Classroom engagement mediates the effect of teacher–student support on elementary students' peer acceptance: A prospective analysis
Introduction
It is well established that a positive teacher–student relationship is a developmental asset for children from preschool to high school (Birch and Ladd, 1998, Crosnoe et al., 2004, Howes et al., 1994, Ryan et al., 1994, Wentzel, 1998). Students whose relationships with teachers are characterized by greater closeness and less conflict exhibit lower levels of aggression and other conduct problems (Birch and Ladd, 1998, Hughes et al., 1999, Ladd et al., 1999, Pianta et al., 1995, Silver et al., 2005) are better accepted by classmates (Hughes et al., 2001, Ladd et al., 1999), and achieve at higher levels (Birch and Ladd, 1998, Skinner and Belmont, 1993).
Importantly, the quality of teacher–student relationships in the early grades has implications for children's future academic, social, and behavioral outcomes (Hughes et al., 2001, Ladd et al., 1999, Ladd and Burgess, 2001, Pianta et al., 1995, Pianta and Stuhlman, 2004). For example, Silver et al. (2005) found that conflict in the teacher–child relationship contributed to faster growth in externalizing behavior from kindergarten to third grade, after accounting for children's negative parenting and kindergarten levels of externalizing problems. Furthermore, among children with high levels of initial aggression, those who were provided greater teacher support exhibited the largest declines in aggression across the early school years. Similarly, Birch and Ladd (1998) reported that conflict in the teacher–student relationship predicted decreases in children's prosocial behavior from kindergarten to first grade. Hamre and Pianta (2001) documented that, controlling for kindergarten entry cognitive ability and problem behavior, teacher-reported negativity in the student–teacher relationship predicted achievement test scores, disciplinary infractions, and school suspensions through eighth grade. Furthermore, the long-term effect of kindergarten teacher–student relationship quality on achievement appeared to be mediated by its effect on achievement in the early elementary grades.
The finding that teacher–student relationship quality has long-term consequences is consistent with a transactional model of school adaptation, which conceptualizes human development as a dynamic interaction between a changing individual and a changing context (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, Sameroff, 1975). The teacher may serve as an attachment figure for young children, such that a secure and close relationship with the teacher enables children to cope better with social and academic challenges in preschool and the early elementary grades (Howes et al., 1994, Pianta & Steinberg, 1992, Sroufe, 1983, Van Ijzendoorn et al., 1992). Children who enjoy supportive relationships with teachers and peers are expected to gain confidence in their abilities and to be more motivated to participate in classroom activities (Birch and Ladd, 1998, Gest et al., 2005, Ladd et al., 1999, Skinner and Belmont, 1993). Positive classroom participation, in turn, elicits supportive responses from teachers and classmates and contributes to mastery of new skills (Ladd et al., 1999, Skinner et al., 1998). Thus, a child's social relationships in the classroom, academic motivation, and achievement are viewed as constituting a reciprocal and dynamic process by which children's early school experiences affect their long-term academic and social adjustment (Perry & Weinstein, 1998).
The hypothesized impact of the quality of the teacher–student relationship on children's peer relations is supported by correlational studies that report a positive association between teacher–student relationship quality and measures of peer acceptance (Howes et al., 1994, Ladd and Burgess, 2001, Wentzel, 1998). Although the finding of concurrent associations between teacher and peer support is consistent with a causal role for teacher relationship quality on peer support, alternative explanations for the associations are certainly plausible. Because children's prosocial and antisocial orientations at school predict their levels of both teacher and peer support (Ladd et al., 1999, Ladd and Burgess, 2001), children's behavioral tendencies may account for the association between teacher and peer support. However, this “third variable” explanation is unlikely to explain all of the covariation between teacher and peer support. In a sample of behaviorally at-risk elementary children, Hughes et al. (2001) found that after controlling for children's levels of aggression, children who were perceived by their classmates as being more supported by the teacher were better accepted by their classmates.
Prospective, longitudinal studies that investigate changes in peer relations associated with teacher–student relationship quality would provide a stronger basis for inferring a causal role for teacher relationship quality on peer acceptance. It would be especially important to determine whether teacher–student relationships predict changes in children's peer relatedness across classroom (and peer) contexts. To date, no published study has reported the association between teacher–student relationship quality in a given year and children's peer acceptance beyond that year. Unless teacher–student support affects a child's competencies or academic motivation, teacher–student relationship quality may have a short-term impact on peer acceptance that is restricted to a particular year and classroom.
Establishing the long-term influence of teacher–student relationship quality on peer acceptance is important because children's peer relationships in the early grades have consequences for children's short-term and long-term adjustment (For reviews see Bierman, 2004 and Ladd, 1999). For example, Ladd (1990) found that children's peer relations in kindergarten predicted changes in attitudes toward school, school avoidance, and school performance from early in the school year to the end of the school year. Consistent with a causal role for peer support, additional analyses found that although the quality of peer relations early in the year predicted change in school adjustment, change in peer relations was not predicted by earlier school adjustment. Ladd concluded that “the types of relationships children form with peers in the classroom function as a source of stress or support and shape the course of early school adaptation” (p. 1082). Other researchers have documented the buffering effect of peer support (both friendship and peer acceptance) for children experiencing a range of stressors (Coie et al., 1992, Ladd and Kochenderfer, 1996, Masten and Coatsworth, 1998).
Of the several dimensions of peer relatedness, peer rejection has received the most research attention. Peer rejection in grade school predicts school avoidance, conduct problems, and academic failure during adolescence (Parker and Asher, 1987, Roff et al., 1972). Peer rejected children are more likely to develop negative self-views and to experience loneliness and depression (Asher et al., 1984, Asher and Wheeler, 1985, Cassidy and Asher, 1992) Consistent with additive risk models, aggressive children who are also peer-rejected are more likely to remain aggressive than are aggressive children who are not peer-rejected (Bierman & Wargo, 1995).
