3-023 - Enhancing the Power of Relationships: The Importance of Trust and Connectedness in Education

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Relationships with others are considered essential for promoting positive development in educational contexts (Li & Julian, 2012; Wentzel et. al., 2004) because they substantially affect youth’s experiences and outcomes in schools and youth programs (e.g., Hirsch et al., 2011; Sabol & Pianta, 2012; Vandell, 2013). This symposium extends research by focusing on two fundamental components of such relationships -- trust and connectedness (e.g., Griffith & Larson, 2016; Yeager et al., 2013).

Paper 1 examines the relation between elementary school children’s trust in teachers and recess behavior. It shows children’s trust beliefs in teachers predict prosocial behavior and (in girls only) aggression. Paper 2 focuses on college preparation programs, finding trust and connectedness to peers critical to positive youth development, notwithstanding race and gender. Paper 3 examines how schools’ physical characteristics influence connectedness, finding school-level surveillance negatively associated with Black and Latinx high-schoolers’ connectedness to teachers and school, but not White students’. A discussant will underscore how the papers’ collective focus on trust and connectedness suggest mechanisms that facilitate relationships previous research finds critical to education.

The papers enhance previous research by exploring factors-- gender and race-- relevant to trust and connectedness. Paper 3 further implies race’s impact may be fueled by societal stereotypes experienced through educational environmental practices. Two papers discuss consequences of trust and connectedness (i.e., behavior, PYD), and one highlights their antecedents (i.e., school-surveillance). Collectively, this suggests future research explore the potentially reciprocal nature of trust and connectedness in promoting positive development, shaped by individual characteristics.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Aisha N Griffith, University of Illinois at Chicago

Discussant

• Nancy L Deutsch, University of Virginia - Youth-Nex: The UVA Center to Promote Effective Youth Development

Individual Presentations

• Children’s Trust Beliefs in Teachers, Prosocial Behaviour and Aggressive Behaviour - Presenting Author: Ken J. Rotenberg, Keele University; Non-Presenting Author: Michael Wigelsworth, University of Manchester; Non-Presenting Author: Pamela Qualter, University of Manchester

• Trust and Connectedness to Peers in Out-of-school Time Programming: Examining Race and Gender as Moderators - Presenting Author: Alexandra Sandoval, Clemson University; Non-Presenting Author: Edmond P. Bowers, Clemson University

• Associations of Observed School Climate on Perceived Connectedness among Black, Latino, and White High Schoolers - Presenting Author: Jessika H. Bottiani, University of Virginia; Non-Presenting Author: Catherine Bradshaw, University of Virginia; Non-Presenting Author: Katrina J. Debnam, University of Virginia; Non-Presenting Author: Sarah Lindstrom Johnson, Arizona State University