The Effect of Teacher-Student Relationships and Stress on Psychosocial Functioning During Early Adolescence
Format
Individual Presentation
First Presenter's Institution
University of Alabama at Birmingham
First Presenter’s Email Address
keane@uab.edu
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Kevin Keane is a doctoral student in the Health Education/Health Promotion Ph.D. program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He also has a Master’s of Arts in Marriage and Family Counseling and a Master’s in Business Administration. Kevin currently works as a data analyst at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he conducts academic and clinical program evaluation. Kevin previously worked as a program director and administrator at nonprofit organizations that served youth involved with the foster care and juvenile justice systems. As a result of these experiences, Kevin developed research interests in adverse childhood experiences, resilience, teacher-student relationships, and mental health outcomes to advocate and improve outcomes for these populations.
Second Presenter's Institution
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Second Presenter’s Email Address
rrevans@uab.edu
Second Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Evans has a PhD in health sciences with an emphasis in nutrition. For over 15 years she has worked with K-12 school systems to implement programs and policies to improve health, physical activity, and wellness among students. She has also worked with the state department of education in the development of state policies outlining improvements in school nutrition. As a result, Dr. Evans’ presentations and publications have focused primarily on youth and schools related to nutrition, and obesity prevention initiatives. Dr. Evans also co-authored a textbook in 2016 and 2020 focused on training elementary education majors to implement health and wellness in the classroom. Dr. Evans is currently a professor in the School of Education, Community Health Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she teaches, mentors and conducts health-related research.
Third Presenter's Institution
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Third Presenter’s Email Address
catheryn@uab.edu
Third Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Orihuela graduated from Baylor University with a BA in Environmental Studies. Later, she earned an MA in Education from University of Houston-Clear Lake and then an MS in Experimental Psychology from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology from University of Alabama Birmingham where her dissertation work examined the effects of neighborhood disorder on risky sexual behaviors in adolescents and young adults. She currently serves as Study Coordinator for the Adolescent Diet Study, a Department of Education funded study (PI Sylvie Mrug) that investigates relationships between dietary intake, emotional functioning, and academic performance in middle school students.
Fourth Presenter's Institution
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Fourth Presenter’s Email Address
sylva@uab.edu
Fourth Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Sylvie Mrug received a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University and currently is a University Professor of Psychology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research addresses multilevel risk and protective factors for behavioral and emotional problems in adolescence and young adulthood. Current projects explore the roles of chronic stress, nutrition, other health behaviors, coping and supportive relationships during adolescence on short- and long-term mental and physical health outcomes.
Location
Session Seven Breakouts
Strand #1
Health: Mental & Physical Health
Strand #2
Heart: Social & Emotional Skills
Relevance
This presentation relates to two of the conference strands – health (mental and physical) and heart – (social and emotional). This study measured depression, anxiety, aggressive behavior, and rule-breaking behaviors of adolescents and sought to identify whether stress and teacher-student relationships were associated with these psychosocial outcomes. An implication of this research is that by improving the school climate and teacher-student relationships, adolescent psychosocial functioning can be enhanced. Another implication is that social-emotional learning and coping skills taught to students can reduce stress and lead to improved psychosocial functioning.
Brief Program Description
Early adolescents are at an increased risk of poorer psychosocial functioning due to developmental changes. This presentation will provide an overview of research exploring the relationship between stress, teacher-student relationships, and psychosocial functioning (depression, anxiety, aggression, and rule-breaking) during early adolescence. The presenters will then discuss future research and strategies needed to reduce stress and improve teacher-student relationships to improve psychosocial functioning during early adolescence.
