Abstract
The present study examined associations between the quality of teacher-child relationships and behavior problems among elementary school students using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, a study of 1,364 children from birth through adolescence. There were two main findings. First, high-quality teacher-child relationships predicted low levels of externalizing behaviors. Second, high-quality relationships acted as protective factors, helping to prevent children with high levels of internalizing behaviors in early childhood from developing trajectories of long-term internalizing behavior problems. Teacher-child relationships may be proximal phenomena that can be targeted in interventions to help prevent behavior problems in middle childhood.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 120-162 |
Number of pages | 43 |
Journal | American Educational Research Journal |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2011 |
Keywords
- behavior problems
- child development
- elementary school
- longitudinal studies
- psychology
- social processes/development
- student behavior/attitude
- student development
- teacher-child relationships
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Education