Teacher Feedback, Student ADHD Behavior, and the Teacher–Student Relationship: Are These Related?

Abstract

This cross-sectional study aimed to compare positive and corrective teacher feedback toward children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typically developing children, and to examine whether the quality of the teacher–student relationship moderated associations between child behavior and teacher feedback. We observed and coded classroom ADHD behaviors of 55 children with ADHD and 34 typically developing children (TDC; 6–12 years), as well as the levels of positive and corrective teacher feedback they received. Teachers rated closeness and conflict using the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale in the ADHD group. Multilevel analyses revealed that teachers provided significantly more corrective feedback to children in the ADHD compared to the TDC group. Children in the ADHD group received more corrective than positive feedback, but this pattern was reversed for the TDC group. Multiple regression analyses in the ADHD group indicated that lower levels of positive feedback were related to higher levels of motor hyperactivity. Higher levels of corrective feedback were associated with higher levels of verbal hyperactivity. Closeness moderated this association: Corrective feedback was related to levels of verbal hyperactivity only if teachers experienced less closeness in the relationship with the child. None of the other moderation effects were significant. Teachers provided more corrective feedback to children with ADHD than to typically developing children, and teacher feedback toward children with ADHD was associated with levels of hyperactivity. A close teacher–student relationship may serve as protective factor for the receipt of corrective feedback in this group, but experimental studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.