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Teacher-Student Relationships, Social and Emotional Skills, and

Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

Maria Poulou1

1) University of Patras

th
Date of publication: February 24 , 2015
Edition period: February 2015 - June 2015

To cite this article: Poulou, M. (2015). Teacher-Student Relationships, Social

and Emotional Skills, and Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties.
International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1), 84-108. doi:
10.4471/ijep.2015.04

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IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 4 No. 1
February 2015 pp. 84-108

Teacher-Student Relationships,
Social and Emotional Skills, and
Emotional and Behavioural
Difficulties
Maria Poulou
University of Patras

Abstract
In this study, the role of teacher-student relationships and students’ social and
emotional skills as potential predictors of students’ emotional and behavioural
difficulties was investigated by tapping into 962 primary school students’
perceptions via questionnaires. While significant correlations were found linking
teachers’ interpersonal behaviour and students’ social and emotional skills to
emotional and behavioural difficulties, data analysis indicated that students’ social
and emotional skills were found to be more of a determinant of their behaviour than
teachers’ interpersonal behaviour. Results are interpreted in relation to systems
perspective and Social and Emotional Learning theory, and practical implications of
the findings are discussed.

Keywords: teacher-student relationships, social and emotional skills, behavioural

difficulties, primary school

2015 Hipatia Press

ISSN: 2014-3591
DOI: 10.4471/ijep.2015.04
IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 4 No. 1
February 2015 pp. 84-108

Relaciones Profesorado-
Alumnado, Habilidades Sociales
y Emocionales, y Dificultades
Emocionales y
Comportamentales
Maria Poulou
University of Patras

Resumen
En este estudio, se investiga el papel de las relaciones profesor-alumno y las habilidades
sociales y emocionales de los estudiantes como posibles predictores de las dificultades
emocionales y conductuales de los estudiantes, a través del uso de cuestionarios para explorar
las percepciones de 962 estudiantes de la primaria. Si bien se encontraron correlaciones
significativas vincular el comportamiento interpersonal del profesorado y las habilidades
sociales y emocionales del alumnado, el análisis de los datos indicó que las habilidades
sociales y emocionales del alumnado resultaron ser determinadas en mayor medida por el
comportamiento del profesorado que por el comportamiento interpersonal del profesorado.
Los resultados se interpretan en relación con perspectiva de sistemas y la Teoría del
Aprendizaje Social y Emocional , y se discuten las implicaciones prácticas de los resultados.

Palabras clave: relaciones profesorado-alumnado, hablididades sociales y

emocionales, dificultades comportamentales, educación primaria.

2015 Hipatia Press

ISSN: 2014-3591
DOI: 10.4471/ijep.2015.04
86 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

hildren’s emotional and behavioural difficulties are the result of

C multiple risk factors working in concert with one another. Social,

environmental and biological factors are considered to mutually
influence each other to form a system of “correlated constraints” in which
difficulties in one domain maintain difficulties in another (Sutherland &
Oswald, 2005). The school environment consists of such a system, in which
behaviour patterns are products of a dynamic relation between the
individuals and their environment. In this context, not only are the students
shaped by their environment, but they also have an effect on that
environment. At this point, a question arises: what aspects related to
classroom context, teachers or students themselves are likely to be most
important in predicting school behaviour?
Existing research has implicated the role of both classroom and teacher
factors as being related to students’ behaviour. In particular, such research
points to the important role of relationships with teachers and children as
strong predictors of a child’s behaviour (Wubbels, 2005; Wubbels &
Brekelmans, 2005). Another trend of research underlines the implementation
of social skills programmes for students with emotional and behavioural
difficulties or to whole student populations (Cooper & Jacobs, 2011),
denoting that the lack of appropriate social or emotional skills is also a
strong predictor of a child’s behaviour. Finally, researchers also agree that
disclosure of the underlying factors of a student’s adjustment difficulties is
important to diminishing social and behavioural difficulties, and that this
information should emanate from the student’s own self-perceptions (Ryan
& Shim, 2008).
Teachers’ interpersonal behaviour (Wubbels, Brekelman den Brok, &
van Tartwijk, 2006) has received a generous amount of attention in research,
particularly in secondary students’ achievement outcomes. Also, there is
considerable evidence for the implementation of Social and Emotional
Learning theory toward students’ behaviour difficulties (Ogden 2001;
Pakahslati et al., 2002). However, far less attention has been paid to the
effect that both student-teacher relationships and students’ social and
emotional skills have on their emotional and behavioural difficulties in the
classroom. Furthermore, educational researchers need to explore the
 IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 87

