The association between working memory, teacher-student relationship, and academic performance in primary school children

Frontiers in Psychology

Psychology

Mariëtte Huizinga¹  Petra Warreyn²  Jolien Dewandeleer³  Dieter Baeyens³  Simona Sankalaite³ 

[1] Department of Educational and Family Studies, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands;Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium;Parenting and Special Education Research Unit, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;

关键词: working memory;    teacher-student relationship;    academic performance;    primary school;    cross-lagged panel model;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1240741

 received in 2023-06-16, accepted in 2023-09-07,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionEarly relationships with teachers play an important role in children’s development and significantly influence students’ cognitive and academic performance. Studies suggest that working memory (WM) is a strong predictor of academic achievement, especially of reading and arithmetic outcomes. The associations between teacher-student relationship (TSR) quality, children’s WM skills and their academic performance have been reported in numerous observational studies. However, the potentially bidirectional and temporal nature of the relationships between these constructs is understudied.MethodsThe purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between primary school children’s WM and TSR by applying a cross-lagged design and measuring these constructs at three time points throughout the academic year. More exploratively, this study investigated how WM and TSR bidirectionally relate to children’s academic performance.ResultsThe findings of this study revealed a temporal relationship between WM and TSR: between WM-related problems in the classroom at baseline and conflict at 3-month follow-up, and between closeness at 3-month follow-up and WM-related problems in the classroom at 5-month follow-up. Moreover, the findings showed a bidirectional relationship between arithmetic performance and WM-related problematic behaviour.DiscussionThis study highlights that relationships between the teacher and students play an important role in supporting students’ cognitive and academic development. Importantly, this study suggests that children with WM problems may benefit from interventions that focus on improving their relationships with teachers. Additionally, the findings propose that interventions targeting WM may also have positive effects on children’s academic performance.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Sankalaite, Huizinga, Warreyn, Dewandeleer and Baeyens.