Running head: POWER OF THE TEACHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

School Adjustment and the Power of the Teacher-Child Relationship

Kelly A. DeCoste
University of Calgary

POWER OF THE TEACHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

Though the effects of peer relationships on school adjustment are well studied (e.g.,
Parker & Asher, 1993b, as cited in Birch & Ladd, 1997), the effects of teacher-child relationships
are less well known, and studies in this area only began to gain momentum in the past few
decades. As the length of this relationship is short relative to parental and peer relationships, the
question of whether or not it is strong enough to have an impact on students school adjustment
has been raised (Jerome, Hamre, & Pianta, 2009). That is, can the quality of students
relationships with teachers have an effect (positive or negative) on later school adjustment
outcomes? Can a positive relationship be strong enough to counteract the effects of the personal
risk factors that students may bring with them to school?
Many of the early studies on the teacher-child relationship applied concepts of parentchild attachment to the teacher-child relationship (e.g., Howes & Hamilton, 1992, Lynch &
Cicchetti, 1992; Pianta & Steinberg, 1992). Building on the work of John Bowlby (e.g., 1969, as
cited in Main, 2000), Mary Ainsworth identified three types of parental attachment relationships:
secure, insecure-avoidant and insecure-ambivalent. This work, combined with existing research
on teacher-child relationships, led Robert Pianta to develop the Student-Teacher Relationship
Scale (STRS; Pianta, 2001), a now widely used measure of school adjustment. The items of this
scale were designed to tap into three factors of teacher-child relationships: closeness, conflict and
dependency, as they are posited to relate to the three categories of parental relationships. The
application of parental attachment style to the teacher-child relationship is viewed as logical as
based on their history of parental care, young children create mental representations of
relationships, as well as of their attachment figures and themselves, that influence how they
experience subsequent relationships (Laible & Thompson, 2006, p. 202). When children enter
school, their teacher is often the first non-parental adult with whom they have sustained contact

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and an opportunity to form a significant relationship. The quality of their parent-child

relationship therefore affects how they respond to this new relationship, and researchers believe
it will play an important role in students adjustment and later school outcomes (e.g., Birch &
Ladd, 1997).
The influence of personal factors has also been theorized to play a role in school
adjustment in what is known as the person by environment model (Birch & Ladd, 1996) which
views adjustment as the result of the interaction between internal characteristics and the
interpersonal environment. Empirical studies have identified specific personal risk factors that
students bring with them to school that can place them at increased risk for poor school
adjustment. Specifically, gender (being male), low socioeconomic status (SES), being of
minority status and negative parental relationships place students at risk for school adjustment
difficulties (Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004; Jerome et al., 2009).
Looking at a variety of statements regarding feelings toward school, boys consistently
had lower (less positive) ratings than girls in areas such as perceived school performance, being
helped and treated fairly by teachers, and liking school (Statistics Canada, 2000, as cited in
CCSD, 2006). The fit between the student and the classroom context influences engagement in
learning (Eccles, 2006), and the teacher plays a large role in shaping this context. Thus, the
teacher-child relationship should influence engagement, motivation to succeed and have a
positive effect on adjustment outcomes. Students from lower SES families have also been found
to be at an increased risk. Approximately one in four children in Canada (25.5%) spent at least
one year in poverty between 1999 and 2003, with over 239 000 children (5.6%, or one in 17)
having lived in poverty for all five years (CCSD, 2006). In addition, being of minority status was
also found to be associated with negative effects. As Canadas immigrant population accounts for

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almost 20% of this countrys population (19.8%; Statistics Canada, 2006), a large percentage of
students are at increased risk. Taken together, the number of students coming to school with these
personal risk factors speaks to the clear need for research into factors that can enhance school
adjustment outcomes for these students in particular, but also for the student population in
general.
To date, researchers have focused mainly on the quality of the earliest teacher-child
relationships, with the rationale that the childs earliest teacher relationships, when students are
adjusting to the new context of school, would be influential and have long term outcomes
(Alexander & Entwisle, 1988; Birch & Ladd, 1997). As the majority of studies focus on these
early relationships, it is the findings of these studies that are discussed next. Though is important
to note that while early studies (e.g., Birch & Ladd, 1997) tended to use a cross-sectional design
and failed to control for personal risk and classroom factors, later studies (e.g., Pianta &
Stuhlman, 2004; Buyse et al., 2009) controlled for these factors and their results supported these
initial findings.
Close teacher-child relationships are characterized by warmth, open communication and a
feeling of emotional security, which may lead to improved motivation to engage in classroom
activities, positive feelings about school, and increased social skills (Buyse et al., 2009). As such,
this type of relationship was posited to lead to enhanced adjustment outcomes. Research to date
supports this hypothesis. Specifically, studies have found that these students experience
increased engagement and positive feelings toward school (Birch & Ladd, 1997), have fewer
behaviour problems (Birch & Ladd, 1998; Troop-Gordon & Kopp, 2011) and higher selfdirectedness and academic achievement (Birch & Ladd, 1997), findings that remain when
controlling for personal risk factors (Buyse et al., 2009). A study by Hamre and Pianta (2005)