mechanisms underlying the complex relationships that may impact the

behaviour of students.
The current study supplements and furthers the existing body of research
by investigating the correlations between teachers’ interpersonal behaviour
and students’ social and emotional skills, as well as the degree of influence
they have on students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties. A model for
interpreting these difficulties is also devised according to primary students’
own perceptions. First, we will discuss some studies that are relevant in this
respect; then, we will present the approach taken in the current study.

Teacher-Student Relationships and Students’ Emotional and

Behavioural Difficulties

There is a growing body of evidence claiming that supportive teacher-

student relationships play an important role in a healthy classroom
environment (Davis, 2001), as well as that they encourage students’
connections to school and the production of desired outcomes for students,
both socially and academically (den Brok et al., 2010; Jennings &
Greenberg, 2009).
The influence of the affective quality of teacher-student relationships on
students’ perceptions may be especially true for children with behavioural
problems (Henricsson & Rydell, 2004; Hughes et al., 2001). For instance,
adjustment problems in schools have been linked to the failure of classroom
environments to meet students’ needs for a feeling of belonging to the
classroom (Martin & Dowson, 2009). Inadequate relations with a teacher
may lead to an aversion towards school and feelings of disengagement.
When students feel alienated from school, they are at greater risk of
developing antisocial behaviours, delinquency and academic failure (U.S.
Department of Education, 1998). Dutch researchers (Wubbels, Creton &
Holvast, 1988) investigated teacher behaviour in classrooms from a
communication systems perspective. Within the communication systems
perspective, it is assumed that the behaviours of the participants mutually
influence each other. Wubbels et al. (1988) interpret students’ difficulties as
the result of an interaction between teachers and students. They focused on
an interpersonal perspective on teaching, which means that teacher
88 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

behaviour is described and measured in terms of the teacher-student

relationship, according to students’ perceptions. Following this conceptual
framework, research has evolved to outline the relationships between
teachers’ interpersonal behaviour and the cognitive and affective outcomes
of primarily secondary students (den Brok et al., 2004; Wubbels &
Brekelmans, 2005; Wubbels, 2005). Surprisingly, research employing the
systems perspective to interpret primary students’ emotional and behavioural
difficulties is rather limited. Unfortunately, little is known about how the
teacher-student relationships may influence students’ behavioural
adjustments (Birch & Ladd, 1998). The communication systems perspective
is strong in depicting actual classrooms and students’ perceptions, but it is
not well developed in its theoretical explanations of the underlying processes
linking teacher-student relationships and students’ emotional and
behavioural difficulties. For example, the literature is ambiguous as to which
teacher’s dimensions are most critical for particular student emotional or
behavioural difficulties, or what processes mediate the relations of different
aspects of teacher behaviour and adaptive students’ behaviour. The current
study attempted to add to the literature by investigating teacher-student
relationships with regard to primary students, as a potential contributor to
students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties in class. It attempted to
delineate the paths in which teacher-student relationships affect students’
behaviour and the benefits from adopting a relational perspective in the
study of emotional and behavioural difficulties. It was hypothesised that
positive and friendly relationships between the teacher and students would
be associated with a decrease in antisocial and emotional difficulties.

