Citation

Hasty LM, Quintero M, Li T, Song S, Wang Z. J. Sch. Psychol. 2023; 100: e101242.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Society for the Study of School Psychology, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsp.2023.101242

PMID

37689439

Abstract

Personal characteristics and classroom environment features both play important roles in predicting students' levels of classroom engagement. The present study took a person-environment transaction perspective to investigate how factors at both the personal (i.e., student externalizing behaviors) and relational (i.e., teacher-student relationships) levels jointly predict the development of classroom engagement behaviors in a sample of 784 elementary school students. Using a longitudinal cross-lagged model spanning across Grade 3 to Grade 5, we found a negative reciprocal association between teacher-student relationships and externalizing behaviors, such that a more positive teacher-student relationship predicted fewer externalizing behaviors in the subsequent academic year, and fewer externalizing behaviors predicted a more positive teacher-student relationship 1 year later. In addition, externalizing behaviors directly negatively predicted subsequent classroom engagement, whereas teacher-student relationships indirectly predicted subsequent classroom engagement by way of externalizing behaviors. Overall, students with more externalizing behaviors experienced more conflicts with and received less support from their teachers, which predicted the development of more externalizing behaviors and lower subsequent classroom engagement.

Language: en

Keywords

Longitudinal; Classroom engagement; Elementary school; Externalizing behaviors; Person-environment transaction perspective; Teacher-student relationships