Children's Relationship with Teachers and Bonds with School An Investigation of Patterns and Correlates in Middle Childhood

The purpose of this study was to examine aspects of children's social and contextual experience in schools. Children N = 289 in elementary schools completed a measure designed to assess qualities of their relationships with teachers as well as their perceptions of school environments. Students were then grouped into categories based on these perceptions and comparisons were made between groups on measures of social and emotional adjustment. Findings indicated that student classifications resembled classifications reported by other researchers for student-teacher relationships. Students classified as having poor relationships with teachers and poor bonds with school had poorer scores on self- and teacher ratings of social and emotional adjustment than children classified as having positive relationships and bonds. These findings add to a growing body of research focused on understanding children's social and contextual experience in schools by providing a descriptive typology that could be used by researchers and practitioners interested in identifying students who are having nonoptimal experiences in school settings.