Teacher-Student Relationship and Mathematics Achievement: A Chain Mediating Model of Behavioral Engagement and Social Emotional Competency

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240112

Abstract

Abstract: The association between teacher-student relationship and academic development of students has always been the focus of research. In this study, students' behavioral engagement and social emotional competence were introduced as two mediating variables in the relationship between the teacher-student relationship and mathematics achievement. This study further examined the chain mediating effect of “behavioral engagement - social emotional competence”. Besides, peer acceptance, the group's attitude towards individuals, is an important manifestation of the student's peer relationship. Students of different peer acceptance types may have different performances in teacher-student relationship, behavioral participation, social emotional competence, and academic performance.
The purpose of this study is to explore the roles of behavioral engagement and social emotional competence in the relation between teacher-student relationship and mathematics achievement. On this basis, the multigroup structural equation model analysis is carried out according to the different types of peer acceptance of students. We enrolled 6, 534 primary school students in western China, of which 3354 were male and 3043 were female, with an average age of 11.4. This research used the Chinese version of Delaware Social-Emotional Competency Scale, and the School Engagement Test Scale compiled by Fredricks to test students' social emotional competence and behavioral engagement. Select questions from PISA 2018 to measure the mathematics teacher-student relationship. Mathematics tests are jointly prepared by mathematics teachers and mathematics education measurement researchers in accordance with the "Mathematics Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education", including 35 multiple-choice questions in four content areas. A standardized peer-nomination procedure was used to collect information on children's peer acceptance types. We used SPSS 25.0 and Mplus 8.0 to analyze the data, the non-parametric percentile Bootstrap method to repeatedly sample 1000 times to test the mediation, and the multiple structural equation models to test path differences.
The results found that: (1) Teacher-student relationship could indirectly predict mathematics achievement by the mediating roles of behavioral engagement (β =. 027, 95%CI=[. 012, . 042], p <. 001) and social emotional competence (β =. 047, 95%CI=[. 036, . 059], p <. 001), and it could also influence mathematics achievement by the chain mediating role of “behavioral engagement - social emotional competence” (β =. 044, 95%CI=[. 034, . 054], p <. 001). (2) For students with different types of peer acceptance, behavioral engagement, and social emotional competence played different roles in the association between teacher-student relationship and mathematics achievement. The teacher-student relationship of neglected and controversial students cannot directly predict math scores. Behavioral engagement in popular, rejected, and neglected students cannot directly affect students' math scores, while in the controversial group of students, social emotional competence cannot affect students' math scores.
Conclusions contributed important evidence to improve behavioral engagement and social emotional competence of students. At the same time, the differences in the paths of students with different peer acceptance types also remind us that we should pay more attention to students who are disadvantaged in peer interaction, and help them better promote personal development and academic improvement.

Key words: socio-emotional competency, peer acceptance, teacher-student relationship, behavioral engagement, mathematics achievement, Multi-group comparison

摘要： 研究通过分层抽样的方式选取6534名小学生作为研究对象,探讨行为参与和社会情感能力在师生关系与数学成绩之间的作用,并根据学生不同的同伴接纳类型进行多群组结构方程模型分析。研究发现：（1）行为参与和社会情感能力在师生关系与学生数学成绩间起中介作用,且“行为参与-社会情感能力”发挥链式中介作用;（2）不同同伴接纳类型学生的行为参与和社会情感能力在师生关系与数学成绩之间的作用并不相同。被忽视和有争议学生的师生关系无法直接预测数学成绩,受欢迎、被拒绝和被忽视学生的行为参与无法直接影响其数学成绩,有争议组学生中社会情感能力无法直接影响其数学成绩。本研究解释了师生关系对数学成绩的影响机制,并进一步细化了不同同伴接纳类型学生在其中的差异表现。

关键词: 社会情感能力, 同伴接纳, 师生关系, 行为参与, 数学成绩, 多组比较

Zhu Zhiying, Wang Yehui, Du Changhong, Wang Faming, Yang Zhaoxi. Teacher-Student Relationship and Mathematics Achievement: A Chain Mediating Model of Behavioral Engagement and Social Emotional Competency[J]. Journal of Psychological Science, 2024, 47(1): 97-104.

朱芷滢, 王烨晖, 杜长宏, 王发明, 杨朝兮. 师生关系对学生数学成绩的影响：行为参与和社会情感能力的链式中介作用^*[J]. 心理科学, 2024, 47(1): 97-104.

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