A Person-Centered Analysis of Teacher-Child and Peer Relationships, Time Spent Alone, Internalizing Difficulties, and Individual Dispositions in a Sample of Primary School Children

Aims.Teacher-child and peer relationships are central to children’s socio-emotional development(Dirks et al.,2018;O’Connor et al.,2011).The main aim of this study was to conduct a person-centered analysis to differentiate different profiles based on children's relationships with teachers, peer victimization, prosocial behavior, and time spent alone. Understanding the quality of relationships with teachers and peers is crucial to promote a positive school climate and children’s overall well-being within the educational settings(Thapa et al.,2013). Method.Participants were N=186(n=104girls,55.9%)children attending primary school in Italy(M=9.37,SD =0.81).Children completed an online self-report questionnaire to assess conflicted (α=.76)and close(α=.84) teacher-child relationships,children’s social(α=.85)and school(α=.90)self-perceptions, peer victimization(α=.74),prosocial behavior(α=.71),time spent alone(α=.66),internalizing difficulties (loneliness α=.77,social anxiety α=.89,and depression α=.78),shyness(α=.85),and individual dispositions(αs=.70-.87). Findings.Results from a Latent Profile Analysis(LPA)conducted with Mplus 8.10 identified a three-profile solution as the best-fitting model(Entropy=.84).The largest group was labelled Kind-adjusted(n=132,71%)because they were characterized by the highest levels of closeness with teacher and prosocial behavior, more positive social self-perceptions, and the lowest levels of peer victimization. The second group was labelled Alone-maladjusted(n=37,19.9%),reporting the less positive social self-perceptions and the highest time spent alone.The smallest group was labelled Conflicted-maladjusted(n=17,9.1%)because they displayed the highest levels of conflict with teacher. Among the ANOVAs results, we found that the (1)kind-adjusted group reported lower levels of shyness, internalizing difficulties,and emotional instability, higher levels of agreeableness, consciousness, extraversion, and openness, and more positive school-self-perceptions;(2)alone-maladjusted group reported higher levels of shyness; and (3)conflicted-maladjusted group reported lower level of consciousness. Implication.Conflictive teacher-child relationships and a less positive social self-perceptions may represent risk factors for developing internalizing difficulties and less positive school self-perceptions.These results may help to identify those children for whom early interventions in a school context might be useful for promoting their mental health.Teachers may be encouraged to establish close and secure relationships with at-risk children of maladjustment in the school setting to support their socio-emotional functioning, and well-being.