Magro Sophia W, Nivison Marissa D, Englund Michelle M, Roisman Glenn I
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota.
Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota.
Int J Behav Dev. 2023 Mar;47(2):158-168. doi: 10.1177/01650254221137511. Epub 2022 Nov 17.
Prior research has demonstrated that teacher-student relationships characterized by high levels of closeness and low levels of conflict are associated with higher levels of academic achievement among children. At the same time: (a) some research suggests that the quality of teacher-student relationships in part reflects the quality of early caregiving; and (b) the observed quality of early care by primary caregivers robustly predicts subsequent academic achievement. Given the potential for associations between the quality of teacher-student relationship quality and academic achievement to thus be confounded by the quality of early parenting experiences, the present study examined to what extent children's experiences in early life with primary caregivers (i.e., ages 3 to 42 months) and relationships with teachers during grade school (i.e., Kindergarten to Grade 6) were uniquely associated with an objective assessment of academic achievement at age 16 years in a sample born into poverty ( = 169; 45% female; 70% White/non-Hispanic; 38% of mothers did not complete high school). Early maternal sensitivity, though a strong predictor of later academic achievement, was not reliably associated with either teacher-reports or interview-based assessments of teacher-student relationship quality in grade school. Nonetheless, early maternal sensitivity and teacher-student relationship quality were each uniquely associated with later academic achievement, above and beyond key demographic variables. Taken together, the present results highlight that the quality of children's relationships with adults at home and at school independently, but not interactively, predicted later academic achievement in a high-risk sample.
先前的研究表明，亲密程度高且冲突程度低的师生关系与儿童较高的学业成绩相关。同时：（a）一些研究表明，师生关系的质量在一定程度上反映了早期照料的质量；（b）主要照料者所提供的早期照料质量能有力地预测随后的学业成绩。鉴于师生关系质量与学业成绩之间的关联可能会因早期养育经历的质量而混淆，本研究考察了在一个贫困家庭出生的样本（n = 169；45%为女性；70%为白人/非西班牙裔；38%的母亲未完成高中学业）中，儿童在早年（即3至42个月）与主要照料者的经历以及在小学阶段（即幼儿园至六年级）与教师的关系在多大程度上与16岁时学业成绩的客观评估存在独特关联。早期母亲的敏感性虽然是后期学业成绩的有力预测指标，但与小学阶段基于教师报告或访谈的师生关系质量评估并无可靠关联。尽管如此，早期母亲的敏感性和师生关系质量各自都与后期学业成绩存在独特关联，超出了关键人口统计学变量的影响。综合来看，目前的结果表明，儿童在家中和学校与成年人的关系质量各自独立而非相互作用地预测了高风险样本中儿童后期的学业成绩。
