Temperament and Early Teacher-Child Relationships: The Moderating Role of Family Affective Environment

Abstract

Temperament has been regarded as crucial in child development. Two models dominate current research on the role of early temperament in children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development, namely, direct effect model and interactive effect model. Although research has placed great emphasis on the impact that temperament has on peer competence, relatively little attention has been paid on the role of temperament in children’s competence to establish positive relationships with teachers. The aim of the current study was to investigate the role of early temperament in young children’s relationships with teachers. More importantly, both direct effect and interactive effect models were tested in order to fully understand the role of temperament in children’s teacher-child relationships. Based on a two-year and two-wave longitudinal sample of 118 preschoolers and their parents and teachers, the current study examined the relations of temperamental activity level, rhythmicity, approach/withdrawal and family affective environment to teacher-child relationships by using Parent Temperament Questionnaire (PTQ), Family Environment Scale (FES), and Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the unique effects of temperament and the interactive effects of temperament and family affective environment on teacher-child relationships. Results showed that approach/withdrawal, rhythmicity, and activity level were associated significantly with teacher-child relationships two years after children’s preschool entrance, and that these temperamental dimensions accounted for 3~13% of the variances in these teacher-child relationships. Moreover, the temperamental dimensions also interacted with family affective environment to influence teacher-child relationships at both waves, which accounted for 4~10% of the variances in the relationships. These findings highlight the importance of examining the interactive effect of temperament and environmental factors on children’s teacher competence, and expand the existing research on temperament and teacher competence by testing both direct effect and interactive effect models.