Children's Temperament and Later School Engagement: Peer and Teacher Relationships in Elementary School as Mediating Processes

• In Event: 44.085 - Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: 44.085-6 - Early Childhood: Contexts for Learning and Development

Abstract

Young children’s temperament was examined as a potential predictor of early adolescent school engagement with elementary school teacher-child and peer relationships included as potential mediators of these effects. A large national longitudinal dataset (N = 904) was used to estimate structural equations models that showed children’s loneliness and teacher-child closeness mediated links from early temperament (i.e., surgency, negative affect, effortful control at age 54 months) to early adolescent (age 11) emotional engagement in school. These findings suggest that the relational contexts of elementary school classrooms are key mediators of the long-term effects of early childhood temperament on later school engagement.

Authors

• Eric Buhs, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Natalie Anne Koziol, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Lisa Crockett, University of Nebraska - Lincoln