Summary
The proposed program will present the results of research that explored the effect of stress and teacher-student relationships (TSRs) on psychosocial functioning (i.e. depression, anxiety, aggressive behaviors, and rule-breaking behaviors) during early adolescence using the bioecological model. Early adolescence had been identified as a time of increased stress and risk for poorer psychosocial functioning. In 2016, 6.1% of youth between 12 and 17 years old in the U.S. met the criteria for depression, 10.5% for an anxiety disorder and 7.5% for conduct disorder, which includes aggression and rule-breaking. Such emotional and behavioral problems during adolescence have been associated with adult mental health problems, suicidality, risky health behaviors, poor health outcomes, and criminality. However, few studies have explored the interplay between stress and both positive and negative aspects of TSRs in relation to psychosocial functioning during early adolescence. This study investigated the additive and interactive effects of stress and TSRs on depression/anxiety, aggression, and rule-breaking behaviors. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on data collected from parents, teachers, and students of 265 6th and 7th-grade students across multiple schools. Students with higher self-reported stress had significantly higher levels of depression/anxiety, aggressive behaviors, and rule-breaking. Higher teacher-reported TSR conflict was associated with greater aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors. Stress did not moderate the relationship between TSRs and psychosocial functioning. The findings indicate that interventions that reduce stress and conflictual TSRs should be explored to potentially improve psychosocial functioning among early adolescents. Based upon these findings, the program will discuss the importance of integrating social-emotional learning and various coping skills into health and education curricula to reduce stress and psychosocial problems during adolescence. The program will also discuss strategies to promote positive TSRs to provide supportive environments that could improve psychosocial functioning and empower students to succeed. The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model will be presented as one school-wide model that could be used to integrate these strategies in schools.
Evidence
Early adolescence is a key developmental stage when children experience rapid physiological, social-emotional, and cognitive changes while navigating new responsibilities and relationships (Neinstein, 2016). While many youth pass through this period with few problems, some experience increased depression and anxiety (Cohen et al., 2018; McLaughlin & King, 2015). Among adolescents between 12 and 17 years old, 10.5% met the criteria for an anxiety diagnosis and 6.1% for major depression. However, among children between 6 and 11 years old, only 6.6% had an anxiety diagnosis and 1.7% had a depression diagnosis (Ghandour et al., 2019). Conduct disorder, which includes rule-breaking and aggression, had lower rates among youth between 12 and 17 years old (7.5%) than between 6 and 11 years old (9.1%) (Ghandour et al., 2019). However, while aggressive behaviors decline during early adolescence, rule-breaking typically increases with subsets of youth also developing more persistent or severe patterns of aggression (Burt, 2012; Underwood et al., 2009; Xie et al., 2011).
Consistent with Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model (Bronfenbrenner & Ceci, 1994; Xia et al., 2020), changes in psychosocial functioning may be partially attributed to proximal factors like stress related to pubertal changes, cognitive maturation, or evolving peer and adult relationships during adolescence (Crone & Dahl, 2012; Neinstein, 2016; Viner & Christies, 2005). Early adolescent psychosocial functioning is also related to student interactions at school, including teacher-student relationships (TSRs) (Kidger et al., 2012; Lee & Bierman, 2018; Lei et al., 2016). Supportive TSRs have been associated with lower levels of aggression, conduct problems, antisocial behavior, and behavioral problems among children of all grade levels (Joyce & Early, 2014; Kidger et al., 2012; Lei et al., 2016) while conflictual TSRs have been associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, aggression, and antisocial behaviors among school-aged children (Jellesma et al., 2015; Lei et al., 2016). However, less is known about the relationship between TSRs and psychosocial functioning during early adolescence (Lei et al., 2016) and the negative aspects of TSRs (Roorda & Koomen, 2021). Furthermore, no known studies have utilized the bioecological model to examine whether TSRs interact with stress in determining psychosocial functioning.
Therefore, the research presented during this presentation will investigate the additive and interactive effects of stress and TSRs on depression/anxiety, aggression, and rule-breaking behaviors. Results will be based on analyses of data collected from the Adolescent Diet Study conducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The results of multiple regression analyses will be presented that demonstrated that higher levels of stress were significantly associated with higher levels of anxiety/depression, aggressive behaviors, and rule-breaking behaviors. Higher levels of TSR conflict were associated with higher levels of aggression and rule-breaking behaviors. The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) school health model will be introduced with its emphasis on the whole child, social and emotional climate, and other opportunities to reduce stress and promote supportive TSRs to improve psychosocial functioning (Lewallen et al., 2015).
References
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Ceci, S. J. (1994). Nature-nuture reconceptualized in developmental perspective: A bioecological model. Psychological Review, 101(4), 568.
