Chinese kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about young children’s classroom social behavior

Highlights

• Chinese kindergarten teachers’ reported their beliefs about children’s classroom social behaviors.

• Exuberance and aggression were least tolerated and most likely to evoke anger among teachers.

• Teachers also reported more negative views toward physical versus relational aggression.

• Teachers were more worried about shy children than unsociable children.

• Chinese teachers displayed both similarities and differences in beliefs as compared to previous findings in North America and Western Europe.

Abstract

This study examined Chinese kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about children’s classroom social behaviors. Participants were N = 672 kindergarten teachers in Shanghai, China. Teachers viewed hypothetical vignettes depicting kindergarten children (i.e., aged 4–6 years) displaying aggressive (physical/relational), socially withdrawn (shy/unsociable), exuberant, and prosocial (empathetic/sociable) behaviors and responded to questions regarding their attitudes, beliefs, and reactions. Exuberance and aggression were least tolerated and most likely to evoke anger among teachers. However, teachers reported more negative views toward physical than relational aggression, and were more worried about shy than unsociable children. Implications of the similarities and differences among teacher beliefs across cultures are considered.

Introduction

Teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward children’s social behavior can have both indirect and direct influences on children’s academic and social development (Fang, 1996). For example, such beliefs not only contribute to teacher’s general classroom style (Charlesworth, Hart, Burts, & Hernandez, 1991; Sakellariou & Rentzou, 2011) but can also influence teachers’ specific responses to child behaviors in the classroom (Cunningham & Sugawara, 1988). Moreover, teachers’ beliefs about children’s social characteristics are related to their beliefs about children’s academic characteristics, including intelligence and academic skills (Coplan, Hughes, Bosacki, & Rose-Krasnor, 2011; Espinosa & Laffey, 2003; Lerner, Lerner, & Zabski, 1985).

In the present study, we explored Chinese kindergarten teachers’ beliefs regarding children’s classroom social behavior. Cultural differences can play a substantive role in shaping attitudes toward social behavior (Chen & French, 2008). However, there have been few previous studies of teacher beliefs about children’s social behaviors in Asian cultures (Killen, Ardila-Rey, Barakkatz, & Wang, 2000; Pochtar & Del Vechio, 2014). Moreover, to our knowledge, there have been no previous studies specifically focusing on teacher beliefs about different types of young children’s social behavior in China. Understanding the distinctions that Chinese teachers may (or may not) make among different types of children’s classroom social behavior has important implications for the early identification of young children experiencing socio-emotional difficulties. Accordingly, the primary goal of this study was to examine Chinese kindergarten teachers’ responses, beliefs, and emotional reactions to hypothetical vignettes depicting young children displaying a range of social behavior, including aggression (e.g., physical, relational), social withdrawal (e.g., shyness, unsociability), exuberance, and prosocial acts (e.g., empathy, sociability).

Traditional Chinese culture espouses child characteristics pertaining to social responsibility (e.g., contributing to group well-being), self-constraint, collectivism, and obedience (Chen and French, 2008, Liang, 1987, Tamis-LeMonda et al., 2007). In contrast, children who do not inhibit their emotions and constrain their behaviors may be viewed as selfish and impolite (Ho, 1986). As well, an extremely high value is placed on academic achievement and school success (Wang & Pomerantz, 2009). These values are reflected in the socialization, school education and peer group activities of Chinese children (Fang, 2000, Li, 2011, Phillipson and Phillipson, 2007).

However, over the past 30 years, China has carried out a substantive reform toward a market-oriented economy, particularly in urban regions. This dramatic societal shift appears to have not only influenced beliefs about children’s education, but also attitudes toward children’s social behaviors (Chen, Cen, Li, & He, 2005). For example, social initiative and self-expression appear to be becoming increasingly valued (Chen, Wang, & Cao, 2011). In contrast, whereas shyness and social reserve were previously considered as positive characteristics and were associated with school success (Chen, Rubin, & Sun, 1992), these same behaviors are more recently associated with school difficulties and indexes of socio-emotional maladjustment (Liu, Bullock et al., 2014).

