Maldonado, Carolina
(2009)
TEACHER-CHILD RELATIONSHIP QUALITY AND CHILDREN'S BEHAVIORAL AND ACADEMIC TRAJECTORIES ACROSS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
Despite recent growth in research highlighting the potential of teacher-child relationships to promote children's development, important questions remain about the stability and relevance of relationships between teachers and children beyond the early school years. By incorporating results from two related, longitudinal studies using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care (NICHD SECC, 1993), this investigation answer nuanced questions about the developmental pattern of teacher-child relationships and their association with children's development across elementary school. The first study identifies distinctive developmental trajectories of teacher-child relationship quality from kindergarten through 5th grade, using a semiparametric group-based approach (Nagin, 2005). In addition, it tests whether child and family characteristics are linked to particular relationship trajectory groups. The second study examines longitudinal connections between teacher-child relationships and children's development throughout elementary school. Using two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM, Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002), this study examines within- and between-child associations between teacher-child relationship quality and academic achievement and behavior problems from kindergarten through 5th grade. Additionally, it considers whether relationships with teachers matter more for the developing competence of disadvantaged children. Results from the first study demonstrate that four distinct trajectories of teacher-child relationship quality can be identified from kindergarten through 5th grade. Specifically, one large group of children showed a stable trajectory of high relationship quality, two groups showed qualitatively different trajectories of decreasing quality, and a fourth group showed a trajectory of increased quality. Both characteristics and competencies of the child and his or her family were found to be useful predictors of membership in each trajectory group. Results of the second study indicate that relationship quality teachers report with students is associated with trajectories of achievement and behavior problems from kindergarten through 5th grade for all children, regardless of their socioeconomic risk status. Taken together, these findings support the idea that different quality teacher-child relationships constitute an important context for the development of children's competence in school.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
| Title | Member | Email Address | Pitt Username | ORCID |
|---|
| Committee CoChair | Votruba-al, Elizabeth | | | | | Committee CoChair | Vondra, Joan I | | | | | Committee Member | Bachman, Heather J | | | | | Committee Member | Campbell, Susan B | | | |
|
| Date: |
17 June 2009 |
| Date Type: |
Completion |
| Defense Date: |
13 April 2009 |
| Approval Date: |
17 June 2009 |
| Submission Date: |
23 April 2009 |
| Access Restriction: |
5 year -- Restrict access to University of Pittsburgh for a period of 5 years. |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Education > Psychology in Education |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
between-child; HLM; group-based modeling; within-child |
| Other ID: |
http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04232009-232918/, etd-04232009-232918 |
| Date Deposited: |
10 Nov 2011 19:41 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 13:42 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/7574 |
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