The Importance of Teachers' Perceptions: Links Between Teacher-Child Relationships and Children's Executive Functions

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: Individual and Contextual Factors Affecting Child and Adolescent Development

Abstract

Children’s executive functions (EFs) support self-regulation of their attention and behaviors and predict students’ academic and social success in elementary school. The current study explores the role of teacher-child closeness and conflict in the growth of both directly-assessed and teacher-reported EFs. Our results show that children who were seen by teachers as exhibiting lower levels of EFs in the classroom experienced more conflict with their teachers, which in turn undermined the change in teacher-reported EFs over the school year. Further, teacher report of EFs in the fall, but not teacher-child conflict, predicted the growth of directly-assessed EFs over the school year. The findings highlight the importance of teachers’ initial perceptions for students’ classroom experiences and cognitive development in school.

Authors

• Jenna Elizabeth Finch, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Elisa B. Garcia, SRI International

• Jelena Obradovic, Stanford University