The structural association between teacher-student relationships and school engagement: Dimensions and informants

• Main Authors: Donghyun Kang, Laura M. Stough, Myeongsun Yoon, Jefferey Liew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Educational Research Open
• Subjects: Teacher-student relationships (TSR); School engagement; Behavioral engagement; Emotional engagement; Cognitive engagement; Informants
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266637402100042X

This study examined the structural associations between teacher-student relationships (TSR) and school engagement in a sample of Korean upper elementary students. Depending on the informants used to report TSR or school engagement, four different structural equation models were explored. Primary results present that TSR plays a different role across the different types of school engagement (i.e., behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement). Initially, it was hypothesized that the association between TSR and school engagement would be stronger when the same informant was used to measure both TSR and school engagement. However, the hypothesis was partially supported by the findings. When students reported both TSR and school engagement, weak or non-significant relations between TSR and school engagement were found.