Recent research on the effects of both teacher support and peer support on children's school adjustment has focused on the mechanisms responsible for these effects. For example, several researchers have suggested that the concurrent association between teacher–student support and peer support is explained by children's use of information about teacher–student interactions in forming opinions about a classmate (Birch, 1997, Hughes et al., 2001, Hymel, 1986). According to this view, children are aware of teachers' differential interactions with students and use this information in forming judgments of children's competencies and desirability as a friend. In support of this view, even young children are aware of teachers' differential interactions with students and use this information to make accurate inferences regarding the teachers' attitudes toward and liking for students (Babad, 1993, Birch, 1997, Brattesani et al., 1984, Jussim, 1986, Weinstein et al., 1987). If classmates form judgments about a child's characteristics and likeability on the basis of their perceptions of the teacher's interactions with the child, teacher–student relationship quality may have little influence on how next year's classmates respond to the child. On the other hand, if teacher support elicits greater self-confidence and positive engagement in the classroom, teacher support may indirectly affect peer relatedness the following year, via its direct effect on child motivation and engagement.
Consistent with motivational theories, children who experience support from teachers and peers feel more comfortable in school, like school more, and participate more actively in classroom activities (Connell and Wellborn, 1991, Furrer and Skinner, 2003, Gest et al., 2005, Goodenow, 1993, Midgley et al., 1989, Marsh, 1989, Ryan et al., 1994, Stipek, 2002). For example, Connell and Wellborn (1991) found that the degree of emotional security experienced by middle school children in their interactions with teachers and classmates had an indirect effect on their achievement via the effect of emotional security on children's engagement in the classroom, defined in terms of behavioral engagement (working hard, participating in classroom activities, attending to instruction). In a study of children in grades 3–5, teacher support buffered children with externalizing problems from becoming disaffected with school (Gest et al., 2005). Ladd et al. (1999) reported that the effect of teacher–student conflict in kindergarten on achievement was mediated by the effect of teacher–student conflict on classroom engagement. These researchers defined engagement in terms of compliance with classroom rules and responsibilities and independent, self-directed behavior. In a reciprocal manner, children who are engaged in the classroom elicit supportive responses from both teachers and peers (Skinner and Belmont, 1993, Ladd et al., 1999). The reciprocal nature of engagement and support may explain why classroom engagement is a good predictor of children's long-term academic achievement (Skinner et al., 1998) and school completion (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994).
Teacher support may be especially important to children's engagement in the early grades, when children are coping with novel situations and when their independent coping skills are developing. A secure relationship with the teacher may serve as a resource that permits young students to cope more effectively with novel academic and social demands. For example, Little and Kobak (2003) reported that among elementary children, emotional security with the teacher attenuated children's stress reactivity to negative teacher and peer events in the classroom.
The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that teacher–student relationship quality in first grade predicts children's level of peer acceptance the following year, accounting for children's baseline level of peer acceptance. Furthermore, we test the hypothesis that classroom engagement mediates the effect of teacher–student relationship quality on future peer acceptance. We test these hypotheses in a culturally and linguistically diverse sample of academically at-risk first grade children. Children were deemed “academically at-risk” on the basis of scoring below their school district median on a measure of literacy given at the beginning of first grade. Children with lower literacy skills are more likely to experience more relational stressors and fewer relational supports than are children with more developed literacy skills at the beginning of first grade (Ladd et al., 1999, Reynolds and Bezruczko, 1993). Thus, these children may be more reliant on teachers to help them cope with academic and social stressors. When provided a supportive teacher presence, these children are expected to cope better with stressors and to participate more actively and appropriately in classroom activities. Because risk factors operate in an interactive manner, such that the effect of additional risks is more than additive (Evans, 2004, Sameroff et al., 1993), children with low entry literacy skills who subsequently experience low levels of teacher and peer support are expected to be at greatly increased risk for poor school adaptation. For these reasons, students with low literacy skills represent a population of considerable importance with respect to the influence of teacher support on children's future school engagement and peer acceptance.
Some researchers have reported that the effect of teacher–student relationship quality on children's school adjustment is moderated by child gender and ethnicity. For example, Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, and Howes (2002) found that supportive student–teacher relationships were more predictive of growth in reading between preschool and second grade for African American than for White students. Similarly, among aggressive children, teacher support was more predictive of deflections from aggression for minority than majority elementary school children (Meehan, Hughes, & Cavell, 2003). Hamre and Pianta (2001) found that boys and girls benefit differently from different aspects of the teacher–student relationship, such that the effect of relational support may show up later for girls than for boys. Thus, we investigate whether our results are moderated by gender or ethnicity.
Section snippets
Participants
Participants were 415 (52.2% male) first-grade children attending one of three school districts (1 urban, 2 small city) in southeast and central Texas, drawn from a larger sample (N = 784) of children participating in a longitudinal study examining the impact of grade retention on academic achievement. Participants were recruited across two sequential cohorts in first-grade during the fall of 2001 and 2002. Children were eligible to participate in the longitudinal study if they scored below the
Results
The hypothesized model is shown in Fig. 1. The bolded arrows indicate the targeted mediation effect where time 1 teacher support was hypothesized to effect time 2 teacher-perceived engagement which, in turn, influenced time 2 peer acceptance. There were a total of 360 participants with complete data on the manifest variables appearing in Fig. 1. Table 1 presents the correlations among all manifest variables in the hypothesized model. The hypothesized structural model was examined by using
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