Teachers’ attitudes toward physical appearance of middle school students and students’ academic achievement: the mediating role of student-teacher relationship

ABSTRACT

The influence of a positive relationship with the teacher on students’ academic achievement is well established in the literature. However, little is known about how teachers’ sentiments regarding students’ physical appearance may influence this relationship. The purpose of this study was to examine the possible relationships between teacher feelings and emotions, the teacher-student relationship, and student academic achievement and the mediating role of the student-teacher relationship between teacher's sentiments and students’ achievement. The sample consisted of 40 teachers and 566 students. The NRC Emotion Lexicon, the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale and self-reported GPA data were collected. A mediation analysis with a multicategorical antecedent was conducted. Results shows that the student teacher relationship played a mediating role between teacher's sentiments and student performance. The results illustrate the influence of teacher emotions on student achievement and provide teachers and researchers with a comprehensive knowledge of the effects of emotions on the student-teacher relationship.

KEYWORDS:

• Student-teacher relationship
• teachers’ sentiments
• academic achievement
• school well-being
• emotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Claudio Longobardi

Claudio Longobardi, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Turin. His main research interest is the study of Teacher-student relationship, child abuse and neglect and bullying behavior.

Shanyan Lin

Shanyan Lin, is PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology, University of Turin. His main research interests are psychological and educational research methods and measurements, and social media in adolescents.

Francesca Giovanna Maria Gastaldi

Francesca Giovanna Maria Gastaldi, PhD, is a researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Educationa Science. Her main research interest are the teacher-student relationship, adolescent behavior and parent and peer attachment.

Martina Berchiatti

Martina Berchiatti, is PhD candidate at University of Valencia. His main research interests are the neurodevelopmenta disorders, bullying and teacher-student relationship.