Journal of School Psychology,Vol. 35, No. 1, pp.

61-79, 1997
Copyright 1997 Societyfor the Study of School Psychology
Pergamon Printed in the USA
0022-4405/97 $17.00 + .00

PII 80022-4405(96)00029-5

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 atti-
tudes, 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 chil-
dren'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 difficul-
ties 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.

61
62 Journal of School Psychology

room peers, however, are not the only consistent figures with whom chil-
dren 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 inves-
tigators have utilized key constructs from literature on parent-child attach-
ment 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 relation-
ship, 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 rela-
tionships with teachers: optimal, deprived, disengaged, confused, and av-
erage. 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 anal-
yses of the STRS have revealed three distinct factors: closeness, depen-
dency, and conflict/anger (Pianta, Steinberg, & Rollins, 1995).
We seek to elaborate current thinking about the teacher-child relation-
ship 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 rela-
tionship 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 o p e n communication with the classroom teacher may foster

greater involvement or e n g a g e m e n t in school. It might also be argued,
based on theories of parent-child attachment, that children who share a
close relationship with their teacher possess a "secure base" from which to
explore the environment (see Bretherton, 1985). In this way, closeness may
help to facilitate children's learning and school performance.
D e p e n d e n c y can be seen as a n o t h e r feature of the teacher-child rela-
tionship. As a construct, d e p e n d e n c y refers to possessive and "clingy" child
behaviors that are indicative of an overreliance on the teacher as a source
of support. Contrasted with closeness, d e p e n d e n c y can be construed as a
relationship quality that interferes with children's school adjustment. Chil-
dren who are overly d e p e n d e n t on the teacher may be tentative in their
explorations of the school environment, including other social relation-
ships. Feelings of loneliness, as well as negative feelings about and attitudes
towards school, may also be more c o m m o n in children who display higher
levels of d e p e n d e n c y on the teacher.
Attachment theorists have also distinguished between the attachment
construct (which has positive developmental implications) and the notion
of d e p e n d e n c y (which has negative connotations; see Bowlby, 1982). In
supportive relationships, it is considered adaptive for closeness to increase
with development and for d e p e n d e n c y to decrease over time. A particular
teacher-child relationship may be characterized as highly close without
also being highly d e p e n d e n t . In addition, it is plausible that some children
might be d e p e n d e n 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-child relationship functions
as a stressor for children in the school environment, and may impair their
successful adjustment to school. Conflictual teacher-child 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 teach-
er-child relationship may foster feelings of anger or anxiety in young
children, and thus cause children to withdraw from the school arena (e.g.,
b e c o m e disengaged or uninvolved) or p r o m o t e feelings of alienation, such
as loneliness, and negative school attitudes. These stressors may also be
related to impaired academic p e r f o r m a n c e or achievement.
Despite the a f o r e m e n t i o n e d efforts to describe the teacher-child rela-
tionship, little effort has been made to understand how the teacher-child
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 e c o m m e n d e d for retention in kindergarten, but who
64 Journal of School Psychology

were actually not retained, had more positive teacher-child 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-child 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 o f the
teacher-child relationship, recognizing that there are o t h e r perspectives
(e.g., child's, observers') that could give us further insight into the nature
o f this relationship. We see the teacher as a valuable source of information
about this relationship. T h e i r perspective provides unique information and
enriches our understanding 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 b e e n characterized in terms o f students' academic perfor-
mance, progress, or achievement. Because o f 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 attempted 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 defined not
only in terms of children's school performance, but also in terms of their
school affect and attitude, and their involvement or e n g a g e m e n t with the
school environment.
It was hypothesized that children who were positively involved with their
teachers would display better adjustment to school than children who had
problematic relationships with their teachers. Specifically, children who
had positive teacher-child relationships (i.e., relationships that were rela-
tively close, nonconflictual, or n o n d e p e n d e n t ) were expected to p e r f o r m
better academically than children with less close, more d e p e n d e n t , or
more conflictual relationships with their teachers. Further, it was hypoth-
esized that children with whom teachers reported having relatively high
levels o f closeness and lower levels of d e p e n d e n c y and conflict would
r e p o r t feeling less lonely in school, and would have more positive school
attitudes than those children involved in more problematic teacher-child
relationships. Finally, children involved in positive relationships with their
teachers were expected to be m o r e positively engaged with the school
environment (e.g., less avoidant, more self-directed, more cooperative)
than children experiencing difficulties in their teacher-child relationships.
In assessing the quality of children's teacher-child relationships, it is
important to consider the context in which these relationships exist. Be-
cause o f the likelihood that there were differences across classrooms in
terms of the types o f 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 fea-
tures of the relationships that were f o r m e d between teachers and individ-
ual 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 elementary 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% O t h e r
ethnicities. All 206 children completed all measures in the study. T h e 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. T h e three communities in which the schools
were located were chosen to represent a variety of demographic charac-
teristics, 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 o f 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). T h e Closeness
subscale is comprised of 11 items that index the warmth and open com-
munication in the teacher-child relationship (e.g., "I share an affection-
ate, warm relationship with this child;" alpha = .90). T h e D e p e n d e n c y
subscale is a reliable four-item index of the degree to which the child is
66 Journal of School Psychology

