Beyond mean differences in the character strengths, the increase over time was most notable in hope and teamwork, and self-regulation was the lowest across time points

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to understand the role of school relationships and socio-emotional learning (SEL) in shaping students’ character development in middle childhood. Education should increase children’s overall functioning, by sharpening their cognitive development, and by strengthening their character and the skills to flourish in their communities. Mental health is often assessed as the absence of mental illness, when it should be measured through positive markers such as character strengths and wellbeing. Influential character development researchers have long stated that goodness is not the absence of problems (Lerner, 2018), and that the school community is vital for human flourishing (Narvaez, 2008). This paper takes a positive approach and measures the relational context of the classroom and its effect on character development

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