Poster #66 - Associations of Teacher-Child Relationships with Social Status in Special Education

• In Event: 3-206 - Poster Session 13
  In Poster Session: PS 13 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

High quality teacher-child relationships (TCRs) are an important protective factor in the school context, and have been linked consistently to academic, socioemotional, and behavioral outcomes of pupils in regular education (Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Sabol & Pianta, 2012). Pupils with high quality relationships with their teachers also tend to be well-liked by their peers (Hughes, Cavell, & Willson, 2001). Most theoretical accounts indicate that teachers directly and indirectly influence classroom social dynamics through their use of various classroom management strategies (Farmer, McAuliffe Lines, & Hamm, 2011). However, empirical studies in regular education consistently have found bidirectional rather than unilateral associations between TCRs and students’ social status (e.g., Hughes & Chen, 2011). All of these studies have been conducted in regular education and it is still unclear how they generalize to special education for pupils with Emotional and Behavioral Disturbances (EBD). The present study investigated whether social status (preference and popularity) is concurrently and prospectively linked to positive and negative TCR characteristics (support, satisfaction, conflict) in special education. Three research questions were addressed. First, are TCRs and social status bidirectionally associated in special education? Second, do patterns of associations with TCRs differ for preference and popularity? Third, do associations differ within and between school years?
Participants were 586 pupils (86% boys, Mage = 10.82, SD = .86) from 13 Dutch special education schools. Pupils (grades 4 and 5 at Wave 1) and their teachers filled out surveys in February and June of two consecutive school years. Different aspects of TCRs were assessed by the Teacher Student Relationship Inventory (Ang, 2005), in particular teacher reported support, satisfaction, and conflict. Support describes the willingness of the pupil to approach the teacher for support or advice. Satisfaction describes the extent to which the teacher experiences the TCR as positive and satisfactory. Conflict describes the degree to which the teacher experiences a negative and conflictual TCR with the pupil. Subscale scores at each assessment were calculated by summing the relevant items. Preference and popularity were assessed by peer nominations (‘Who do you like most/least?’ and ‘Who is most/least popular?’). Preference and popularity scores were obtained by subtracting least liked/popular nominations from most liked/popular nominations and standardizing these scores to z-scores within classrooms.
Three autoregressive cross-lagged panel models were performed to examine bidirectional associations (Figure 1). Each model included one TCR aspect and both social status measures. Results showed that teacher satisfaction was bidirectionally associated with preference between school years. Conflict in the teacher-child relationship predicted preference, and popularity predicted conflict within and between school years, suggesting different patterns of associations of TCRs with preference and popularity. Bidirectionality of the associations depended on the aspect of the TCR and the dimension of social status. Conflict was more robustly related to social status than satisfaction and support. Conflict was related to social status within school years. Together, the results suggest that TCRs are an important instrument for teachers to address classroom social dynamics in special education. Reducing conflict is an important focus for intervention.

Authors

• Fanny de Swart, Radboud University Nijmegen
  Presenting Author

• William Burk, Radboud University Nijmegen
  Non-Presenting Author

• Wendy Nelen, Praktikon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Ron Scholte, Radboud University Nijmegen
  Non-Presenting Author