Students’ Social and Emotional Skills and Emotional and Behavioural

Difficulties

The systems approach attempts to understand the functioning of a

communicative system rather than examine the individual characteristics of
the participants. Within this framework, the problems between teacher and
students are not deduced from the characteristics of individual students or
teachers, but rather from the typology of the classroom system formed by
teachers and students (Wubbels et al., 1988). McLaughlin (2008) denoted
 IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 89

the dangers in solely adopting an individualistic programmatic approach and

suggested a wider emphasis on relationships, pedagogy and community
building in the development of emotional well-being in young people. Based
on Goleman’s (1995; 1998) research on emotional intelligence she
contended that children learn early on, from the reactions of adults, how to
manage their feelings and respond to and internalise these reactions, and
concluded that children’s emotional skills such as the capacity to regulate
emotions could be learned through relationships with significant others. The
implications for pedagogy and teacher-student relationships are profound,
and have been informed by the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
movement. The SEL movement supports the axiom that the cultivation of
social and emotional skills to children is related to educational goals and is
considered crucial for the healthy psychological adjustment of children and
adolescents (Ciarrochi & Scott, 2006; Elias, 1997; Hastings et al., 2000;
Pakaslahti et al., 2002).
The SEL movement’s main contribution to educational settings is with
regard to children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Ogden (2001)
asserted that socially competent students are less engaged in problematic
behaviours, are better at making friendships and have more effective ways of
dealing with authority, conflict resolution and problem solving than their
more disruptive peers. Adolescents with poor social and emotional skills are
more likely to display emotional and behavioural difficulties (Poulou, 2009),
feel withdrawn and excluded, and consequently are more likely to behave in
non-conventional ways (Petrides et al., 2004). The current study investigated
the role of social and emotional skills in determining students’ emotional
and behavioural difficulties. However, skills training interventions by
themselves do not improve children’s peer status or their teacher ratings
regarding their behaviour. Rather, interventions, which focus directly on the
affective quality of teacher-student relationships, could be a helpful
alternative to skills-training approaches (Hughes et al., 2001). Based on
these assumptions, the current study examined the independent contribution
of teacher-student relationships and students’ social and emotional skills to
students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties.
90 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

The Present Study

The current study attempts to identify the effect of teacher-student

relationships and students’ social and emotional skills to students’ emotional
and behavioural difficulties, and devise a heuristic model with the potential
predictors of emotional and behavioural problems in classrooms. In line with
social-cognitive theories, the study proposes that students’ perceptions of the
classroom environment effect their adaptive behaviour. In fact, it is the
functional significance or meaning of the environment to the individual,
rather than the environment per se, that is the most important aspect of
concern for the investigation of adjustment in schools (Ryan & Grolnick,
1986). Therefore, in our study, the major variable of interest was individual
students’ perceptions of the degree to which teacher-student relationships
and students’ skills afforded emotional and behavioural difficulties. And
although students at the end of primary education are able to provide stable,
reliable and valid ratings of teacher behaviour (den Brok et al., 2004), their
own perceptions of their experiences and relationships with teachers have
been explored in a limited way (Fisher, Waldrip & den Brok, 2005; Warden
et al., 2003).
Aims of the study: Following the assertions above, the aim of this study
was to propose a heuristic model that establishes primary students’ social
and emotional skills, along with teacher-student relationships, as an
organisational framework that can be examined in relation to students’
emotional and behavioural difficulties (Figure 1). This generates the
question: which teacher-student interpersonal behaviours or students’ social
and emotional skills relate to students’ emotional and behavioural
difficulties?
Hypotheses of the study: We hypothesized that teacher-student
relationships and students’ social and emotional skills influence students’
emotional and behavioural difficulties. Based on prior research, we expected
that students’ with lower scores on emotional and behavioural difficulties
would report higher scores on teacher’ leadership and helping/friendly
behaviour and appropriate social and emotional skills, than their peers with
higher scores on emotional and behavioural difficulties. Compared with
prior studies, we expected that the contribution of both teachers’
interpersonal behaviour and students’ social and emotional skills would
 IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 91

provide a fuller understanding of the mechanisms entailed in the formation

of students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties at classrooms.

