the teacher-child relationship and children's early school adjustment

Pergamon Journal of School Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 61-79, 1997 Copyright © 1997 Society for the Study of School Psychology

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The Teacher-Child Relationship and Children's Early School Adjustment

Sondra H. Birch and Gary W. Ladd Department of Educational Psychology

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The teacher-child relationship may serve important support functions for young children in their attempts to adjust to the school environment. A sample of kindergarten children (N = 206, mean age = 5.58 years) and their teachers partic- ipated in the present study, which was designed to examine how three distinct features of the teacher-child relationship (closeness, dependency, and conflict) were related to various aspects of children's school adjustment. Dependency in the teacher-child relationship emerged as a strong correlate of school adjustment difficulties, including poorer academic performance, more negative school attitudes, and less positive engagement with the school environment. In addition, teacher-rated conflict was associated with teachers' ratings of children's school liking, school avoidance, self-directedness, and cooperative participation in the classroom. Finally, teacher-child closeness was positively linked with children's academic performance, as well as teachers' ratings of school liking and self- directedness. The findings highlight the importance of considering various features of children's relationships with classroom teachers when examining young children's school adjustment. © 1997 Society for the Study of School Psychology

Keywords: Teacher-child relationships, School adjustment, Children.

THE TEACHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP AND CHILDREN'S EARLY SCHOOL ADJUSTMENT

Until recently, few researchers have examined how interpersonal features of the school environment are related to children's adjustment to school, and those investigators who have explored this question have focused primarily on children's relationships with classroom peers. This research suggests that peers do play an important role in many aspects of children's school adjustment, both academic and socioemotional (e.g., Asher, Parkhurst, Hymel, & Williams, 1990; Ladd, 1990; Ladd & Price, 1987; Parker & Asher, 1993b). In addition to these findings, there is a sizeable body of evidence (see Parker & Asher, 1987) indicating that early difficulties with classmates (e.g., low peer group acceptance) are associated with later school adjustment problems (e.g., dropping out of school). Class-

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Sondra Birch or Gary Ladd, 183 Chil- dren's Research Center, 51 Gerry Drive, Champaign, IL 61820.

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62 Journal of School Psychology

room peers, however, are not the only consistent figures with whom children can form relationships and from whom children can seek support on a daily basis in school. Rather, classroom teachers may serve these functions as well. Thus, it is important to study the quality of children's relationships with teachers, as well as peers, when investigating children's early school adjustment.

Howes and her colleagues (Howes & Hamilton, 1992; Howes & Hamil- ton, 1993; Howes & Matheson, 1992) have made the greatest strides to date towards describing features of the teacher-child relationship. These investigators have utilized key constructs from literature on parent-child attachment to define qualities of the teacher-child relationship (i.e., secure, avoidant, resistant/ambivalent). Other researchers have relied on princi- ples found in attachment theory to characterize the teacher-child relationship, although less explicitly than Howes and her colleagues. Utilizing the construct of teacher-child relatedness, Lynch and Cicchetti (1992) describe five teacher-child relationship patterns that vary in emotional quality and psychological proximity-seeking, based on children's reports of their relationships with teachers: optimal, deprived, disengaged, confused, and average. Alternatively, Pianta and Steinberg (1992) have attempted to define qualities of the teacher-child relationship using teachers' perceptions as indexed on the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). The items used on the STRS were derived from attachment theory and research on teacher-child interactions, and were designed to tap the dimensions of warmth/security, anger/dependence, and anxiety/insecurity. Recent analyses of the STRS have revealed three distinct factors: closeness, dependency, and conflict/anger (Pianta, Steinberg, & Rollins, 1995).

We seek to elaborate current thinking about the teacher-child relationship by defining its features or attributes within a relationship quality perspective (e.g., Berndt & Perry, 1986; Furman & Buhrmester, 1985; Ladd, Kochenderfer, & Coleman, 1996; Parker & Asher, 1993a; Weiss, 1974). In studies of other interpersonal aspects of the school environment (e.g., children's friendships), a focus on qualitative features has yielded a richer understanding of the relationships under investigation (e.g., Parker & Asher, 1993a) and important insights into the features of friendships that may impact children's school adjustment (e.g., Ladd, Kochenderfer, & Coleman, 1996).

Drawing upon past work by Pianta and Steinberg (1992) and others, we propose that three qualitatively distinct aspects of the teacher-child relationship are related to young children's school adjustment: closeness, conflict, and dependency. Closeness encompasses the degree of warmth and open communication that exists between a teacher and a child, and may function as a support for young children in the school environment. For example, having a warm affective tie to a significant figure in the classroom may facilitate positive affect and attitudes towards school. Like-

Birch and Ladd 63

wise, having open communicat ion with the classroom teacher may foster greater involvement or engagement in school. It might also be argued, based on theories of parent -chi ld attachment, that children who share a close relationship with their teacher possess a "secure base" f rom which to explore the envi ronment (see Bretherton, 1985). In this way, closeness may help to facilitate children's learning and school performance.

