Teachers’ attachment orientations and children’s school adjustment: Evidence from a longitudinal study of first graders

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 559-580
Author(s):  
Uri Lifshin ◽  
Inbal Binyamin Kleinerman ◽  
Phillip R. Shaver ◽  
Mario Mikulincer
Keyword(s):  
School Adjustment ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Children's Perceptions ◽  
Children’S Perceptions ◽  
Attachment Orientations ◽  
Children's Adjustment ◽  
Children’S Adjustment ◽  
Child Relationship ◽  
Attachment To Mother

The goal of this study was to examine the contribution of teachers’ attachment orientations to the teacher–child relationship and to children’s adjustment to school during first grade. We sampled 539 first-grade children and their homeroom teachers ( N = 58), measured teachers’ attachment orientations and children’s attachment to mother at the beginning of the academic year, and followed children’s perceptions of their teachers’ responsiveness and their socioemotional adjustment to school from the beginning to the end of the year. Teachers’ attachment-related avoidance was associated with changes in children’s perceptions of their teachers’ responsiveness and changes in school adjustment during first grade. These prospective effects of teachers’ avoidance on children’s adjustment occurred regardless of variations in the children’s attachment to mother. However, most of the effects depended on the extent to which a child perceived his or her teacher to be a nonresponsive caregiver. Overall, the findings reveal the critical role of teachers’ attachment orientations in shaping children’s adjustment to school.

School Work, Teachers, and Peers: The World of First Grade

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Donelan-McCall ◽  
Judy Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Peer Relationships ◽  
School Adjustment ◽  
First Grade ◽  
School Experiences ◽  
Emotion Understanding ◽  
School Work ◽  
Children's Perceptions ◽  
Peer Experiences ◽  
Children’S Perceptions ◽  
Older Siblings

Children’s perceptions of their experiences with their school work, and teacher and peer relationships were studied in 44 second-born children, participating with their mothers and siblings in a longitudinal investigation, who were interviewed in October and May of their first-grade year. Overall, the majority of children were very positive about their experiences in all three areas of school adjustment. Modest associations between children’s perceptions of their school work, teacher, and peer experiences suggest that although most children perceived their experiences as positive (or negative) across all three areas, some children reported difficulties in one or two individual areas. In addition, although many children’s reported school experiences remained stable over the year, some children’s perceptions changed. The majority of children whose perceived school experiences were marked by discontinuity over the year were positive at the beginning of the year but relatively negative at the end. Finally, the findings from this investigation draw attention to some of the antecedent variables related to children’s subsequent school experiences, in particular, their emotion understanding and earlier relationships with their older siblings.

scholarly journals Children’s perceptions of maternal hostility as a mediator of the link between discipline and children’s adjustment in four countries

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 452-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer E. Lansford ◽  
Patrick S. Malone ◽  
Kenneth A. Dodge ◽  
Lei Chang ◽  
Nandita Chaudhary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Physical Discipline ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Children's Perceptions ◽  
Children’S Perceptions ◽  
Children's Adjustment ◽  
Children’S Adjustment ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Maternal Hostility

Using data from 195 dyads of mothers and children (age range = 8—12 years; M = 10.63) in four countries (China, India, the Philippines, and Thailand), this study examined children’s perceptions of maternal hostility as a mediator of the links between physical discipline and harsh verbal discipline and children’s adjustment. Both physical discipline and harsh verbal discipline had direct effects on mothers’ reports of children’s anxiety and aggression; three of these four links were mediated by children’s perceptions of maternal hostility. In contrast, there were no significant direct effects of physical discipline and harsh verbal discipline on children’s reports of their own anxiety and aggression. Instead, both physical discipline and harsh verbal discipline had indirect effects on the outcomes through children’s perceptions of maternal hostility. We identified a significant interaction between perceived normativeness and use of harsh verbal discipline on children’s perception of maternal hostility, but children’s perception of the normativeness of physical discipline did not moderate the relation between physical discipline and perceived maternal hostility. The effects of harsh verbal discipline were more adverse when children perceived that form of discipline as being nonnormative than when children perceived that form of discipline as being normative. Results are largely consistent with a theoretical model positing that the meaning children attach to parents’ discipline strategies is important in understanding associations between discipline and children’s adjustment, and that cultural context is associated with children’s interpretations of their parents’ behavior.

Linking marital conflict and children’s adjustment: The role of young children’s perceptions.

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. Ablow ◽  
Jeffrey R. Measelle ◽  
Philip A. Cowan ◽  
Carolyn P. Cowan
Keyword(s):  
Marital Conflict ◽  
Children's Perceptions ◽  
Children’S Perceptions ◽  
Children's Adjustment ◽  
Children’S Adjustment

Young children’s perceptions of the quality of teacher–child interactions and school engagement in Greek kindergartens

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Papadopoulou ◽  
Athanasios Gregoriadis
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
School Engagement ◽  
Positive Interactions ◽  
Northern Greece ◽  
Children’S Perspectives ◽  
Children's Perceptions ◽  
Children’S Perceptions ◽  
Child Relationship ◽  
Ethnicity Differences

The purpose of this study was to examine young children’s perceptions about the quality of their interactions with their teachers and the possible association of teacher–child relationships with children’s school engagement. Additionally, gender and ethnicity differences were investigated regarding both teachers’ and children’s perceptions. Young Children’s Appraisals of Teacher Support and Teacher-Rated Effortful Engagement were used to evaluate children’s perceptions about their teacher–child relationships and teacher’s assessments about children’s school engagement. In all, 232 preschool children and 39 kindergarten teachers from northern Greece participated in the study. Findings provided interesting information about the profile of teacher–child interactions based on children’s perspectives and about the association between the quality of teacher–child interactions and children’s school engagement. More specifically, findings showed that children mostly describe positive interactions with their teachers and that the quality of teacher–child relationship is associated with children’s school engagement.

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