Abstract
<p>Teacher-child relationship quality and child temperament have been associated with children’s school adjustment and academic performance. However, few studies explore the influence of both child temperament and teacher-child relationship quality on children’s academic development. This study investigates the role of teacher-child relationships on kindergarten children’s temperament and academic performance. Study participants were comprised of 324 kindergarten students, attending 22 schools in urban, low-income communities. A multivariate regression analysis was used to explore whether teacher-child relationships moderate or mediate the association between child temperament and academic performance. The study reinforces previous findings that conflictual teacher-child relationships inhibit children’s academic performance and close teacher-child relationships promote children’s academic performance. For cautious children, close teacher-child relationships moderate mathematics performance. For high maintenance children, conflictual teacher-child mediate children’s critical thinking. The findings have implications for teacher training, on-going teacher development, and the promotion of early academic development for children at-risk for underachievement.</p>
Highlights
Teacher-child relationship quality has long been associated with children’s academic development (e.g., Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Pianta, 1999; Birch & Ladd, 1997)
Low quality teacher-child relationships marked by teacher unresponsiveness, conflict, and low closeness, negatively predict children’s effective schoolwork habits, class participation, and academic development (Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004; Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Ladd et al, 1999)
Teacher-child relationships characterized by high teacher-child conflict predict low academic skill development for children (Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004; Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Birch & Ladd, 1997)
Summary
Teacher-child relationship quality has long been associated with children’s academic development (e.g., Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Pianta, 1999; Birch & Ladd, 1997). Children with high positive emotionality or effortful control (an aspect of task persistence dealing with children’s attention abilities) are more likely to have close, less conflictual teacher-child relationships (Valiente, Swanson, & Eisenberg, 2012; Rudasill & Rimm-Kaufman, 2009; Rydell et al, 2005; Spinrad et al, 2004; Rubin, Burgess, & Coplan, 2002). High negative reactivity, or low effortful control are more likely to have distant, overly dependent, or conflictual teacher-child relationships (Rudasill, Niehaus, Buhs, & White, 2013; Valiente, Swanson, & Eisenberg, 2012; Thiji & Koomen, 2009; Rudasill, Rimm-Kaufman, Justice, & Pernce, 2006; Ladd & Burgess, 1999)
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