Previous studies of teachers’ beliefs in China have focused on aspects of epistemology and approaches to student learning (Chan & Elliott, 2002), general beliefs about teaching (Sang, Valcke, Tondeur, Zhu, & van Braak, 2012) or conceptions of effective pedagogical methods – particularly in the area of mathematics (Cai & Wang, 2010; Correa, Perry, Sims, Miller, & Fang, 2008). There have been few previous empirical studies of Chinese teachers’ beliefs about children (Ho, 2004, Hui, 2001, Hsueh and Tobin, 2003). For example, Hui (2001) reported that teachers in Hong Kong believed that their students’ primary concern pertained to their educational future, above all social and emotional concerns. We are not aware of any previous studies that have specifically examined Chinese teachers’ beliefs about children’s different social behaviors in the classroom.

It has long been known that teachers hold very different beliefs about different forms of children’s classroom social behavior (Cunningham and Sugawara, 1988, Gordon and Thomas, 1967, Safran and Safran, 1984). In the current study, we assessed Chinese teachers’ beliefs about four commonly studied broad types of young children’s social behaviors in the classroom: aggression (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995), social withdrawal (Rubin, Coplan, & Bowker, 2009), exuberance (Degnan, Hane, Henderson, Moas, Reeb-Sutherland, & Fox, 2011), and prosocial (Hastings, McShane, Parker, & Ladha, 2007). In the following sections, we provide a brief description of each of these behaviors and our expectations regarding Chinese kindergarten teachers’ beliefs.

Hypothetical depictions of two forms of aggression were included in the current study. Physical aggression refers to the intent to hurt or cause bodily harm to another, whereas relational aggression is a non-physical form of aggression that harms others through damage and manipulation of their social relationships (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Dodge, Coie, & Lynam, 2006). In North America and Western Europe, there is considerable evidence to suggest that physically aggressive young children are prone to significant social, emotional, and academic difficulties at school (Campbell, Spieker, Burchinal, & Poe, 2006; Ostrov, Woods, Jansen, Casas, & Crick, 2004). Although relational aggression has been less studied among young children, there is evidence to suggest that this form of aggression is also associated with negative school adjustment outcomes such as peer rejection and behavior problems (Crick et al., 2006; Juliano, Werner, & Cassidy, 2006).

North American and Western European teachers tend to have very negative views of young children’s aggression, which is not surprising given its adverse and disruptive classroom effects (Bauman and Del Rio, 2006, Cunningham and Sugawara, 1988, Yoon and Kerber, 2003). For example, as compared to other forms of child classroom (mis) behaviors depicted in hypothetical vignettes, teachers of young children report that they would respond to physical aggression with the least tolerance, most anger, and greatest likelihood of intervention, as well as anticipating the most negative social and academic implications for the hypothetical aggressive child (Arbeau & Coplan, 2007; Coplan, Bullock, Archbell, & Bosacki, 2015; Hurd & Gettinger, 2011). In contrast, although teachers of young children also consider relational aggression to be problematic, they report that they would be less likely to intervene in the case of relational as compared to physical aggression, and perceived relational aggression a having less negative consequences than physical aggression (Coplan et al., 2015, Hurd and Gettinger, 2011).

In Chinese culture, aggression is strictly prohibited because it is threatening to the social harmony and well-being of others (Chang, 2003, Chen and French, 2008, Luo, 1996). Children are socialized at a young age to inhibit the expressions of anger, hostility, and frustration (Cole, Tamang, & Shrestha, 2006; Zahn-Waxler, Friedman, Cole, Mizuta, & Hiruma, 1996), Further, aggressive children may even be overtly humiliated by their teachers and peers (Chen & French, 2008). In this regard, it is not surprising that physically aggressive children in China are prone to peer rejection, internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression) and academic difficulties (Chen, Huang, Chang, Wang, & Li, 2010; Kawabata, Tseng, Murray-Close, & Crick, 2012; Tseng, Banny, Kawabata, Crick, & Gau, 2013).

There is also at least some evidence to suggest that relationally aggressive children in China also tend to experience negative peer relations and increased internalizing problems (Kawabata et al., 2012, Tseng et al., 2013). However, Kawabata et al. (2012) speculated that the Chinese culture might actually facilitate the development and use of relational aggression given the strong emphasis on interpersonal relationships. Moreover, because of its more covert nature, relational aggression may appear less disruptive to classroom functioning. Accordingly, although it was anticipated that Chinese teachers would have negative views toward all forms of aggression, relational aggression was expected to be considered less problematic than physical aggression.

