3-041 - The Impact of Teachers on Child and Adolescent Peer Relationships: New Evidence from Longitudinal Research

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Positive peer relationships in the classroom are known to benefit students’ academic and social-emotional development. Conversely, classrooms with few social ties and high levels of aggression can adversely affect students and increase negative peer influence processes (Cappella et al., 2013; Müller et al., 2016; Wentzel, 2005). Given the importance of the classroom peer ecology, recent research places much emphasis on how teachers impact students’ peer experiences (Farmer et al., 2011; Hendrickx et al., 2015). This symposium includes four longitudinal studies from three different countries which provide new evidence on this topic.
Paper 1 demonstrates that teachers who emphasize awareness and management of peer dynamics feel more confident about managing student behaviors. In addition, greater use of dynamic classroom management practices predicted later positive peer culture in middle school. Paper 2 shows that peer influence on disruptive classroom behavior in secondary school depends on teachers’ instructional style, suggesting that teachers can buffer negative peer influence processes in the classroom. Paper 3 examines the effects of classroom practices on intergroup social ties among adolescents. Importantly, this study extends the current research focus from schools to afterschool programs. Paper 4 presents an intervention in which teachers received a toolset consisting of teacher-student assignments and a seating arrangement plan. This intervention was found to change students’ friendships and likeability in the classroom.
Together, the papers in this symposium provide new insights on the impact of teachers on classroom peer relationships from both developmental and intervention perspectives.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chairs

• Christoph Michael Müller, University of Fribourg

• Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Developmental Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University

Individual Presentations

• Improving Middle School Peer Cultures through Teachers’ Use of Social Dynamics Management Practices - Presenting Author: Kate E. Norwalk, North Carolina State University; Margaret Holland, North Carolina State University; Jill V. Hamm, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Thomas W. Farmer, College of William and Mary

• Peer Influence on Disruptive Classroom Behavior Depends on Teachers` Instructional Style - Presenting Author: Christoph Michael Müller, University of Fribourg; Verena Hofmann, University of Fribourg; Thomas Begert, University of Fribourg; Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Developmental Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University

• Intergroup Peer Connections in Urban Afterschool Programs: Predictive Influence of Student Characteristics and Teaching Practices - Presenting Author: Elise Cappella, New York University; Sophia HJ Hwang, NYU Steinhardt; Michael Kieffer, NYU; Miranda Yates, Good Shepherd Services

• Guiding the “Invisible Hand:” Improving Classroom Peer Relationships through Tools for Teachers - Presenting Author: Henrike J. Boor-Klip, Radboud University; Antonius H. N. Cillessen, Developmental Psychology, Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University; Eliane Segers, Radboud University; Marloes M. H. G. Hendrickx, University of Utrecht