Model of Interpersonal
Teacher Behaviour

 leadership
 helping/friendly
Teacher-student  understanding
relationships  giving students
freedom Emotional and
 uncertain behavioural
difficulties
 dissatisfied
 admonishing  Emotional
 strict symptoms
 Conduct
problems
 Hyperactivity
 Peer problems

Social and
emotional skills Appropriate social skills
 Inappropriate social skills

Figure 1. Hypothesized model exploring the relationships between teacher-student

relationships and social and emotional skills with emotional and behavioural
difficulties.
92 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

Method

Participants

A total of 962 participants, of which 470 (48.9%) were males and 492
(51.1%) were females, from 25 state elementary schools of central, south
and northern Greece voluntarily participated in the study. Of these, 401
(41.9%) students attended the fifth grade and 561 (58.1%) the sixth (final)
grade of elementary school. The students were Caucasian, had Greek
nationality and ranged from 11-12 years old.

Measurements
Questionnaire on Teacher interaction (QTI).

Students’ perceptions about teacher-student relationships were estimated

using the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI). The QTI was
originally developed in the Netherlands. Adapting the Leary’s (1957) model
of interpersonal behaviour model to the context of education, Wubbels et al.
(1987) devised the Model of Interpersonal Teacher Behaviour. This model
has two central factors, namely ‘Influence’ (that is, who is controlling the
communication, with teacher Dominance on the one end and teacher
Submission on the other) and ‘Proximity’ (that is, how much cooperation
there is between the people who are communicating, with teacher
Opposition on the one end and teacher Cooperation on the other). The two
dimensions are divided into eight dimensions of teachers’ behaviour:
leadership, DC (e.g., S/he is a good leader), helping/friendly behaviour, CD
(e.g., S/he is someone we can depend on), understanding behaviour, CS
(e.g., If we have something to say s/he will listen), giving students freedom,
SC (e.g., S/he gives us a lot of free time in class), uncertain, SO (e.g., S/he
seems uncertain), dissatisfied, OS (e.g., S/he is suspicious), admonishing,
OD (e.g., S/he gets angry) and strict behaviour, DO (e.g., S/he is strict).
These eight categories of behaviour are distributed on a circular frame with
equal distances to each other, and equal distances to the centre of the circle.
The preconditions above place the Model of Interpersonal Teacher
Behaviour in the category of the ideal circumplex models (Figure 2).
 IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 93

Figure 2. The Model for Interpersonal Teacher Behaviour

The 64-item QTI American version was constructed in 1988 and has been
translated into more than 15 languages. Cross-cultural studies empirically
validated the QTI instrument (den Brok et al., 2004; Fisher et al., 2005;
Fraser & Walberg, 2005; Lapointe, Legault, & Batiste, 2005). Kyriakides
(2005) developed the Greek version of the QTI based on the American
version. The inventory consists of 63 items, which are answered on a 5-point
Likert scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The examination of the
reliability and validity of the Greek version of the QTI was investigated by
subjecting the scale scores to a multilevel factor analysis (Kyriakides, 2005).
In the current study, prior to the main analysis, the internal consistency of
the eight QTI subscales was examined. Findings showed that alpha values
94 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

ranged from .51 to .80 (Table 1). Information validity of the instrument is
analytically described elsewhere (Poulou, in press).

The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY)

Students’ self-reports on the possession of social and emotional skills were

examined with the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters
(MESSY), developed by Matson et al. (1983). In the present study, two
subscales of the MESSY were used: ‘Appropriate Social Skills’, consisted of
23 items (e.g., I look at people when I talk to them) and ‘Inappropriate
Assertiveness’, consisted of 16 items (e.g., I threaten people or act like a
bully). Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (not
all corresponding) to 5 (corresponding perfectly). The self-report version of
MESSY can be completed by children and teenagers aged 4-18 years of age.
A number of studies empirically validated the MESSY instrument and
extended its applicability as a method of assessing childhood problems
(Chou, 1997; Matson et al., 1985; Teodoro et al., 2005). The English version
of the MESSY scale has been translated into Greek by the author. Effort was
made to ensure that the original meaning of each item was retained in the
Greek translation. In order to examine its translation validity, linguistic
parallelism was checked by independent back-translation. The reliability
coefficients for appropriate social skills (M= 3.97, SD= 0.57), and
inappropriate assertiveness subscales (M= 1.83, SD= 0.68) were .83 and .86
respectively (Table 1). Information validity of the instrument is analytically
described elsewhere (Poulou, in press).
 IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 95