Dependency can be seen as another feature of the teacher-chi ld relationship. As a construct, dependency refers to possessive and "clingy" child behaviors that are indicative of an overreliance on the teacher as a source of support. Contrasted with closeness, dependency can be construed as a relationship quality that interferes with children's school adjustment. Chil- dren who are overly dependen t on the teacher may be tentative in their explorations of the school environment, including other social relationships. Feelings of loneliness, as well as negative feelings about and attitudes towards school, may also be more common in children who display higher levels of dependency on the teacher.

Attachment theorists have also distinguished between the at tachment construct (which has positive developmental implications) and the notion of dependency (which has negative connotations; see Bowlby, 1982). In supportive relationships, it is considered adaptive for closeness to increase with development and for dependency to decrease over time. A particular teacher-chi ld relationship may be characterized as highly close without also being highly dependent . In addition, it is plausible that some children might be dependen t on their teachers, without sharing a close relationship with them. Thus, the two constructs may make distinct contributions to children's early school adjustment.

Finally, it is likely that conflict in the teacher-chi ld relationship functions as a stressor for children in the school environment, and may impair their successful adjustment to school. Conflictual teacher-chi ld relationships are characterized by discordant interactions and a lack of rapport between the teacher and the child. Children who experience a great deal of friction with their teachers limit the extent to which they may be able to rely on that relationship as a source of support. Further, such difficulties in the teacher-chi ld relationship may foster feelings of anger or anxiety in young children, and thus cause children to withdraw from the school arena (e.g., become disengaged or uninvolved) or promote feelings of alienation, such as loneliness, and negative school attitudes. These stressors may also be related to impaired academic per formance or achievement.

Despite the aforement ioned efforts to describe the teacher-chi ld relationship, little effort has been made to understand how the teacher-chi ld relationship might be linked to children's school adjustment. In one of the few studies addressing this issue, Pianta and Steinberg (1992) found that children who were r ecommended for retent ion in kindergarten, but who


were actually not retained, had more positive teacher-chi ld relationships than did those children who actually were retained.

Thus, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the association between three dimensions of the teacher-chi ld relationship (closeness, dependency, and conflict) and children's early adjustment to school. In the present study, we utilized the STRS as one index of the quality of the teacher-chi ld relationship, recognizing that there are o ther perspectives (e.g., child's, observers') that could give us fur ther insight into the nature of this relationship. We see the teacher as a valuable source of information about this relationship. Thei r perspective provides unique information and enriches our unders tanding of the nature of the relationship that exists between children and this significant figure in the school environment.

Further, in the present study, school adjustment was defined more broadly than it has been envisioned in past research. Historically, school adjustment has been characterized in terms of students' academic performance, progress, or achievement. Because of this emphasis on academic outcomes, much research on children's adjustment to school has focused only on cognitive skill acquisition. Recently, however, some researchers have a t tempted to define school adjustment more broadly, and include in their definition of this construct indicators that are not solely academic in nature. Consistent with recent models articulated by Ladd and colleagues (Birch & Ladd, 1996; Ladd, 1989, 1996), school adjustment is def ined not only in terms of children's school performance, but also in terms of their school affect and attitude, and their involvement or engagement with the school environment.

It was hypothesized that children who were positively involved with their teachers would display bet ter adjustment to school than children who had problematic relationships with their teachers. Specifically, children who had positive teacher-chi ld relationships (i.e., relationships that were relatively close, nonconflictual, or nondependen t ) were expected to per form bet ter academically than children with less close, more dependent , or more conflictual relationships with their teachers. Further, it was hypothesized that children with whom teachers repor ted having relatively high levels of closeness and lower levels of dependency and conflict would repor t feeling less lonely in school, and would have more positive school attitudes than those children involved in more problematic teacher-chi ld relationships. Finally, children involved in positive relationships with their teachers were expected to be more positively engaged with the school environment (e.g., less avoidant, more self-directed, more cooperative) than children experiencing difficulties in their teacher-chi ld relationships.

In assessing the quality of children's teacher-chi ld relationships, it is impor tant to consider the context in which these relationships exist. Be- cause of the likelihood that there were differences across classrooms in terms of the types of relationships that teachers had, in general, with their

Birch and Ladd 65

students (i.e., differing relational environments) , we also assessed the average level of closeness, dependency, and conflict that was present in each classroom. These latter variables were indicative of differences in the overall relational environments across classrooms, and were examined as predictors of children's early school adjustment in conjunction with features of the relationships that were formed between teachers and individual children in their classrooms.

