2-091 - Dependency: A Neglected Dimension of the Student-Teacher Relationship

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Ample research has demonstrated that supportive student-teacher relationships positively affect social-emotional and academic development throughout the school years. Supportive relationship quality has mostly been defined in terms of the three-dimensional attachment-based model of closeness, conflict, and dependency, assessed by the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale. Closeness shows a clear-cut positive, and conflict an unambiguous negative relational factor. As dependency has been fairly neglected in empirical research, the position of this relationship dimension, however, is less clear. From an attachment perspective, dependency may be assumed an important negative factor because it indicates a failing secure-base function of the teacher (Verschueren & Koomen, 2012). However, it has been suggested that dependency may not be negative in all cultures, at all ages, or for all child attachment histories (McGrath & Van Bergen, 2015).

This symposium contributes to the conceptualization of dependency by including four papers on student-teacher dependency in relation to social-emotional or academic outcomes in various student populations and school stages. Paper 1 describes a study into the role of relational dependency, in addition to children’s shyness, in predicting expressive and receptive vocabulary in preschoolers. Paper 2 addresses the role of student-teacher dependency in the task and peer engagement of students with symptoms of a reactive attachment disorder in special education. Paper 3 explores the unique role of dependency, amongst other relationship dimensions, in predicting social-emotional functioning in upper-elementary children. Finally, paper 4 addresses similar unique associations between student-teacher dependency and empathy and peer acceptance in upper elementary students from different power distance cultures.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chairs

• Helma M.Y. Koomen, University of Amsterdam

• Karine Verschueren, University of Leuven (KU Leuven)

Individual Presentations

• Teacher-Child Dependency and Temperament: Predicting Preschool Language Skills - Presenting Author: Kathleen Rudasill, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Ibrahim H Acar, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Victoria Molfese, University of Nebraska- Lincoln; Amanda Prokasky, University of Nebraska- Lincoln

• Dependency on the Teacher in Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder Symptoms: Effects on Classroom and Peer Engagement - Presenting Author: Jantine L. Spilt, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven; Noortje Vervoort, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven; Karine Verschueren, University of Leuven (KU Leuven)

• Does Dependency in the Student–Teacher Relationship Uniquely Predict Students’ Social-Emotional Functioning in Middle Childhood? - Presenting Author: Marjolein Zee, University of Amsterdam; Helma M.Y. Koomen, University of Amsterdam

• Correlates of Teacher-Rated Relational Dependency Among Students From High Versus Low Power-Distant Cultures - Presenting Author: Jochem Thijs, Ercomer, Utrecht University