overly d e p e n d e n t on the teacher (e.g., "This child is overly d e p e n d e n t on

me;" alpha = .69). Finally, the Conflict subscale is comprised of 12 items
that indicate friction in the teacher-child relationship (e.g., "This child
and I always seem to be struggling with each other;" alpha = .93). Two types
of variables were c o m p u t e d from this measure: an individual teacher-child
relationship score and a classroom relational environment score. First, for
each child, an average score was c o m p u t e d for each subscale (by summing
the items and dividing by the n u m b e r 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 c o m p u t e d for each subscale by summing the children's mean scores
and dividing by the n u m b e r 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; H a r c o u r t Brace Jovanovich, 1986). A Visual Skill stanine score was
derived from two subtests: Letter 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 a m o n g
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
understanding of basic quantitative concepts that are important for various
types of conceptual learning). This instrument 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." T h e r e are
eight filler items (e.g., "Do you like playing games?") that are included in
o r d e r to decrease the salience o f the questions about loneliness. The other
19 items address themes o f 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 r e s p o n d e d to these items by saying either
"yes," " n o , " or "sometimes." Responses were coded 3, 1, and 2, respec-
 Birch and Ladd 67

tively. T h e 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
h o m e from school?"). Children responded to these question by saying
either "yes," " n o , " or "sometimes." Responses were coded as 3, 1, and 2,
respectively. Both subscales showed evidence of adequate internal reliabil-
ity (Cronbach's alpha = .87 for school liking; alpha = .76 for school
avoidance).

Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment. Teachers rated various as-

pects 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 perception of how much the child likes school
(alpha = .89). T h e School Avoidance subscale consists of five items that
address the teacher's perceptions of the child's efforts to avoid the class-
room environment (alpha = .74). T h e Cooperative Participation subscale is
an eight-item indicator of the degree to which children accept the teach-
er'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 i n d e p e n d e n t or self-directed
behavior in the classroom (alpha = .91). For each child, a mean subscale
score was c o m p u t e d by summing the child's score on each item in the
subscale and dividing by the n u m b e r of items comprising the subscale. See
Table 1 for subscale and sample items.

PROCEDURE
Teachers completed the STRS and the TRSSA in N o v e m b e r - D e c e m b e r 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 o r d e r to avoid subject fatigue. Interviewers introduced
themselves to the children, assured them of the confidentiality of their
68 Journal of School Psychology

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 c o n d u c t e d 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 completing each of the two sessions, children were thanked for
their participation and given several colorful stickers on a sticker page to
take h o m e with them.

RESULTS
Descriptive Analysis of the Teacher-Child Relationship
Inspection of means for all children on the various aspects o f the t e a c h e r -
child relationship (as assessed via the STRS) revealed that, overall, children
had relatively close, nonconflictual, and nondependent relationships with
their teachers. The means for the three dimensions w e r e as f o l l o w s : C l o s e -
n e s s ( M = 3.73, SD = . 7 3 ) , D e p e n d e n c y ( M = 1.96, SD = . 8 3 ) , a n d C o n f l i c t
(M = 1.96, SD = .96).
A MANOVA was p e r f o r m e d to examine possible g e n d e r differences in
the quality of children's teacher-child relationships. Teachers r e p o r t e d
having significantly more closeness in their relationships with girls (F(1,
204) = 7.43, p < .01), and significantly m o r e 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. Correlations a m o n g predictor variables within a