METHOD

Subjects

A sample of full-day kindergarten children (N= 206) and their teachers (N -- 16) were recruited, as part of a larger longitudinal project, from eight public e lementary schools located in three midwestern communities in the United States. Only children with written parental consent were chosen to participate in the study. In each classroom, at least 80% of the children had written parental consent to participate. Ninety-eight children (47.6%) were girls and 108 children (52.4%) were boys. The mean age of the children at the beginning of the kindergarten year was 5.58 years. The sample was 73.3% Caucasian, 20.4% African-American, 1.9% Hispanic and 4.4% Other ethnicities. All 206 children completed all measures in the study. The 16 teachers were Caucasian females, and their years of teaching experience ranged from 0 to 23 years (mean = 13.25 years). Teachers provided complete information for all subjects, and were reimbursed for their participation in the project. The three communities in which the schools were located were chosen to represent a variety of demographic characteristics, and they ranged from rural to moderately urban (e.g., popula- tions ranged from approximately 2,000 to 100,000).

MEASURES

Teacher-Child Relationship Assessment

The Student-Teacher Relationship Scale. The Student-Teacher Relation- ship Scale (STRS; Pianta & Steinberg, 1992) was utilized to assess teachers' perceptions of different qualities of their relationships with their students. Teachers rated 35 statements in terms of how applicable each statement was to their current relationship with a particular child. Responses ranged from definitely does not apply (1) to definitely applies (5). The Closeness subscale is comprised of 11 items that index the warmth and open communicat ion in the teacher-chi ld relationship (e.g., "I share an affection- ate, warm relationship with this child;" alpha = .90). The Dependency subscale is a reliable four-item index of the degree to which the child is


overly dependen t on the teacher (e.g., "This child is overly dependen t on me;" alpha = .69). Finally, the Conflict subscale is comprised of 12 items that indicate friction in the teacher-chi ld relationship (e.g., "This child and I always seem to be struggling with each other ;" alpha = .93). Two types of variables were computed from this measure: an individual teacher-chi ld relationship score and a classroom relational environment score. First, for each child, an average score was computed for each subscale (by summing the items and dividing by the number of items comprising the subscale). Thus, each child had a Closeness, a Dependency, and a Conflict score that ranged in value from 1 to 5. Second, for each classroom, an average score was computed for each subscale by summing the children's mean scores and dividing by the number of children in the classroom. Thus, each classroom also had a Closeness, a Dependency, and a Conflict composite score that ranged in value from 1 to 5.

School Adjustment Outcome Indices

Metropolitan Readiness Tests. Children's visual and language skills were assessed via four subtests of the Metropolitan Readiness Tests-Level One (MRT; Harcour t Brace Jovanovich, 1986). A Visual Skill stanine score was derived from two subtests: Let ter Recognition (which measures the child's ability to recognize upper- and lower-case letters as read by the interviewer) and Visual Matching (which measures the ability to discriminate among visual symbols). A Language Skill stanine score was derived from two other subtests: School Language and Listening (which assesses basic cognitive abilities considered important for future development of reading compre- hension skills) and Quantitative Language (which assesses the child's unders tanding of basic quantitative concepts that are important for various types of conceptual learning). This ins t rument has been shown to have adequate reliability and validity on a national sample of children.

Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire for Young Children. Children's affective experience in school was tapped via the Loneliness

and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire for Young Children (LSDO~ Cassidy & Asher, 1992). The LSDQ consists of 27 questions asking children about "what kids do and how they feel when they are at school." There are eight filler items (e.g., "Do you like playing games?") that are included in order to decrease the salience of the questions about loneliness. The other 19 items address themes of loneliness (e.g., "Are you sad and alone at school?") as well as social dissatisfaction (e.g., "Do you have kids to play with at school?"). Children responded to these items by saying ei ther "yes," "no ," or "sometimes." Responses were coded 3, 1, and 2, respec-

Birch and Ladd 67

tively. The present study utilized a five-item index of loneliness that dem- onstrated adequate internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .75).

School Liking and School Avoidance Scale. Children's attitudes towards school were gauged using the School Liking and School Avoidance Scale (SLAS), adapted from measures developed by Ladd and Price (1987). Nine items refer to positive school attitude (i.e., school liking; e.g., "Do you like being in school?") and five items refer to the desire to avoid the school environment (e.g., "Do you ask your Mommy or Daddy to let you stay home from school?"). Children responded to these question by saying ei ther "yes," "no ," or "sometimes." Responses were coded as 3, 1, and 2, respectively. Both subscales showed evidence of adequate internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .87 for school liking; alpha = .76 for school avoidance).

Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment. Teachers rated various aspects of children's adjustment to school with the Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment (TRSSA). The TRSSA was developed by the present investigators, in collaboration with the teachers participating in the present study. Factor analysis revealed five reliable subscales, four of which are utilized in the present study: School Liking, School Avoidance, Cooperative Participation, and Self-Directedness. The School Liking subscale is a five- item index of the teacher 's percept ion of how much the child likes school (alpha = .89). The School Avoidance subscale consists of five items that address the teacher 's perceptions of the child's efforts to avoid the classroom environment (alpha = .74). The Cooperative Participation subscale is an eight-item indicator of the degree to which children accept the teacher's authority, and comply with classroom rules and responsibilities (alpha = .92). Finally, the Self-Directedness subscale consists of nine items that reflect the extent to which children display independen t or self-directed behavior in the classroom (alpha = .91). For each child, a mean subscale score was computed by summing the child's score on each item in the subscale and dividing by the number of items comprising the subscale. See Table 1 for subscale and sample items.

