Teacher-student relationships and hope among rural adolescents: a moderated mediation model

Abstract

ABSTRACT Considerable studies have examined the influence of family environment on adolescents’ hope, but few studies have discussed the influence of school environment on adolescents’ hope, and even fewer have investigated the mediating and moderating mechanisms between teacher-student relationships and hope among rural adolescents. To address these research gaps, this study combined Bernardo’s hope theory, the self-determination theory (SDT), and the protective-protective model to examine the influence of teacher-student relationships on hope, the mediating effect of school engagement, and the moderating effect of peer trust among rural adolescents. A sample of 1373 adolescents from four rural secondary schools in Fujian province completed questionnaires on teacher-student relationships, school engagement, peer trust, and hope. Correlation analysis showed that there were significant positive correlations between teacher-student relationships, school engagement, peer trust, and hope. Moderated mediation analysis showed that teacher-student relationships could directly predict hope and indirectly predict hope through the mediating effect of school engagement. Peer trust positively moderated the relationship between teacher-student relationships and school engagement, but not the relationship between teacher-student relationships and hope. This study highlights the mechanism of teacher-student relationships on hope from the perspective of the school environment and provides a reference for promoting rural adolescents’ hope.