Teacher Involvement Prevents Increases in Children's Depressive Symptoms: Bidirectional Associations in Elementary School

Do classroom relationships moderate the association between peer defending in school bullying and social-emotional adjustment?

Peer defending has been shown to protect bullied peers from further victimization and social-emotional problems. However, research examining defending behavior has demonstrated positive and negative social-emotional adjustment effects for defending students themselves. To explain these mixed findings, researchers have suggested that associations between defending behavior and social-emotional adjustment may be buffered by protective factors (i.e., defender protection hypothesis) or exacerbated by vulnerability or risk factors (i.e., defender vulnerability hypothesis). Consistent with these hypotheses, the present study aimed to investigate whether relationships with teachers and peers would moderate the association between defending behavior and social-emotional adjustment. This three-wave longitudinal study examined the association between peer nominated defending behavior and later self-reported depressive symptoms and self-esteem in 848 Belgian students in Grades 4-6 (53% girls; Mage = 10.61 years, SD = 0.90 at Wave 1). Peer nominated positive and negative teacher-student relationships (i.e., closeness and conflict) and peer relationships (i.e., acceptance and rejection) were included as moderators. Clustered multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that defending behavior did not predict later depressive symptoms (β = -0.04, p = .80) or self-esteem (β = -0.19, p = .42). The lack of these associations could be explained by the defender protection and vulnerability hypotheses. However, contrary to our expectations, teacher-student closeness and peer acceptance did not play a protective role in the association between defending behavior and social-emotional adjustment (β = -1.48-1.46, p = .24-0.96). In addition, teacher-student conflict and peer rejection did not put defending students at risk for social-emotional maladjustment (β = -1.96-1.57, p = .54-0.97). Thus, relationships with teachers and peers did not moderate the association between defending behavior and later depressive symptoms and self-esteem.

Determinants of school attendance in elementary school students in Japan: a structural equation model

BACKGROUND

Managing school nonattendance is a priority worldwide. Frequent school nonattendance in early school years has immediate and long-term negative effects. Although strategies to address nonattendance are being developed and implemented, the number of students with school nonattendance issues is increasing. In this study, we explored students' feelings and perceptions about attending school and the potential determinants of a positive attitude towards attending school.

METHODS

We hypothesized that a positive perception towards attending school was influenced by relationships, perceptions of current circumstances, subjective health, and having someone to share experiences and thoughts with. For examining the hypothesized model, an original questionnaire with 14 items was developed, including perceptions towards school attendance (an item), relationships with friends and school teachers (5 items), current circumstances (4 items), subjective health (3 items), and the individuals available to share experiences and thoughts with (1 item). In total, 6860 children submitted the questionnaire (85.3% response rate) and 6841 responses were included to examine the model. Children were 10 or 11 years old, and selected from 111 state-run schools in 8 randomly selected school districts.

RESULTS

The final model demonstrated good fit and showed that the latent variable of relationships with friends and school teachers directly impacted on how children felt about attending school. The latent variable of subjective health also directly impacted on how children felt about attending school but not strongly. Other latent variables were not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The importance of positive relationships with friends and teachers in overcoming school nonattendance has been emphasized in previous studies. This study has provided evidence that these relationships impacted children's positive perception about attending school in a large sample of students aged 10-11 years. The latent variable of subjective health may require more items to capture mental health.

The role of school-based relationships for school well-being: How different are high- and average-ability students?

BACKGROUND

Relationships with peers and teachers are keys for children's psychosocial development. However, it is unclear whether this also applies for high-ability children. This study adds to the literature by longitudinally examining the role of interpersonal relationships in the educational context for high- and average-ability students.

AIMS

In this study, we examined whether high- and average-ability students differ in terms of peer acceptance, teacher conflict, and school well-being. Further, we studied the potential bi-directional effects between school well-being, teacher conflict, and peer acceptance in late childhood and examined whether the relations between these concepts differ between high- and average-ability students.

SAMPLE

The total sample consisted of 3,101 Belgian students (49.9% boys, M_age  = 9.76 years), with 348 high-ability and 2,753 average-ability students.

METHODS

Cognitive ability was assessed in Grade 3 with two cognitive ability tests (for crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence, respectively). The students were followed for three years (Grades 4, 5, and 6), and each year their current teacher filled out questionnaires regarding teacher-child conflict, peer acceptance, and school well-being.

RESULTS

High-ability students showed lower teacher conflict, higher peer acceptance, and better school well-being than average-ability students. Cross-lagged analyses showed that peer acceptance consistently predicted school well-being over time, while Grade 4 school well-being impacted Grade 5 teacher conflict. Also, better peer acceptance in Grade 5 predicted lower teacher-student conflict in Grade 6. Multigroup analyses revealed similar associations for both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results show that high-ability students in general display more positive school-based social relationships and school well-being than average-ability students. We found no differences in the links between these variables for both groups (i.e., high-ability students and average-ability students).