PROCEDURE

Teachers completed the STRS and the TRSSA in November-December of the kindergarten year. Children were interviewed individually in the fall semester by trained undergraduate and graduate students. The measures described above (as well as several additional measures not included in the present study) were administered on two separate occasions (no more than 40 minutes each) in order to avoid subject fatigue. Interviewers in t roduced themselves to the children, assured them of the confidentiality of their


Table 1 The Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment:

Selected Subscales and Sample Items

School Liking Likes to come to school Dislikes school (reversed) Has fun at school Enjoys most classroom activities

School Avoidance Makes up reasons to go home from school Asks to see the school nurse Feigns illness at school Asks how long until it is time to go home

Cooperative Participation Follows teacher's directions Uses classroom materials responsibly Listens carefully to teacher's instructions and directions Accepts responsibility for a given task

Self-Directedness Seeks challenges Self-directed child Works independently Needs a lot of help and guidance (reversed)

responses, and conducted the interviews in semiprivate locations in each school building. Children were thoroughly trained on the response choices for each measure via practice questions before proceeding to the actual items. After complet ing each of the two sessions, children were thanked for their participation and given several colorful stickers on a sticker page to take home with them.

RESULTS

Descriptive Analysis of the Teacher-Child Relationship

Inspection of means for all children on the various aspects of the teacher - child relationship (as assessed via the STRS) revealed that, overall, chi ldren h a d r e l a t i v e l y c lose , n o n c o n f l i c t u a l , a n d n o n d e p e n d e n t r e l a t i o n s h i p s w i t h

t h e i r t e a c h e r s . T h e m e a n s f o r t h e t h r e e d i m e n s i o n s w e r e as fo l lows: C lose -

n e s s ( M = 3.73, SD = .73) , D e p e n d e n c y ( M = 1.96, SD = .83) , a n d C o n f l i c t

(M = 1.96, SD = .96). A MANOVA was pe r fo rmed to examine possible gender differences in

the quality of children's teacher-chi ld relationships. Teachers repor ted having significantly more closeness in their relationships with girls (F(1, 204) = 7.43, p < .01), and significantly more conflictual relationships with boys (F(1,204) = 6.63, p < .01).

Birch and Ladd 69

The Teacher-Child Relationship and Children's Early School Adjustment

Description of analyses. Correlat ions a m o n g predictor variables within a category (e.g., classroom relational environment , teacher-chi ld relationship) were examined. The correlations between the mean levels of conflict in the classroom and the mean levels of closeness and dependency were - . 7 3 and .69 (p < .001), respectively; however, because no two variables had more than 54% of their variance in common , all were retained in subsequent analyses. In addition, all correlations between the measured dimensions of the teacher-chi ld relationship were less than - .50 . Finally, correlat ions were examined between the school adjustment measures within each domain (i.e., academic per formance , school affect and attitude, and school engagement ) . All correlations were less than .59, and thus were retained for fur ther analyses.

To de te rmine the impor tance of the teacher-chi ld relationship to chil- d ren ' s early school adjustment, a series of hierarchical regression analyses was pe r fo rmed , in which each school adjustment measure was regressed separately on gender and the teacher-chi ld relationship variables, as described below. For the initial set of analyses, gender, classroom relational env i ronment variables, and individual teacher-chi ld relationship variables were en tered as three separate blocks in order to first de te rmine whether the set of variables was significandy related to the school adjustment outcomes unde r consideration. I f the block of variables made a significant contr ibution, then fur ther analyses were conducted to de te rmine the por t ion of variance attributable to specific variables in each block, as well as the unique contr ibut ion made by each variable (see Cohen & Cohen, 1983).

Thus, chi ldren 's gender was entered first to control for the effects of this variable on subsequent predictors. Next, the mean levels of closeness, dependency, and conflict present in the classroom were en tered together in order to take into account differences across classrooms. Finally, individual scores on the three dimensions of the teacher-chi ld relationship were entered together to de te rmine the impor tance of children 's t eacher - child relationships to their early adjustment to school.

