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The interaction between the student-teacher relationship and parental warmth predicts changes in elementary students’ adjustment

Fri, April 9, 3:15 to 4:15pm EDT (3:15 to 4:15pm EDT), Virtual

Abstract

Developing a better understanding of the etiology of children’s problem behaviors and peer acceptance is critical given their apparent role in later school adjustment and life-long well-being (Malecki & Elliot, 2002). One line of research reveals that parental warmth plays a critical role in these outcomes (Pinquart, 2017a, 2017b), whereas an often separate line of research examines whether and how students’ adjustment is shaped by social interactions at school, especially between students and teachers (e.g., Baker, 2006). Although both lines of literature yield important information, based on attachment theory (Rubin et al., 2004) and the Ecological and Dynamic Model of Transition (Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000), we believe a better understanding of these key developmental outcomes can be obtained by simultaneously examining the role of parental warmth and the quality of the student–teacher relationship. We are specifically interested in testing if parental warmth modifies the strength of the relations between the student-teacher relationship (STR) and children’s adjustment.
The sample included 301 children (M age = 5.48; 52% girls; 53% Hispanic) and their parents and teachers. During kindergarten (T1), parents used the Parenting Practices Questionnaire (Robinson et al., 1995) to report on their warmth. Kindergarten teachers (N = 33) reported on the extent to which their relationship with participants (children) was close or conflictual (Pianta & Steinberg., 1991). During both kindergarten (T1) and 1st grade (T2), parents reported on children’s externalizing and internalizing problems and peer acceptance via the MacArthur Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ) (Armstrong & Goldstein, 2003). All alphas were above .76.
Mplus was used to test our predictions. We utilized TYPE=COMPLEX to account for the nested data structure. All available data were utilized in the main analyses by specifying the Robust Full Information Maximum Likelihood procedure. As shown in Table 1, while controlling for T1 externalizing problems, the interaction term between parental warmth and STR closeness predicted T2 externalizing problems. Similarly, the interaction term between STR closeness and warmth was significant for T2 peer acceptance, beyond T1 peer acceptance. Examination of the simple slopes indicated that T1 STR closeness was negatively related to T2 externalizing problems and positively related to T2 peer acceptance, but only when T1 parental warmth was high (Figure 1a and b). Although the interaction term between STR closeness and parental warmth on T2 internalizing problems was significant, none of the simple slopes were significant. The interaction term between warmth and STR conflict significantly predicted T2 externalizing and internalizing problems. T1 STR conflict was positively related to T2 externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors, but only when parental warmth was low (Figure 1c and d).
Our results provide support for models of development that advocate for the consideration of multiple socializers when attempting to understand children’s adjustment. In particular, our findings suggest that children’s adjustment is optimal when they experience high levels of parental warmth and a close STR. Consequently, efforts to improve children’s adjustment are most likely to be successful when incorporating the roles of both parents and teachers.

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