Table 1
Correlation coefficients for the measures

QTI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1. leadership 1.00
2. helping .72** 1.00
3. understanding .71** .76** 1.00
4. student freedom .35** .42** .34** 1.00
5. uncertain -.46** -.47** -.48** -.03 1.00
6. dissatisfied -.27** -.35** -.29** -.12** 1.00
7. admonishing -.45** -.56** -.53** -.19** .64** .53** 1.00
8. strict -.18** -.31** -.22** -.24** .23** .38** .37** 1.00
MESSY
9. appropriate social .34** .32** .35** .16** -.22** -.13** -.193** -.09* 1.00
skills
10. inappropriate -.25** -.23** -.30** -.04 .36** .28** .380** .16** -.45 1.00
assertiveness
SDQ
11. emotional -.20** -.15** -.18** .00 .19** .18** .216** .08* -0.07* 0.24** 1.00
12. conduct -.25** -.22** -.27** .-04 .35** .30** .372** .19** -0.21** 0.58** .40** 1.00
13. hyperactivity -.20** -.20** -.22** .-09** .28** .25** .272** .18** -0.29** 0.48** .37** .48** 1.00
14. peers -.18** -.15** -.22** .02 .25** .23** .244** .06 -0.32** 0.28** .43** .42** .34** 1.00
M 4.06 4.02 4.05 3.17 1.86 2.33 1.92 2.81 3.97 1.83 .61 .43 .55 .47
SD .74 .81 .74 .93 .82 .70 .83 .93 .57 .68 .45 .43 .41 .41
Alpha .72 .80 .72 .51 .70 .69 .71 .56 .83 .86 .63 .43 .59 .57
**p ≤0.05, *p ≤0.01
96 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).

The SDQ is a community-wide screening inventory used for the detection

and treatment of child behavioural problems (Goodman, 1999). The self-
report version of the SDQ can be completed by children and teenagers aged
11-16 years. The SDQ has been used in studies of different populations
(Goodman, Renfrew, & Mullick, 2000). In the current study we administered
four of the SDQ scales, with 5 items each, generating behaviour difficulties:
‘Hyperactivity Scale’ (e.g., I am restless, I cannot stay still for long),
‘Emotional Symptoms Scale’ (e.g., I am often unhappy, down-hearted or
tearful), ‘Conduct problems Scale’ (e.g., I fight a lot. I can make other
people do what I want), ‘Peer Problems Scale’ (e.g., I am usually on my
own. I generally play alone or keep to myself). Each item can be marked as
0, “not true”, 1, “somewhat true”, or 2, “certainly true”. Higher scores
indicate more difficulties. In the Greek version of the questionnaire,
population validity information comes from the self-report version given to
students (Mavroveli et al., 2008). In the current study, the internal consistency of
the subscales is presented in table 1. Again, information validity of the instrument
as well is presented elsewhere (Poulou, in press).

Procedure

A letter explaining the aims of the research was sent to head teachers of the
participating schools. Having students’, parents’ and teachers’ consent, the
administration of the instruments took place, by the researcher, following a
pilot test to 10 students to ensure the comprehension of their items. Students
were given oral information about the research aims and written instructions
about the completion of the instruments. Testing took place exclusively in
class, with no time constraints imposed. The participants and their parents
were assured about the confidentiality and anonymity of the information
they provided.
 IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 97

Results

Students’ Perceptions of Teacher-Student Relationships, their Social

and Emotional Skills and Emotional and Behavioural and Difficulties

Preliminary analyses were conducted to investigate differences in all the

variables. Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics and correlation matrix of
QTI, MESSY and SDQ measures. The measures of teacher-student
relationships and students’ social and emotional skills inter-correlated
significantly with one another, as did the students’ emotional and
behavioural difficulties measures. Further, teacher- student relationships and
students’ social and emotional skills individually correlated with students’
emotional and behavioural difficulties, in a direction that teacher’s uncertain,
dissatisfied, admonishing and strict behaviour, and students’ inappropriate
assertiveness were positively correlated with students’ emotional and
behavioural difficulties. In contrast, teacher’s leadership, helping/friendly,
understanding, student freedom behaviour, and students’ appropriate social
skills were negatively correlated with students’ emotional and behavioural
difficulties (all ps<.01).