Initial analyses. As shown in Table 2, the overall regression analyses p e r f o r m e d on all school adjustment outcomes were significant, except for children 's reports of their school liking, which approached significance. Gender accounted for a significant por t ion of the variance in teachers ' ratings of children 's school liking, self-directedness, and cooperative participation. Further, the relational env i ronment of the classroom also contr ibuted significantly to these variables, in addition to teachers ' ratings of chi ldren 's school avoidance. Finally, the block of variables containing chi ldren 's individual scores on the three teacher-chi ld relationship dimen-


Table 2 The Teacher-Child Relationship and Children's Early School Adjustment (Overall Results)

R ~ Increment

Individual Relational Teacher-Child Gender

Criterion Gender Environment Relationship Interaction Overall R 2

Academic Performance/Readiness MRT Visual Stanine .00 .02 .14 . . . . . .01 .17 . . . . . MRT Language .01 .01 .09 . . . . .02 .12"**

Stanine School Affect and Attitude

Loneliness (child) .01 .02 .04** .02 .09** School Liking .00 .03* .05** .00 .08*

(child) School Liking .03** .06*** .22 . . . . . .01 .32 . . . . .

(teacher) School Involvement/

Engagement School Avoidance .02* .01 .04* .04* .10"*

(child) School Avoidance .01 .05* * .12 . . . . . .02 .20 . . . . .

(teacher) Self-Directedness .03** .06*** .48 . . . . . .01 .59 . . . . .

(teacher) Cooperative Partici- .05*** .08 . . . . .52 . . . . . .02** .67 . . . . .

pation (teacher)

Note. Rater noted in parentheses. *p < .10. **p < .05. ***p < .01. .... p < .001. ..... p < .0001.

s ions y i e l d e d s i g n i f i c a n t resu l t s f o r all s c h o o l a d j u s t m e n t o u t c o m e s e x c e p t

c h i l d r e n ' s r a t i ngs o f s c h o o l a v o i d a n c e ( w h e r e i t a p p r o a c h e d s i g n i f i c a n c e ) .

A c a d e m i c r e a d i n e s s / p e r f o r m a n c e . To d e t e r m i n e w h i c h o f t h e t e a c h e r -

c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p va r i ab le s was t h e m o s t s t r o n g l y l i n k e d to c h i l d r e n ' s

a c a d e m i c p e r f o r m a n c e , a s e r i e s o f r e g r e s s i o n ana lyses was c o n d u c t e d in

w h i c h va r i ab l e s w i t h i n a b l o c k w e r e e n t e r e d in v a r y i n g o r d e r i n t o t h e

e q u a t i o n . A f t e r c o n t r o l l i n g f o r g e n d e r a n d t h e r e l a t i o n a l e n v i r o n m e n t ,

b o t h t e a c h e r - c h i l d C l o s e n e s s a n d D e p e n d e n c y a c c o u n t e d f o r a s i g n i f i c a n t

p o r t i o n o f t h e v a r i a n c e in M R T Visua l Skil l a n d M R T L a n g u a g e Skill.

I n t e r m s o f Visua l Skill , C l o s e n e s s c o n t r i b u t e d 7% o f t h e v a r i a n c e , a f t e r

w h i c h D e p e n d e n c y a c c o u n t e d f o r a n a d d i t i o n a l 7% o f t h e v a r i a n c e . I n

o r d e r to d e t e r m i n e t h e unique c o n t r i b u t i o n m a d e by e a c h v a r i a b l e w i t h i n

Birch and Ladd 71

the block, we examined the increment in R 2 made by each variable when entered on the last step of the block. Closeness uniquely accounted for 5% of the variance in Visual Skill, and Dependency uniquely contr ibuted 4% of the variance. In terms of Language Skill, Dependency accounted for 3% of the variance, after which Closeness contr ibuted an additional 5%. Dependency made a unique contr ibution of 4% of the variance, and Closeness uniquely accounted for 3% of the variance in Language Skill.

Inspection of the correlations between each predictor and the criterion variable revealed that children with more teacher-reported Closeness in their teacher-chi ld relationships had higher MRT Visual and Language stanine scores than did children with less close relationships with their teachers. In addition, children that teachers viewed as less dependen t also scored higher on these indices of academic per formance than did children exhibiting more Dependency on their teachers.

School affect and attitude. Analyses pe r fo rmed on measures of children's school affect revealed that, after enter ing gender and the relational, environment variables into the regression equation, teacher-rated Dependency accounted for a significant port ion (3%) of the variance (2% uniquely) in children's reports of loneliness in school (after which nei ther Closeness nor Conflict made significant contributions). Children that were rated as more dependen t by their teachers repor ted being more lonely in school than did children who were rated as less dependent .

In the regression calculated for teachers' reports of children's school liking, gender significandy accounted for 3% of the variance; teachers repor ted that girls liked school more than did boys. After controlling for gender, the mean level of teacher-reported Conflict present in the classroom was significantly related to teacher-rated school liking, as was the mean level of Dependency in the classroom, each accounting for 3% of the variance. When entered on the last step of the block of variables, Conflict uniquely contr ibuted 4% of the variance, and Dependency uniquely accounted for 3% of the variance in this index of children's school attitude. Children in classrooms with higher mean levels of teacher-chi ld Conflict liked school less than did children in classrooms with lower mean levels of Conflict. In addition, in classrooms characterized by a higher mean level of Dependency in the teacher--child relationships, children liked school more than did children in classrooms characterized by a lower mean level of teacher-rated Dependency.

