Meta-Analytic Associations Between Teacher-Student Relationship Quality and Children’s Social Competence

• In Event: Teacher-Student and Peer Relationships as Learning Contexts

Abstract

Background: Since the introduction of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS; Pianta, 2001), a great deal of research on the developmental significance of teacher-student relationships has been produced by researchers around the world. Meta-analyses have demonstrated that teacher-student relationships are robustly associated with executive function, academic achievement, and school engagement across the grades (Roorda et al., 2011, 2017; Vandenbroucke et al., 2018). Although hundreds of studies measuring the association between teacher-student relationships and social competence have now been conducted, no meta-analysis has yet been completed that systematically reviews and synthesizes the results from these various sources. This systematic meta-analysis examined the association between teacher-student relationship quality and social competence from early childhood through high school.

Method: We systematically searched six major databases and hand-searched conference proceedings from four major research societies (SRCD, American Psychological Association, American Educational Research Association, and Society for Research on Adolescence) for literature pertaining to teacher-student relationships and social development. Abstracts and full-texts were screened by the first two authors. 122 manuscripts reporting on 114 unique samples were identified for inclusion. Studies were coded for age of participants, country of origin, measures used (e.g., STRS, Social Skills Rating System), reporters (e.g., teacher, self), social competence domain (i.e., social skills, peer relationship quality, or social acceptance), and time between assessments. 25% of manuscripts were double-coded for reliability (.83 < κ < 1.00) Correlation values were transformed into Fisher’s z statistics (Silver & Dunlap, 1987). To account for effect size dependencies, multilevel mixed effects models were used to calculate average effect size and conduct moderator analyses. The presence of publication bias was assessed using the trim-and-fill method (Duval & Tweedie, 2000) and an adjusted Egger’s test (Viechtbauer, 2017; see Figure 1).

Results: Based on 134,157 individuals from 114 independent samples, we observed a weighted average association between teacher-student relationship quality and social competence of r = .26 (p < .001; 95%CI = .23, .30). There was a small effect of assessment timing, such that as time between assessments increased, associations decreased slightly in size. However, age of assessment was not associated with effect size, suggesting that teacher-student relationships were consistently associated with social competence from preschool to high school. Additionally, use of different reporters for teacher-student relationship quality and social competence was associated with smaller effects. The correlation did not vary by social competence domain (i.e., social skills, peer relationship quality, or social acceptance) or country of origin (ps > .05; see Table 1).

Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that teacher-student relationship quality is an important marker of both concurrent and future social competence from early childhood to adolescence. This association appears to reduce slightly as time between assessments increases and when different reporters are used for teacher-student relationship quality and social competence. More research is needed to enhance the generalizability of these findings, including work with non-US samples and older students. Research designs that enhance our understanding of causal relationships are also needed.

Authors

• Sophia Magro, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Kelsey A Hobbs, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Pearl Han Li, Duke Univeristy
  Non-Presenting Author

• Patrick Swenson, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amy Riegelman, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Joseph Rios, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Glenn I. Roisman, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author