Predicting Students’ Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties

SEM (ML) analysis was run in AMOS between scales of MESSY, SDQ, and
QTI. Regression imputation was run for completing missing values in the
data set. It must be noted that variables with low reliabilities (less than .60)
did not join Amos’ models. Therefore, dimensions such as “giving students
freedom”, “strict” and “understanding” were not included in the model, since
their loadings were not statistical significant and small (below .05). For
space purpose we will present the final model (Figure 3). The model had
loadings above +/-.04. The model produced: X2(21) =30.831, X2p>.05,
MLmean=23.745 (MLse=.169), B-Sp=.168, RMSEA=.022 (C.I. at 90% for
the RMSEA were .000 to .038), RMR=.006, CFI=.998, CMIN/DF=1.468,.
No modifications were suggested to that model. All the criterions showed
that this model fitted the data adequately.
98 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

Figure 3. Model the effects on students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties

(leadership behaviour, helping/friendly behaviour, admonishing behaviour,
uncertain behaviour, dissatisfied behaviour, ma=inappropriate assertiveness,
ms=appropriate social skills, emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity,
peer problems)
 IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 99

The results showed that students’ inappropriate assertiveness is influenced

by teachers’ admonishing behaviour (.14), uncertain behaviour (.10) and
dissatisfied behaviour (.13). In turn, inappropriate assertiveness influences
emotional problems (.12), conduct problems (.32), hyperactivity (.24), and
peer problems (.09). Students’ appropriate social skills are influenced by
teachers’ leadership behaviour (.17), helping/friendly behaviour (.10) and
uncertain behaviour (negatively, -.05). Students’ appropriate social skills
further influence hyperactivity (negatively, -.11), and peer problems
(negatively, -.18). It must be noted that teachers’ dissatisfied behaviour
influences students’ emotional, conduct problems, hyperactivity, and peer
problems (from .06 to .11). Finally, students’ emotional problems are
influenced by teachers’ leadership behaviour (negatively, -.05). Table 2
more analytically presents the standardized effects of the model variables. It
has to be noted that the effect size of conduct problems to inappropriate
assertiveness was large, while most of the rest effect sizes were from small
to medium. Also, the total effect of conduct problems to teacher’s
dissatisfied behaviour was .296 (medium effect size).
100 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

Table 2
Standardized effects (Direct, Indirect, Total)

Effects admonishing uncertain Dissatisfied Helping leadership Appropriate Inappropriate

social skills assertiveness
Dissatisfied Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
behaviour Direct 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Indirect 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Appropriate social Total 0 -0,07 0 0,136 0,217 0 0
skills Direct 0 -0,07 0 0,136 0,217 0 0
Indirect 0 -0,07 0 0,136 0,217 0 0
Inappropriate Total 0,165 0,124 0,158 0 0 0 0
assertiveness Direct 0,165 0,124 0,158 0 0 0 0
Indirect 0,165 0,124 0,158 0 0 0 0
Peer problems Total 0,024 0,035 0,211 -0,033 -0,053 -0,243 0,147
Direct 0 0 0,188 0 0 -0,243 0,147
Indirect 0 0 0,188 0 0 -0,243 0,147
Emotional problems Total 0,03 0,023 0,153 0 -0,085 0 0,184
Direct 0 0 0,123 0 -0,085 0 0,184
Indirect 0 0 0,123 0 -0,085 0 0,184
hyperactivity Total 0,066 0,061 0,187 -0,022 -0,034 -0,159 0,4
Direct 0 0 0,124 0 0 -0,159 0,4
Indirect 0 0 0,124 0 0 -0,159 0,4
Conduct problems Total 0,083 0,063 0,296 0 0 0 0,506
Direct 0 0 0,216 0 0 0 0,506
Indirect 0 0 0,216 0 0 0 0,506
IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 101