After controll ing for gender and the relational environment, Closeness was significantly related to teachers' reports of children's school liking, accounting for 17% of the variance. Both Dependency and Conflict significantly accounted for an additional 4% of the variance in school liking, when entered second in this block of variables, and contr ibuted a significant 2% of the variance when entered last in the block. Further, Closeness


uniquely accounted for 10% of the variance in school liking, and both Dependency and Conflict uniquely contr ibuted 2% to the variance. Chil- dren with more teacher-reported Closeness in their teacher-chi ld relationships liked school more than did children with less close relationships with their teachers. In addition, children with more conflictual or dependen t teacher--child relationships liked school less than did children with less teacher-chi ld Conflict or Dependency.

School involvement and engagement. Gender was marginally related to children's reports of school avoidance (accounting for 2% of the variance, p = .06), with boys report ing more school avoidance desires than girls. After controll ing for gender and the relational environment, Dependency was significantly related to children's expressed desire to avoid the school environment , accounting for 4% of the variance (3% uniquely), after which nei ther Closeness nor Conflict made significant contributions. Chil- dren with more teacher-rated Dependency repor ted more school avoidance than did children exhibiting less Dependency. Finally, a Gender × Dependency interaction accounted for a significant 2% of the variance in school avoidance (none of which was unique).

Results f rom analyses of teachers' reports of children's school avoidance indicate that a combinat ion of the relational envi ronment variables contr ibuted significantly to the variance; however, none of the variables were strong predictors when entered first in the block. In addition, we were unable to isolate any unique contributions made by a single variable in the block. After controll ing for these variables, Dependency in the individual teacher-chi ld relationship contr ibuted significantly to teachers' reports of children's school avoidance, accounting for 7% of the wariance (4% uniquely). Conflict significantly accounted for an additional 5% of the variance, 3% of which was unique. Children with more teacher-rated Conflict or Dependency in their teacher-chi ld relationships were rated as more school avoidant than were children with less conflictual or dependent relationships with their teachers.

Gender accounted for a significant 3% of the variance in teacher 's reports of children's self-directedness. In addition, the mean level of Conflict present in the classroom contr ibuted significantly to teacher-rated self-directedness, accounting for 6% of the variance (2% uniquely). Chil- d ren in classrooms with higher mean levels of teacher-chi ld Conflict were less serf-directed (according to teachers) than were children in less conflictual relational environments. Further, individual teacher-chi ld Depen- dency accounted for a significant 22% of the variance in self-directedness, after which Closeness contr ibuted an additional 25%, and Conflict added 2%. Finally, teacher-chi ld Dependency, Closeness, and Conflict all made significant unique contributions t o / ~ , accounting for 24%, 14%, and 2% of the variance, respectively. Higher teacher-chi ld Closeness, lower Depen-

Birch and Ladd 73

dency, and lower Conflict were related to greater self-directedness on the part of the children in the classroom.

Gender played a role in terms of children's teacher-rated cooperative participation in the classroom, accounting for 5% of the variance in this index of school involvement. Teachers rated girls higher in cooperative participation than boys. After controlling for gender, the mean level of Conflict in the classroom made a significant 4% contribution to the variance, after which the mean level of Dependency contr ibuted an additional 3%. Both Conflict and Dependency made unique contributions to teacher-rated cooperative participation, contributing 5% and 4%, respectively. Children in relational environments characterized by higher teacher-chi ld Conflict or Dependency were seen as less cooperative than were children in less conflictual or less dependen t relational environments. Further, individual teacher-chi ld conflict accounted for a significant 52% of the variance (36% unique) in teacher-rated cooperative participation, after which nei ther Closeness nor Dependency made fur ther significant contributions. Children with more teacher-rated Conflict in their teacher- child relationships were viewed as lower in cooperative participation than were children who had less conflictual relationships with their teachers. Finally, a significant Gender X Dependency interaction accounted for 2% of the variance (all unique) in teacher-rated cooperative participation.

DISCUSSION

Findings from the present study suggest that the relationship quality perspective is a useful one in terms of investigating associations between the quality of children's teacher-chi ld relationships and their adjustment in school contexts. There is evidence to suggest that the three distinct teacher-chi ld relationship features are differentially associated with various school adjustment outcome indices, and should thus be retained and examined as separate (albeit related) variables in future investigations. In the discussion that follows, we consider the findings from the present study, and discuss possible mechanisms or processes that might illuminate the nature of these results. It is important to recognize that, because of the cross-sectional design of the present study, the direction of effects are unknown; longitudinal studies are warranted to fur ther elaborate and explicate these associations.

