Longitudinal Associations Between Teacher-Child Relationship Quality, Behavioral Engagement, and Academic Achievement

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Children’s early learning in the formal classroom environment is strongly connected to their subsequent learning, academic progress, and social competence (Duncan et al., 2007; Razza et al., 2015). Efforts to understand the development of early academic achievement often focus on the unidirectional effects from teacher-child relationship quality (Sabol & Pianta, 2012; Verschueren & Koomen, 2012). An often separate line of research considers the role of children’s engagement (Fredricks et al., 2004). This often occurs despite the perspective that children’s development is likely best understood by considering the dynamic interplay between children’s behavior and the context within which their development occurs (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Sameroff, 2010). As a result, relatively little is known about if, or how, teacher-child relationship quality and children’s engagement jointly predict children’s learning and achievement during the early elementary years. Even less research has tested if children’s achievement predicts subsequent teacher-child relationship quality and children’s engagement. The goal of this study, therefore, is to begin to fill these gaps by examining the longitudinal relations between teacher-child relationship quality, children’s behavioral engagement, and academic achievement during kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade.

Participants were 301 children (Mage = 65.72 months, SD = 4.18 months; 49% boys) in the United States, who were assessed annually from kindergarten through 2nd grade. In the spring semester from kindergarten to 2nd grade, teachers reported on their closeness and conflict with children and children’s academic achievement (i.e., reading, arithmetic, spelling, and language skills). Children’s behavioral engagement (e.g., participating in classroom activities) was observed throughout kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade.

Autoregressive paths from the cross-lagged panel model (see Figure 1) revealed low to moderate longitudinal stability from kindergarten to 2nd grade for teacher-child conflict (βs = .24 – .35, ps < .01) and behavioral engagement (βs = .19 – .23, ps < .05), and high stability for academic achievement (βs = .59 – .64, ps < .001). Teacher-child closeness in kindergarten was predictive of closeness in 1st grade (β = .34, p < .001), but closeness in 1st grade did not predict closeness in 2nd grade (β = .14, p = .184) when controlling for closeness in kindergarten and other variables in 1st grade. Cross-lagged effects showed that teacher-child conflict in kindergarten was predictive of behavioral engagement in 1st grade (β = -.21, p = .002). Behavioral engagement in kindergarten was predictive of teacher-child closeness (β = .13, p = .039) and conflict (β = -.26, ps < .001) in 1st grade. Additionally, behavioral engagement in 1st grade was predictive of academic achievement in 2nd grade (β = .13, p = .004). Mediation analysis showed that teacher-child conflict in kindergarten was indirectly related to academic achievement in 2nd grade through behavioral engagement in 1st grade (β = -.03, 95% CI = [-0.06, -0.01]). These findings highlight behavioral engagement as a mediating mechanism that explains the relation between early teacher-child conflict and academic achievement, and the need to consider transactional relations between teacher-child relationship and children’s engagement.

Authors

• Longfeng Li, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
  Presenting Author

• Carlos Valiente, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nancy Eisenberg, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tracy L Spinrad, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah Katherine Johns
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebecca H Berger, Urban Institute
  Non-Presenting Author

• Marilyn S. Thompson, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jody Southworth, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Armando A. Pina, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Maciel M. Hernández, University of California - Davis
  Non-Presenting Author

• Diana Elena Gal-Szabo, Arizona State University
  Non-Presenting Author