Discussion
If we need to investigate and predict students’ cognitions, affect and
behaviour, we have to attend to how they perceive and give meaning to
classroom experiences. Based on the sociocognitive premises that highlight
the role of students’ perceptions (Fraser & Walberg, 2005), we propose that
in order to examine the influential factors of students’ emotional and
behavioural difficulties, we mainly need to study students’ perceptions.
This study extends prior research by investigating the contribution of
individual students’ skills and teacher-student relationships. It was found
that teachers’ behavioural dimensions such as admonishing, uncertain and
dissatisfied behaviour relate to students’ inappropriate assertiveness,
teachers’ behavioural dimensions such as leadership and helping/friendly
behavior relate to students’ possession of appropriate social skills, while
teachers’ uncertain behaviour relates to students’ possession of appropriate
social skills in a negative direction. These findings are in line with a number
of studies on teacher-student relationships (den Brok et al., 2004; Goh &
Fraser, 1998; Marshburn et al., 2008; Birch & Ladd, 1998; Howes &
Hamilton, 1993; Loukas et al., 2009). Students demonstrate emotional and
behavioural difficulties when teacher-student relationships are characterized
by teachers’ dissatisfied behaviour, and when they lack appropriate social
skills or in other words exhibit inappropriate assertiveness. Students’
possession of social skills appeared to have a prominent role in the
manifestation of emotional and behavioural difficulties, while teacher-
students’ relationships have also an indirect effect to students’ behaviour,
through the association with students’ social and emotional skills. Present
study, in agreement with much past research, replicated the advantages of
positive teacher-student relationships in preventing discipline problems
(Fraser & Walberg, 2005). The most robust finding in our study however,
was that the possession of students’ social and emotional skills is considered
crucial by students, for their psychological adjustment at schools, in support
to SEL axioms. This latter finding suggests that teachers need to equip
students with social competencies and skills that help them to deal
effectively with life situations.
In theoretical terms, this holistic approach contributes to unpacking the
potential predictors or underlying mechanisms of students’ behaviour. This
102 Poulou – Teachers-Student Relationships

framework extends the theoretical rationale which systems communication

perspective has on academic achievement, to the area of emotional and
behavioural difficulties. At the same time, this theoretical process broadens
its focus to include the research evidence provided by the SEL approach
(Poulou, in press).
In practical terms, we move towards defining those within teacher, or
child characteristics that are managed by teachers and can accordingly be
modified to achieve desired goals. This is an optimistic view. These data can
be used to inform teachers and professional staff to identify behaviours, and
conditions that warrant intervention and provide additional training and
support to classroom teachers, as needed. In accordance to Chory-Assad &
Paulsel (2004) suggestions, we underscore the importance of teacher training
in classroom management strategies, as certain communication tactics may
prove destructive to the student-teacher relationships and the classroom
atmosphere.
In suggesting such a theoretical framework however, we recognize
limitations. First, we cannot assume causal relationships or mediating effects
among the potential predictors of emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Second, the results were uniquely based on students’ perceptions, who
participated in the study on a voluntary basis. While valuable, students’
perceptions do not provide information about the actual behaviours or
intentions of the teachers, or students’ attitudes with regard to their teacher.
Future research could include qualitative information, such as interview or
observation data with students of different ages or cultural backgrounds, and
students’ behaviours other than those considered in the present study, to
further elaborate these findings. Although there is support that aggregated
judgments of teachers’ behaviour are more valid than individual judgments
(den Brok et al., 2006), future work could investigate students’ personal
opinions compared to the perceptions of the class, in an attempt to interpret
students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties. Nevertheless, it is actually
the case that self-perceptions have a strong influence on behaviour,
irrespective of their accuracy (Bandura, 1997), and that students’ perceptions
are an important aspect of their psychological adjustment. Future research
could contribute to a better understanding of the interplay among various
dimensions of classroom environment. This current paper consists of an
IJEP – International Journal of Educational Psychology, 4(1) 103

attempt to conceptualize an interpretation framework of students’ emotional

and behavioural difficulties, by taking into consideration teacher and student
parameters, as a few of the multiple classroom ecological influences.

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Maria Poulou Assistant Professor. University of Patras

Contact Address: Kritis 33, Athens 12351, Greece

mariapoulou@yahoo.com