As with past research on children's peer relationships, this perspective has yielded a more powerful understanding of the nature of teacher-chi ld relationships. In the peer domain, a number of studies have documented associations between children's relationships with their peers and their subsequent adjustment to school. While some studies have shown that merely having a fr iend in the school environment yields positive adjustment outcomes for children (e.g., Ladd, 1990), o ther investigations have


emphasized that qualitative features of children's friendships are also impor tant correlates of children's adjustment in school settings (e.g., Ladd, Kochenderfer , & Coleman, 1996). In a study designed to assess both of these friendship issues, Parker and Asher (1993b) found that friendship participation (i.e., p resence/absence of friendship) and friendship quality made unique contributions to the prediction of children's loneliness in school. Thus, examining qualitative aspects of relationships seems to be applicable to a variety of relationship domains.

Results from the present study revealed that dependency emerged as an important correlate of children's school adjustment as assessed in a variety of domains (i.e., academic performance, school attitude, and school involvement). Perhaps children who are perceived as more dependent on the teacher are less mature than their more independent classmates. This relative imma- turity may be reflected in, among other things, their performance on academic tasks. It is also plausible that children who are experiencing academic difficulties or delays may seek out the teacher more often, or feel less capable of working without the teacher's help and guidance.

In addition, children who are perceived by the teacher as dependen t may be at tempting to utilize the teacher as a source of support in an environment in which they feel lonely. Clinging onto the classroom teacher may also keep children from exploring relationships with their peers in the classroom. This may, in turn, restrict their opportunit ies for social interaction and increase the likelihood of social isolation and accompanying feelings of loneliness. The negative school attitudes (e.g., lower school liking) that teachers associate with highly dependen t children may also be an antecedent or a consequence of overreliance on the teacher. Children who dislike school (e.g., because of academic difficulties or poor peer relations) may come to rely excessively on the classroom teacher as a source of guidance or support. On the other hand, children who exhibit highly dependen t behaviors may be less ready to meet the many demands of school (academic and social), and thus may like school less than their more independen t classmates.

Consistent with the above propositions, children seen as relatively dependen t by their teachers may want to avoid becoming engaged with other aspects of the school environment (e.g., peer interaction), because they are less mature or less ready to meet the social demands of school. Perhaps children who are expressing the desire to leave the classroom a n d / o r stay at home (i.e., avoid school) turn to the teacher as a source of comfor t or security. In this way, the teacher may be serving as a temporary substitute for the child's pr imary caregiver in the novel environment of the kindergarten classroom. In addition, given the fact that these children seem to be overly reliant on the teacher for reassurance, guidance, and assistance, it is not surprising to find that they do not exhibit self-directed behavior in the classroom, according to teachers.

Birch and Ladd 75

Conflict in the teacher-chi ld relationship also emerged as an important variable to consider when studying how well children adjust to the school environment. Conflict between children and their teachers may affect children's attitudes towards the school envi ronment by creating an atmosphere that is aversive, ra ther than supportive, to the child. If this were the case, then it would not be surprising that children experiencing conflict in their relationships with a significant figure in the school environment might like school less than do children who are not experiencing a high level of conflict. In the present study, it is the teachers who repor t more negative school attitudes for children with whom they have conflictual relationships. It is possible that teachers' ratings of conflict are based, in part, on their perceptions of how much a particular child likes the school envi ronment (i.e., children's school attitudes). The children's attitudes may be determined, in part, by the degree of discord they experience in their teacher-chi ld relationships. It is also plausible that the conflict that teachers perceive in their relationships with children stems from the types of attitudes that children express towards school.

Children's behavioral expressions of school avoidance may reflect their reluctance to be involved or engaged in an environment that is more conflictual (via conflict in the teacher--child relationship) and therefore less supportive. Alternatively, children's efforts to avoid the school environment (e.g., asking to leave the classroom, making up reasons to go home) may be seen as contentious by the teacher and thus foster a more conflictual teacher-chi ld relationship. In a similar manner, teachers' perceptions of children's self-directed behavior and cooperative participation may drive or be driven by the nature of their relationships with particular children. Children who are seen as less self-directed (e.g., not working independently, not confident) or lower in cooperative participation (e.g., not using classroom materials responsibly, not accepting responsibility) are exhibiting behaviors that are likely to foster conflict in their relationships with their teachers. On the other hand, conflict in the teacher-chi ld relationship may promote less self-directed behavior and less cooperative participation on the part of the child.

Finally, the degree of closeness present in the teacher-chi ld relationship also appears to be an important variable to consider when examining children's early school adjustment, given that it emerged as a significant correlate of children's academic performance, school attitude, and engagement in the school environment. Children who share a close relationship with their classroom teacher may feel bet ter able to utilize the teacher as a source of support in the school environment, and this may result in their being bet ter able to benefi t from learning activities in the classroom. It is also plausible that children who are ready to meet the academic demands of school are also more capable of forming a close relationship


with a significant adult figure in the school environment (and vice versa; i.e., cognitive and emotional maturity are coexistent).