category (e.g., classroom relational environment, teacher-child relation-
ship) were examined. T h e correlations between the m e a n levels of conflict
in the classroom a n d the m e a n levels of closeness and d e p e n d e n c y were
- . 7 3 and .69 (p < .001), respectively; however, because no two variables
had m o r e than 54% o f their variance in c o m m o n , all were retained in
subsequent analyses. In addition, all correlations between the m e a s u r e d
dimensions of the teacher-child relationship were less than - . 5 0 . Finally,
correlations were e x a m i n e d between the school adjustment measures
within each d o m a i n (i.e., academic p e r f o r m a n c e , school affect and atti-
tude, and school e n g a g e m e n t ) . All correlations were less than .59, a n d thus
were retained for f u r t h e r analyses.
To d e t e r m i n e the i m p o r t a n c e of the teacher-child relationship to chil-
d r e n ' s early school adjustment, a series of hierarchical regression analyses
was p e r f o r m e d , in which each school adjustment measure was regressed
separately on g e n d e r a n d the teacher-child relationship variables, as de-
scribed below. For the initial set of analyses, gender, classroom relational
e n v i r o n m e n t variables, and individual teacher-child relationship variables
were e n t e r e d as three separate blocks in o r d e r to first d e t e r m i n e whether
the set of variables was significandy related to the school adjustment
outcomes u n d e r consideration. If the block of variables m a d e a significant
contribution, t h e n further analyses were conducted to d e t e r m i n e the
portion of variance attributable to specific variables in each block, as well
as the unique contribution m a d e by each variable (see C o h e n & Cohen,
1983).
Thus, children's g e n d e r was entered first to control for the effects of this
variable on subsequent predictors. Next, the m e a n levels of closeness,
dependency, a n d conflict present in the classroom were e n t e r e d together
in o r d e r to take into account differences across classrooms. Finally, indi-
vidual scores on the three dimensions of the teacher-child relationship
were entered together to d e t e r m i n e the i m p o r t a n c e of children's t e a c h e r -
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 a p p r o a c h e d significance.
G e n d e r a c c o u n t e d for a significant portion of the variance in teachers'
ratings of children's school liking, self-directedness, and cooperative par-
ticipation. Further, the relational e n v i r o n m e n t of the classroom also con-
tributed significantly to these variables, in addition to teachers' ratings of
children's school avoidance. Finally, the block of variables containing
children's individual scores on the three teacher-child relationship dimen-
70 Journal of School Psychology

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 R2
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 i o n s y i e l d e d s i g n i f i c a n t r e s u 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 n g s o f s c h o o l a v o i d a n c e ( w h e r e it a p p r o a c h e d s i g n i f i c a n c e ) .

Academic readiness/performance. To determine which of the teacher-

c h i l d r e l a t i o n s h i p v a r i a b l e 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 a n a l y s e s was c o n d u c t e d in
which variables within a block were entered in varying order into the
equation. After controlling for gender and the relational environment,
both teacher-child Closeness and Dependency accounted for a significant
p o r t i o n o f t h e v a r i a n c e in M R T V i s u a l Skill a n d M R T L a n g u a g e Skill.
I n t e r m s o f V i s u a 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
which Dependency accounted for an additional 7% of the variance. In
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 i n c r e m e n t in R2 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 D e p e n d e n c y uniquely contributed 4%
of the variance. In terms o f Language Skill, D e p e n d e n c y accounted for 3%
of the variance, after which Closeness contributed an additional 5%.
D e p e n d e n c y made a unique contribution 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-child 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 d e p e n d e n t also
scored higher on these indices of academic p e r f o r m a n c e than did children
exhibiting more D e p e n d e n c y on their teachers.

