Files
Abstract
To gain a comprehensive understanding of child development, it is crucial to examine simultaneously children's relationships and developmental outcomes in multiple contexts. The current cross-sectional study examined how teacher-student and mother-child relationships relate to social skills and behavior problems across both home and school environments, and also explored the interactions between teacher-student relationships and family socioeconomic status (SES). Data were analyzed from 1053 fifth-grade students who participated in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Results indicated that positive teacher-student relationships were associated with better social skills and fewer behavior problems across both home and school contexts, whereas mother-child relationships did not predict social behaviors in the school context. Moreover, the positive effects of teacher-student relationships were more pronounced among students from high-SES backgrounds than those from low-SES backgrounds.