It is not surprising that teachers have closer relationships with children who they perceive as having more positive attitudes towards school. Teach- ers may feel closer to children who express school liking and who seem to enjoy most of the activities in the classroom. Children who share a close relationship with the teacher may perceive the school environment as a supportive one, and this may promote positive attitudes towards school. Finally, closeness in the teacher-chi ld relationship affords children the opportuni ty to openly express feelings and concerns, and therefore elicit appropriate help and guidance in their attempts to adjust to the school environment. A supportive teacher-chi ld relationship may therefore enable children to become self-directed and responsible participants in the classroom. It is also possible that teachers find it easier to form and maintain close relationships with children who are acting in an independent and responsible manner.

The present study also provides some preliminary evidence that the general quality of the relational envi ronment of the classroom may be a relevant variable for future investigation. The overall level of dependency and conflict present in the classroom was related to teachers' ratings of individual children's school attitudes and cooperative participation. In addition, the mean level of conflict was related to teachers' ratings of children's self-directed behavior. Thus, it seems that in classrooms that have a relatively conflictual atmosphere, there is also the percept ion that children like school less and are less positively involved in the classroom (i.e., less self-directed a n d / o r lower in cooperative participation). It is also plausible that a particular classroom may consist of less mature children (who are perhaps less self-directed and cooperative), which might foster perceptions of dependency or feelings of conflict between the teacher and the children in the classroom in general. The finding that children in classrooms characterized by high Dependency are repor ted to like school more (than children in less dependen t classrooms) is not consistent with our hypotheses; however, it acts to stimulate fur ther conceptualization of the relational envi ronment constructs. Future studies designed specifically to address the effects of the classroom environment on children's adjustment to school may help to tease apart these relationships.

In addition to these dimensions of the teacher-chi ld relationship and the relational envi ronment of the classroom, the present study also provided evidence that certain child characteristics (i.e., gender) play an impor tant role in determining children's early school adjustment. Teach- ers perceived girls as having more positive school attitudes, and also as being more positively involved (i.e., self-directed and cooperatively partic- ipatory) in the school envi ronment than boys. These findings are consistent with research suggesting that, at an early age, girls participate more in

Birch and Ladd 77

adult-structured environments at home and at school than do boys (e.g., Carpenter, 1983). In a related vein, there is evidence indicating gender differences in terms of the quality of relationships that children have with their teachers. The present findings that indicate teachers reported more conflict with boys and more closeness with girls are consistent with a descriptive study of preschoolers' teacher-child relationships (Saft, 1994). In addition, the gender by dependency interactions reported in the present study warrant further examination in future studies. Finally, although not the focus of the present study, other child characteristics (e.g., early verbal ability, socioeconomic status, ethnicity) may also play a role in determining how well children meet the myriad of demands of the school environment.

Children's classroom behavior (e.g., aggression, withdrawal) has also been linked to the quality of their relationships with classroom peers (e.g., Coie, Dodge, & Kupersmidt, 1990). It is likely that the behaviors that children exhibit in the classroom are not only related to the quality of their relationships with the classroom teacher, but are also linked to their school adjustment. Elsewhere, we have proposed that behavior may be related to young children's early school adjustment either directly or indirectly (i.e., mediated by the quality of children's teacher-child and peer relationships; Birch & Ladd, 1996; also see Wentzel, 1993). In fact, examination of this issue is a primary goal of our current research program. Including analyses of child characteristics such as behavior will undoubtedly help to illuminate the connection between the quality of children's relationships with significant others in school contexts and their acclimation to the school environment.

In sum, the results from the present study have implications for future studies of children's adjustment in school contexts, including examination of the relative contributions of both teacher-child and peer relationships to children's early school adjustment. Indeed, preliminary analyses of data addressing this question suggest that teacher-child and peer relationships may be associated with different aspects of children's adjustment in school contexts (see Birch & Ladd, 1994). Further, the cross-sectional design of the present investigation was a limitation that is being addressed in related studies by the current authors. Longitudinal investigation of the connection between the quality of teacher-child relationships and children's adjustment to school will shed light on the issue of the direction of effects or causal priority among these variables. In addition to disentangling the direction of effects, a longitudinal design will enable researchers to study the possibility that the associations between teacher-child relationships and school adjustment are bidirectional or even transactional.

Finally, the results of this investigation raise important implications for educators, in terms of teacher perceptions and teacher education. This study suggests that the perceptions that teachers have of the quality of their


relationships with their students are associated with children's performance on academic tasks, children's feelings of loneliness and school avoidance desires, and teachers' reports of various school adjustment outcome indices. Impor tant decisions often made by children's classroom teachers, including grade retent ion decisions, are undoubtedly based on indicators such as these. Thus, the quality of children's teacher-chi ld relationships may have far-reaching significance in terms of the various educational trajectories that children follow throughout their schooling experience.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Preparation of this article was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant MH-49223 to Gary Ladd. We thank the participating parents, teachers, and students for making this study possible.

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