We also included two vignettes depicting different types of social withdrawal, which refers to the process whereby children remove themselves from opportunities for peer interaction (Rubin et al., 2009). Whereas shy children experience wariness and self-consciousness in social situations, unsociable children are characterized by a non-fearful preference for solitary activities (Coplan, Prakash, O’Neil, & Armer, 2004). Young, shy children refrain from talking at school and are prone to internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety, depression), peer exclusion and victimization, and academic underperformance (Coplan, Arbeau, & Armer, 2008; Gazelle and Ladd, 2003, Hughes and Coplan, 2010). In contrast, unsociability appears to be a comparatively benign form of childhood social withdrawal (Coplan et al., 2004, Coplan and Weeks, 2010; Harrist, Zaia, Bates, Dodge, & Pettit, 1997).

Results from previous research in samples of teachers from North America and Western Europe suggest that teachers may have more positive attitudes toward withdrawn children than toward their aggressive counterparts (Arbeau, & Coplan, 2007). However, teachers do perceive shyness as problematic in both the academic and peer domain, among preschool- (Coplan et al., 2015), kindergarten- (Thijs, Koomen, & van der Leij, 2006) and elementary-school-aged children (Coplan et al., 2011). Indeed, teachers of young children report that they are just as worried about shy children as they are about physically aggressive children in their classrooms (Coplan et al., 2015). In contrast, in the few studies of teacher attitudes toward unsociable children, this form of social withdrawal is viewed quite positively when compared to shyness, aggression, and other classroom social behaviors (Arbeau and Coplan, 2007, Coplan et al., 2015).

Consistent with traditional Chinese values emphasizing humbleness and behavioral restraint (Ho, 1986), childhood shyness has been considered a positive characteristic in this culture and has been previously associated with positive social and academic outcomes in educational settings (Chen et al., 1992; Chen, Rubin, & Li, 1995). However, in keeping with the previously described ongoing shift in Chinese cultural values toward assertiveness and independence (Chen et al., 2005), results from several recent studies indicate that shyness in 21st century urban China is now associated with adjustment problems at school, including peer rejection and depression (Ding et al., 2014; Liu, Chen, Li, & French, 2012; Liu, Bullock et al., 2014).

Interestingly, in contrast to its relatively benign status in North America and Western Europe, Chen (2010) argued that unsociability might be viewed quite negatively in China because it violates cultural norms regarding interdependence and group affiliation (Greenfield, Suzuki, & Rothstein-Fisch, 2006). Unsociability remains a relatively under-explored phenomenon in China. However, in support of this notion, results from some recent studies suggest that unsociability in Chinese children is associated with peer rejection and internalizing problems (Chen et al., 2011; Liu, Bullock et al., 2014; Nelson, Hart, Wang, Wu, & Jin, 2012). Accordingly, Chinese teachers might be expected to display negative views toward both shy and unsociable behaviors in their classrooms. However, both forms of social withdrawal were expected to be evaluated more positively than the two forms of aggression (Chang, 2003).

Another vignette provided a depiction of behavioral exuberance, which denotes high levels of social approach and positive affect in social situations (Degnan et al., 2011). In North American and Western European studies, young exuberant children at school are characterized as socially dominant, but also impulsive and disruptive in the classroom (e.g., talking out of turn) (Stifter, Putnam, & Jahromi, 2008; Tarullo, Milner, & Gunnar, 2011). Exuberant children may also be prone to aggression and other externalizing problems (Degnan et al., 2011; Pelletier, Collett, Gimpel, & Crowley, 2006; Putnam and Stifter, 2005, Stifter et al., 2008).

North American and Western European teachers appear to have somewhat mixed responses to exuberant behaviors. For example, as compared to their less talkative classmates, exuberant children are judged by teachers as having better academic abilities and as more intelligent, and are expected to have more positive social experiences with peers (Coplan et al., 2011, Evans, 1996, Gordon and Thomas, 1967). In contrast, the disruptive nature of this behavior also appears to evoke immediate and negative responses from teachers (Thijs et al., 2006). Indeed, primary school teachers identify disruptive behaviors such as “talking out of turn” as most frequently occurring and as the main misbehavior of the most troublesome individual students (Clunies-Ross, Little, & Kienhuis, 2008).