School affect and attitude. Analyses p e r f o r m e d on measures of children's

school affect revealed that, after entering g e n d e r and the relational, envi-
r o n m e n t variables into the regression equation, teacher-rated Dependency
accounted for a significant portion (3%) of the variance (2% uniquely) in
children's reports of loneliness in school (after which neither Closeness
n o r Conflict made significant contributions). Children that were rated as
more d e p e n d e n t by their teachers reported 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, g e n d e r significandy accounted for 3% of the variance; teachers
reported that girls liked school more than did boys. After controlling for
gender, the m e a n level of teacher-reported Conflict present in the class-
room was significantly related to teacher-rated school liking, as was the
m e a n level of D e p e n d e n c y in the classroom, each accounting for 3% of the
variance. When entered on the last step of the block of variables, Conflict
uniquely contributed 4% of the variance, and Dependency uniquely ac-
counted for 3% of the variance in this index of children's school attitude.
Children in classrooms with higher mean levels of teacher-child 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
D e p e n d e n c y 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 controlling for g e n d e r and the relational environment, Closeness
was significantly related to teachers' reports of children's school liking,
accounting for 17% o f the variance. Both Dependency and Conflict signif-
icantly accounted for an additional 4% of the variance in school liking,
when entered second in this block of variables, and contributed a signifi-
cant 2% of the variance when entered last in the block. Further, Closeness
72 Journal of School Psychology

uniquely accounted for 10% of the variance in school liking, and both
D e p e n d e n c y and Conflict uniquely contributed 2% to the variance. Chil-
dren with more teacher-reported Closeness in their teacher-child relation-
ships liked school more than did children with less close relationships with
their teachers. In addition, children with more conflictual or d e p e n d e n t
teacher--child relationships liked school less than did children with less
teacher-child Conflict or Dependency.

School involvement and engagement. G e n d e r was marginally related to

children's reports o f school avoidance (accounting for 2% of the variance,
p = .06), with boys reporting more school avoidance desires than girls. After
controlling for g e n d e r and the relational environment, D e p e n d e n c y was
significantly related to children's expressed desire to avoid the school
environment, accounting for 4% of the variance (3% uniquely), after
which neither Closeness n o r Conflict made significant contributions. Chil-
dren with m o r e teacher-rated D e p e n d e n c y r e p o r t e d more school avoid-
ance than did children exhibiting less Dependency. Finally, a G e n d e r
D e p e n d e n c y interaction accounted for a significant 2% of the variance in
school avoidance (none of which was unique).
Results from analyses of teachers' reports of children's school avoidance
indicate that a combination of the relational environment variables con-
tributed significantly to the variance; however, n o n e o f the variables were
strong predictors when e n t e r e d first in the block. In addition, we were
unable to isolate any unique contributions made by a single variable in the
block. After controlling for these variables, D e p e n d e n c y in the individual
teacher-child relationship contributed 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 D e p e n d e n c y in their teacher-child relationships were rated as
m o r e school avoidant than were children with less conflictual or depen-
dent relationships with their teachers.
G e n d e r accounted for a significant 3% of the variance in teacher's
reports of children's self-directedness. In addition, the m e a n level o f
Conflict present in the classroom contributed significantly to teacher-rated
self-directedness, accounting for 6% of the variance (2% uniquely). Chil-
d r e n in classrooms with higher mean levels of teacher-child Conflict were
less serf-directed (according to teachers) than were children in less con-
flictual relational environments. Further, individual teacher-child Depen-
dency accounted for a significant 22% of the variance in self-directedness,
after which Closeness contributed an additional 25%, and Conflict added
2%. Finally, teacher-child Dependency, Closeness, and Conflict all made
significant unique contributions t o / ~ , accounting for 24%, 14%, and 2%
o f the variance, respectively. Higher teacher-child 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.
G e n d e r played a role in terms o f 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 m e a n level of Dependency contributed an addi-
tional 3%. Both Conflict and Dependency made unique contributions to
teacher-rated cooperative participation, contributing 5% and 4%, respec-
tively. Children in relational environments characterized by higher teach-
er-child Conflict or D e p e n d e n c y were seen as less cooperative than were
children in less conflictual or less d e p e n d e n t relational environments.
Further, individual teacher-child conflict accounted for a significant 52%
of the variance (36% unique) in teacher-rated cooperative participation,
after which neither Closeness n o r Dependency made further significant
contributions. Children with more teacher-rated Conflict in their t e a c h e r -
child relationships were viewed as lower in cooperative participation than
were children who had less conflictual relationships with their teachers.
Finally, a significant G e n d e r X D e p e n d e n c y 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 per-
spective is a useful one in terms o f investigating associations between the
quality of children's teacher-child relationships and their adjustment in
school contexts. T h e r e is evidence to suggest that the three distinct teach-
er-child relationship features are differentially associated with various
school adjustment o u t c o m e 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 further elaborate and
explicate these associations.
As with past research on children's p e e r relationships, this perspective
has yielded a more powerful understanding of the nature of teacher-child
relationships. In the p e e r domain, a n u m b e r of studies have d o c u m e n t e d
associations between children's relationships with their peers and their
subsequent adjustment to school. While some studies have shown that
merely having a friend in the school environment yields positive adjust-
m e n t outcomes for children (e.g., Ladd, 1990), other investigations have
74 Journal of School Psychology

