The Unique and Interactive Effects of Trajectories in Executive Function and Teacher-Student Relationship on Academic Self-Efficacy in School-Aged Children

Ai Huiling; Zhao Jianshe; Xing Xiaopei

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240511

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (5) : 1125-1135. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240511

The Unique and Interactive Effects of Trajectories in Executive Function and Teacher-Student Relationship on Academic Self-Efficacy in School-Aged Children

Ai Huiling¹, Zhao Jianshe², Xing Xiaopei¹

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Abstract

Academic self-efficacy plays an important role in children's academic success and has obtained considerable attention from educational researchers and practitioners to date. The development of academic self-efficacy is not only the outcomes of temporary experiences but rather stems from a sustained accumulation of mastery experiences. Nevertheless, few studies have adopted a longitudinal dynamic perspective to explore the influencing factors of academic self-efficacy. Particularly, during the school-age years, a critical period for the development of children's self-regulation and changes of teacher-student relationship, self-regulation such as executive function develops rapidly in order to help children to effectively cope with new challenges, and meanwhile enduring positive teacher-student relationship also helps to enhance children's confidence in problem-solving. Given this, focusing on both individual (e.g., executive function) and external relationship (e.g., teacher-student relationship) factors and deeply exploring their unique and interactive effects on academic self-efficacy from a longitudinal perspective was considered important and necessary. Therefore, we conducted a longitudinal study across six months (3 months apart) to examine the initial levels and growth rates of executive function and teacher-student relationship, and their unique and interactive effects on children's academic self-efficacy.
A total of 523 children in grades 3 to 5(51% boys, mean age 10.36 years) participated in this study to complete self-report questionnaires. All participants were tested on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function and Teacher-student relationship questionnaire for three times, and the academic Self-Efficacy Questionnaire fat T3. Data analyses were performed in three steps: (1) Descriptive analyses and repeated measures ANOVA were computed using the SPSS 21.0 to examine gender differences, differences between only children and those with siblings, associations among the measured variables, and initially evaluate the observed changes; (2) An unconditional multivariate linear latent growth model was estimated for the growth trajectories of executive function and teacher-student relationship; (3) The latent moderated structural equation models were used to examine the unique and interactive effects of executive function and teacher-student relationship on academic self-efficacy.
The results indicated that: (1) On average, children experienced an increase in executive function and a decrease in relationship with their teachers over six months; (2) Noth the intercepts and slopes of executive function (β= .43, β = .33, ps. < .01) and teacher-student relationship (β= .39, β = .27, ps. < .01) positively predicted subsequent academic self-efficacy; and (3) Noth the intercept and slope of the teacher-student relationship could moderate the relation between the intercept (not the slope) of executive function and subsequent academic self-efficacy(β= .11, β = .13, ps. < .01). Specifically, compared to those children with poor initial levels or a faster rate of decline in teacher-student relationship, the initial level of executive function could be more strongly positively predicted later academic self-efficacy for those children with better initial levels or a slower rate of decline or even an increasing rate in the teacher-student relationship.
One implication of this study is to extend the conventional interaction paradigm beyond looking at predictors as static variables. We employ a strategy for exploring the dynamic interplay between trajectories of executive function and the teacher-student relationship on later academic self-efficacy. This approach, in contrast to traditional cross-sectional analysis, captures the intricate and evolving processes involved. With respect to educational practices, the findings highlight the importance of regular evaluations and the value of nurturing high-quality teacher-student relationships and providing continuous executive functioning training to facilitate academic efficacy for children. Furthermore, the longitudinal interaction effect reveals that enhancing the quality of the teacher-student relationship can amplify the association between high levels of executive functioning and high levels of academic self-efficacy. This suggests that teachers' encouragement and support based on children's self-regulation could be beneficial for children's learning efficacy. The present research holds substantive theoretical and practical implications for school education.

Key words

academic self-efficacy / executive function / teacher-student relationship / longitudinal interactive effect

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Ai Huiling, Zhao Jianshe, Xing Xiaopei. The Unique and Interactive Effects of Trajectories in Executive Function and Teacher-Student Relationship on Academic Self-Efficacy in School-Aged Children[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2024, 47(5): 1125-1135 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240511

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