There has been limited previous research on exuberance among Chinese children (He et al., 2015). It can be postulated that Chinese teachers would react even more negatively to exuberant behaviors in their classrooms. Chinese children are socialized from a very early age to be behaviorally well-regulated (Chen et al., 2003). Indeed, research has proven that speaking out in socially unacceptable ways is viewed negatively by peers (Chen and Rubin, 1992, Chen et al., 1992), and elders (Hei, 2011). Moreover, given the established importance of academic achievement among Chinese children (Chen, Yang, & Wang, 2013), it was expected that teachers would swiftly curtail any behavior that might disrupt the classroom environment.

Finally, for comparison purposes, two vignettes presented to teachers pertained to different types of prosocial behaviors, which is broadly defined as behaviors intended to assist or benefit others (Eisenberg, Fabes, & Spinrad, 2006). Two common forms of prosocial behavior were included, empathy (i.e., comforting a child who is crying) and sociability (i.e., inviting another child to join an activity). Such behaviors are highly valued across cultures (Ho, 1986, Whiting and Edwards, 1988) and are associated with positive child outcomes in both North American/Western European cultures (Welsh, Parke, Wideman, & O’Neil, 2001; Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yarrow, Wagner, & Chapman, 1992) and in China (Chen, Li, Li, Li, & Liu, 2000; Chen et al., 2002). Consistent with research in these Western cultures (Arbeau & Coplan, 2007), teachers in China were expected to respond most positively to depictions of prosocial behaviors in their classroom.

In the current study, teachers were randomly assigned to view depictions of either boys or girls for the seven vignettes. There are many reasons to consider the potential effects of child gender in teachers’ beliefs about children’s social behavior in the classroom. For example, teachers may respond to problem behaviors more harshly when displayed by boys as compared to girls (Stipek and Sanborn, 1985, Wittmer and Honig, 1988). There are also previously established main effects of child gender among the behaviors depicted in the vignettes. For example, early childhood physical aggression is more common among boys, whereas relational aggression and prosocial behaviors are more common among girls (Card, Stucky, Sawalani, & Little, 2008; Zahn-Waxler et al., 1992).

Perhaps more germane for the present study is whether teachers might have more positive/negative responses to the same behaviors when displayed by boys versus girls. For example, there is growing evidence to suggest that socially withdrawn behaviors evoke more negative responses from peers when displayed by boys as compared to girls in both Western samples (for a recent review—see Doey, Coplan, & Kingsbury, 2014) and in China (Coplan, Zheng, Weeks, & Chen, 2012; Liu, Bullock et al., 2014) because they violate gender stereotypes regarding assertion and dominance. Although, these types of gender differences have not typically been reported in previous studies of teacher beliefs using hypothetical vignettes (Arbeau and Coplan, 2007, Coplan et al., 2011), gender stereotypes may be more pronounced in China (Chang, 1999). Notwithstanding, for the present study, hypotheses regarding gender differences were considered exploratory in nature.

The goal of this study was to examine Chinese kindergarten teachers’ responses, beliefs, and emotional reactions to a wide range of young children’s (aged 4–6 years) classroom social behaviors. Recent results from research in North America and Western Europe suggest that teachers appear to make relatively fine-grained distinctions among different types of aggression (Hurd & Gettinger, 2011) and social withdrawal (Arbeau & Coplan, 2007). However, we are not aware of any previous studies that have examined teachers’ differential beliefs about multiple forms of children’s social behaviors in China. Filling this gap in the literature is critical given the important and unique impact that teachers’ beliefs have on teaching behaviors, the classroom environment, and children themselves.

Following the presentation of each vignette, we assessed teachers reported responses (e.g., intervene, praise), attitudes (e.g., tolerance, encouraging), emotional reactions (e.g., happy, angry, worried), anticipated peer responses (e.g., excluded, ignored), as well as their estimation of the hypothetical child’s perceived academic ability. Drawing upon the extant literature previously reviewed, our general expectations were that Chinese teachers would have more negative views regarding acting-out behavior (e.g., aggression, exuberance) as compared to socially withdrawn behavior (e.g., shyness, unsociability).

Finally, given the paucity of previous research, more tentative predictions were forwarded with regard to sub-types of these behaviors. First, it was expected that Chinese teachers would demonstrate distinctions between different forms of aggression (physical versus relational) and social withdrawal (shyness versus unsociability). It was further postulated that: (1) physical aggression would be viewed more negatively than relational aggression; and that (2) unsociability would be viewed more negatively than shyness. As mentioned earlier, gender differences were also examined on an exploratory basis.