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also found that a positive teacher-child relationship in grade one helped to close the gap between
children with personal risk factors for poor school adjustment and those without. Taken together,
these findings are in line with the evidence that [y]oung children in secure relationships are
more receptive, cooperative, and responsive to the caregivers socialization efforts (Laible &
Thompson, 2006, p. 206). The results of recent studies, like that of Buyse et al. (2009), also
revealed the greatest benefit of a close teacher-child relationship for the current school year
(kindergarten), with effects no longer visible by grade three. These findings are in line with
Pianta and Stuhlman (2004) who suggested that this relationship has primarily concurrent effects.
This suggests that the relationship established (with that particular teacher in that context) is less
influential as the student moves on to new teachers (and new relationships) in subsequent years.
Each new relationship has a new influence and over subsequent years, the strength of the
previous ones continues to diminish as regular contact and the initial quality are not maintained.
It will be important for future studies to examine the power of subsequent teacher-child
relationships to determine if these benefits can be maintained.
Conversely, conflicted relationships, characterized by a lack of rapport between teacher
and child, may be emotionally upsetting and lead to negative outcomes as the environment is
perceived as aversive (Birch & Ladd, 1997). This has also been supported by existing work,
which has found an increase in aggression (Birch & Ladd, 1998; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004), a
negative attitude toward school/disengagement (Birch & Ladd, 1997), academic difficulties
(Birch & Ladd, 1996; Hamre & Pianta, 2001) and fewer social skills (Birch & Ladd, 1997). A
study by Silver, Measelle, Armstrong, and Essex (2005) supported earlier findings by Birch and
Ladd (1998) in that conflicted relationships in kindergarten contributed to quicker increases in
externalizing behaviours when controlling for personal risk factors.

POWER OF THE TEACHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP

Though rarely included in studies on the teacher-child relationship, dependent

relationships have been found to affect school adjustment (Birch & Ladd, 1997). Students with a
dependent relationship are viewed as clingy and place an overreliance on the support of their
teacher. A study by Birch and Ladd (1997) found correlations between these children and higher
ratings of loneliness, poorer academic performance, negative feelings and attitudes toward
school, and less positive engagement with the school environment. A recent study replicated
these findings and also found these children to be at risk for increased victimization by peers
(Troop-Gordon & Kopp, 2011).
The available evidence on early teacher-child relationships points to the fact that the
quality of early teacher-child relationships can have an impact on student adjustment outcomes.
While relationships characterized by open communication and warmth can promote positive
outcomes, those marked by conflict can lead to negative psychosocial and academic outcomes,
which is particularly important for students entering school at-risk because of personal factors.
However, a review of the limited works, and the limitations inherent in these studies, speak to the
clear need for further exploration in this area.
Though the STRS (Pianta, 2001) is a widely used measure of school adjustment in
elementary students, reliance on this measure may be immature as studies examining its
reliability and validity are sparse. Though a recent study by Doumen, Verschueren, Buyse, De
Munter, Max, and Moens (2009) found some evidence for the convergent and discriminant
validity of the closeness and conflict scales, the sample size was small (N = 35). Future studies
are necessary to replicate these findings and explore the validity of the dependency scale.
Another recent study by Webb and Neuharth-Prithcett (2009) found the STRS to lack cultural
sensitivity and include ambiguous test items, placing minority and low SES students at a

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disadvantage. Thus, the use of this scale when studying these at-risk students may yield
inaccurate findings. However, additional studies are required to confirm the generalizability of
these initial findings and determine whether the STRS is a valid choice of tool. The sole reliance
on teacher reports using the STRS is also a limitation of existing studies. As this relationship is
bidirectional, it would be worthwhile to compare teacher and student reports of this relationship
they share, as well as gather peer or other outside observer reports to compare ratings.
Another limitation found in many studies in this area is that the subsample used by the
researchers differed from their initial sample in terms of factors such as SES (e.g., Buyse et al.,
2009) or ethnicity (e.g., Hamre & Pianta, 2001), and may no longer be representative of the
population they were studying. As these are both factors that can lead to impaired school
adjustment, it is important to be able to follow these children to examine the impact of the
teacher-child relationship on their adjustment. It may be that, similar to the findings of Birch and
Ladd (1997), the benefit of a close teacher-child relationship would be greatest for these at-risk
children.
Older students (aged 14 and 15) have been found to report lower feelings of enjoying
school than those aged 10 to 13 (CCSD, 2000). One question that remains to be answered is
whether we can counteract this decrease in ratings by improving teacher-child relationships in
later years. As discussed previously, the majority of existing studies have focused on the earliest
teacher-child relationships (e.g., Birch & Ladd, 1997), with relatively few studies (e.g.,
Maldonado-Carreno & Votruba-Drzal, 2005) examining the impact of these relationships in later
grades, especially in middle or high school. Though initial findings indicate that the importance
of this relationship is maintained through fifth grade (Maldonado-Carreno & Votruba-Drzal,
2005), additional studies are needed to replicate these findings.

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Some studies have found a stronger relationship between a close teacher-child

relationship and psychosocial than academic outcomes (e.g., Buyse et al., 2009). Ratings of
relationships, like those of behaviours, are subjective, while ratings of academic achievement are
more objective. Though children who are strongly connected to schools tend to do better
academically (CCSD, 2006, p. 61), and having a positive relationship with a teacher can
increase motivation to want to do well in school, if the instructional quality is poor, the gains
made will be limited. Future studies that control for instructional quality will lead to increased
understanding of the effects of this relationship on academic outcomes.
Though studies from the past few decades have furthered the understanding of the impact
of early teacher-child relationships on school adjustment, much remains to be explored.
However, our current level of understanding indicates that a focus on improving the teacher-child
relationship is one way to enhance school adjustment outcomes, for the student population in
general and (maybe more importantly) for students deemed high risk due to personal risk factors.

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