Mother-child relationships, teacher-child relationships, and school outcomes in preschool and kindergarten

This research examines relations between measures of child-mother and child-teacher relationships and the extent to which these measures predict early school outcomes. Observations of shared affect and control problems in mother-child interaction in preschool were low-to-moderately correlated with concurrent preschool teacher-reported aspects of child-teacher security, conflict, and dependency. Overall quality of child-mother interaction predicted teacher-reported social adjustment in kindergarten, and quality of both child-mother and child-teacher interaction predicted children's performance on a measure of concept development in preschool, Results suggest that qualities of child-mother interaction are more strongly related to preschool and kindergarten adjustment outcomes than are qualities of the child-teacher relationship. The results point to the strength of adult-child interactions in the context of the family when understanding the role of relationships with children and teachers in the school context.