The role of child gender and ethnicity in teacher-child relationship quality and children's behavioral adjustment in preschool

Allison R. Ewing, Angela R. Taylor

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

197 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study examined the role of child gender, child ethnicity, and teacher-child ethnic match in moderating the association between teacher-child relationship quality and children's classroom behavioral adjustment. The study was conducted using data from an ethnically diverse sample of 301 Head Start children and their teachers. Teacher-child conflict was found to be a stronger predictor of hostile-aggressive behavior for boys than girls. In contrast, teacher-child closeness was found to be more predictive of school competence for girls than boys. Similar patterns of association were found between teacher-child relationship quality and school behavioral adjustment for Non-Hispanic, white children and those of Mexican-origin. Results also revealed that teacher-child ethnic match did not moderate the association between teacher-child relationship quality and child behavioral adjustment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)92-105
Number of pages14
JournalEarly Childhood Research Quarterly
Volume24
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2009

Keywords

  • Early school adjustment
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Head Start
  • Preschool
  • Teacher-child relationship

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science

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