1-192 - Self-Regulation and Student-Teacher Relationships: Variable and Person-Centered Approaches Examining Connections to Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Both self-regulation and student-teacher relationships have been established as critical to young children’s development (Cameron et al., 2012; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004), however rarely have these two important factors been examined together. The relationships between preschool and kindergarten children’s self-regulation, the quality of their relationships with their teachers, and their academic and social-emotional development are examined, using both variable and person-centered approaches, in the four papers presented in this symposium.
The first paper used a variable-centered approach to examine how children’s inhibitory control and the quality of the relationship with their teacher related to classroom engagement, and whether a close student-teacher relationship served as a protective factor for children with low inhibitory control. The second paper also used a variable-centered approach to examine whether self-regulation and perspective-taking at kindergarten entry moderated the contribution of closeness or conflict in the student-teacher relationship to achievement and socioemotional skills. The third paper used latent profile analysis to examine how multiple dimensions of children’s school readiness skills function together during the preschool year, and to explore the association between the student-teacher relationship and profiles of school readiness. Finally, the fourth paper compared how a variable-centered and person-centered approach, that identifies profiles of kindergarten children’s behavioral self-regulation, predicted the quality of their student-teacher relationship and their achievement. Findings from this symposium will help shed light on the complex ways children’s self-regulation and the quality of their relationships with their teachers, sometime jointly, influence their development, and the ways in which diverse methodologies illuminate these relationships.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Christina D. Mulcahy, University of Virginia

Individual Presentations

• Do Preschool Children’s Inhibitory Control and Relationships with Teachers Predict their Classroom Engagement? - Presenting Author: Christina D. Mulcahy, University of Virginia; Jessica V Whittaker, University of Virginia; Mable Kinzie, University of Virginia; Jamie DeCoster, University of Virginia

• Self-Regulation, Perspective-Taking, and Student-Teacher Relationships in Kindergarten - Presenting Author: Laura Louise Brock, College of Charleston; Helyn Kim, University of Virginia; Cara L. Adams, College of Charleston

• Exploring Preschoolers’ School Readiness Profiles: A Latent Transition Approach - Presenting Author: Lia E Sandilos, University of Virginia; Jessica V Whittaker, University of Virginia; Virginia Vitiello, University of Virginia; Mable Kinzie, University of Virginia

• Patterns of Behavioral Self-Regulation in Low-Income Kindergarten Children: Integrating Variable- and Person-Centered Approaches - Presenting Author: Helyn Kim, University of Virginia; Claire Cameron, University at Buffalo; Justin Brian Doromal, University of Virginia; David Grissmer, University of Virginia