Burt, S. A. (2012). How do we optimally conceptualize the heterogeneity within antisocial behavior? An argument for aggressive versus non-aggressive behavioral dimensions. Clin Psychol Rev, 32(4), 263-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.02.006
Cohen, J. R., Andrews, A. R., Davis, M. M., & Rudolph, K. D. (2018). Anxiety and depression during childhood and adolescence: Testing theoretical models of continuity and discontinuity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46(6), 1295-1308. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-017-0370-x
Crone, E. A., & Dahl, R. E. (2012). Understanding adolescence as a period of social–affective engagement and goal flexibility. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 13(9), 636-650.
Ghandour, R. M., Sherman, L. J., Vladutiu, C. J., Ali, M. M., Lynch, S. E., Bitsko, R. H., & Blumberg, S. J. (2019). Prevalence and treatment of depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in us children. The Journal of Pediatrics, 206, 256-267.e253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.021
Jellesma, F. C., Zee, M., & Koomen, H. M. Y. (2015). Children's perceptions of the relationship with the teacher: Associations with appraisals and internalizing problems in middle childhood. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 36, 30-38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2014.09.002
Joyce, H. D., & Early, T. J. (2014). The impact of school connectedness and teacher support on depressive symptoms in adolescents: A multilevel analysis. Children and Youth Services Review, 39, 101-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.02.005
Kidger, J., Araya, R., Donovan, J., & Gunnell, D. (2012). The effect of the school environment on the emotional health of adolescents: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 129, 925-949. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-2248
Lee, P., & Bierman, K. L. (2018). Longitudinal trends and year-to-year fluctuations in student-teacher conflict and closeness: Associations with aggressive behavior problems. J Sch Psychol, 70, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.06.002
Lei, H., Cui, Y., & Chiu, M. M. (2016). Affective teacher-student relationships and students' externalizing behavior problems: A meta-analysis. Front Psychol, 7, 1311. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01311
Lewallen, T. C., Hunt, H., Potts-Datema, W., Zaza, S., & Giles, W. (2015). The whole school, whole community, whole child model: A new approach for improving educational attainment and healthy development for students. J Sch Health, 85(11), 729-739. https://doi.org/10.1111/josh.12310
McLaughlin, K. A., & King, K. (2015). Developmental trajectories of anxiety and depression in early adolescence. J Abnorm Child Psychol, 43(2), 311-323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-014-9898-1
Neinstein, L. (2016). Neinstein's adolescent and young adult health care (6th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. https://www-r2library-com.ezproxy3.lhl.uab.edu/Resource/Title/1451190085
Roorda, D. L., & Koomen, H. M. Y. (2021). Student-teacher relationships and students' externalizing and internalizing behaviors: A cross-lagged study in secondary education. Child Dev, 92(1), 174-188. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13394
Underwood, M. K., Beron, K. J., & Rosen, L. H. (2009). Continuity and change in social and physical aggression from middle childhood through early adolescence. Aggress Behav, 35(5), 357-375. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20313
Viner, R., & Christies, D. (2005). Abc of adolescence: Adolescent development. British Medical Journal, 330(7486), 301-304.
Xia, M., Li, X., & Tudge, J. R. (2020). Operationalizing urie bronfenbrenner’s process-person-context-time model. Human Development, 64(1), 10-20.
Xie, H., Drabick, D. A. G., & Chen, D. (2011). Developmental trajectories of aggression from late childhood through adolescence: Similarities and differences across gender. Aggressive Behavior, 37(5), 387-404. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20404
Learning Objective 1
Participants will be able to describe the relationship between stress and psychosocial functioning during early adolescence.
Learning Objective 2
Participants will be able to describe the relationship between teacher-student relationships and psychosocial functioning during early adolescence.
Learning Objective 3
Participants will be able to identify strategies that schools can use to decrease stress and improve teacher-student relationships during early adolescence to potentially improve psychosocial functioning.
Keyword Descriptors
Early adolescence, stress, teacher-student relationships, depression, anxiety, aggressive behaviors, rule-breaking behaviors, psychosocial functioning, WSCC model
Presentation Year
2022
Start Date
3-8-2022 2:45 PM
End Date
3-8-2022 4:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Keane, Kevin; Evans, Retta; Orihuela, Catheryn; and Mrug, Sylvie, "The Effect of Teacher-Student Relationships and Stress on Psychosocial Functioning During Early Adolescence" (2022). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 73.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2022/2022/73
The Effect of Teacher-Student Relationships and Stress on Psychosocial Functioning During Early Adolescence
Session Seven Breakouts
