The Effect of Changes in Teacher-student Relationship Quality on Students’ Trajectories for Internalizing Behaviors

Abstract

Internalizing problems are prevalent among school-aged children and have a significant negative impact on social and academic outcomes. Despite well-established evidence for the influence of teacher-student relationship quality on students’ school adjustment, few studies have investigated whether intra-individual differences in internalizing symptom trajectory at a certain time point can be explained by children’s relationships with their teachers.

The study’s sample consisted of 746 ethnically diverse, academically at risk students recruited from one of three school districts in Texas. Annual assessments from grades 1 to 4 included peer sociometric ratings of teacher-student relationship quality and teacher ratings of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Latent growth modeling was utilized to examine between- and within-child associations between teacher-student relationship quality and children's internalizing symptoms using hypothesized models. Results suggest that high-quality relationships with teachers are associated with fewer internalizing behaviors in school, especially, among students with elevated internalizing symptoms. These findings are well-situated in the literature, which supports the teacher-student relationship as a developmental context that can benefit children’s school adjustment. Findings have important implications for understanding the trajectories of internalizing symptoms in children and possible strategies for intervention.