emphasized that qualitative features of children's friendships are also

important 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) f o u n d that friendship
participation (i.e., p r e s e n c e / a b s e n c e 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 involve-
ment). 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 aca-
demic 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 d e p e n d e n t
may be attempting 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 opportunities for social interac-
tion and increase the likelihood of social isolation and accompanying
feelings of loneliness. T h e negative school attitudes (e.g., lower school
liking) that teachers associate with highly d e p e n d e n t children may also be
an a n t e c e d e n t or a consequence of overreliance on the teacher. Children
who dislike school (e.g., because of academic difficulties or p o o r 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
d e p e n d e n 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
i n d e p e n d e n t classmates.
Consistent with the above propositions, children seen as relatively de-
p e n d e n t by their teachers may want to avoid becoming engaged with other
aspects of the school environment (e.g., p e e r interaction), because they are
less mature or less ready to m e e t the social demands of school. Perhaps
children who are expressing the desire to leave the classroom a n d / o r stay
at h o m e (i.e., avoid school) turn to the teacher as a source of comfort or
security. In this way, the teacher may be serving as a temporary substitute
for the child's primary caregiver in the novel environment of the kinder-
garten 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-child relationship also e m e r g e d 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 environment by creating an atmo-
sphere that is aversive, rather 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 report 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 m u c h a particular child likes the school
environment (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-child 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 o f 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 envi-
r o n m e n t (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-child relationship. In a similar manner, teachers' per-
ceptions 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-child
relationship may p r o m o t e less self-directed behavior and less cooperative
participation on the part of the child.
Finally, the degree of closeness present in the teacher-child relationship
also appears to be an important variable to consider when examining
children's early school adjustment, given that it e m e r g e d as a significant
correlate of children's academic performance, school attitude, and en-
gagement in the school environment. Children who share a close relation-
ship with their classroom teacher may feel better able to utilize the teacher
as a source of support in the school environment, and this may result in
their being better able to benefit 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
76 Journal of School Psychology

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 o f 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 p r o m o t e positive attitudes towards school.
Finally, closeness in the teacher-child relationship affords children the
opportunity 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-child relationship may therefore en-
able children to b e c o m e 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 indepen-
d e n t and responsible manner.
T h e present study also provides some preliminary evidence that the
general quality of the relational environment o f the classroom may be a
relevant variable for future investigation. T h e overall level of d e p e n d e n c y
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 perception 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 o f d e p e n d e n c y or feelings of conflict between the teacher and
the children in the classroom in general. The finding that children in
classrooms characterized by high D e p e n d e n c y are reported to like school
more (than children in less d e p e n d e n t classrooms) is not consistent with
our hypotheses; however, it acts to stimulate further conceptualization of
the relational environment constructs. Future studies designed specifically
to address the effects o f the classroom environment on children's adjust-
m e n t to school may help to tease apart these relationships.
In addition to these dimensions of the teacher-child relationship and
the relational environment of the classroom, the present study also pro-
vided evidence that certain child characteristics (i.e., gender) play an
important role in determining children's early school adjustment. Teach-
ers perceived girls as having m o r e positive school attitudes, and also as
being more positively involved (i.e., self-directed and cooperatively partic-
ipatory) in the school environment than boys. These findings are consis-
tent 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, al-
though 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 illumi-
nate 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 connec-
tion 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
78 Journal of School Psychology

relationships with their students are associated with children's perfor-

mance on academic tasks, children's feelings of loneliness and school
avoidance desires, and teachers' reports of various school adjustment
o u t c o m e indices. I m p o r t a n t decisions often made by children's classroom
teachers, including grade retention decisions, are undoubtedly based on
indicators such as these. Thus, the quality of children's teacher-child
relationships may have far-reaching significance in terms of the various
educational trajectories that children follow t h r o u g h o u t their schooling
experience.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Preparation o f 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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