Developmental Links Between Externalizing Behavior and Student–Teacher Interactions in Male Adolescents With Psychiatric Disabilities

Authors' Notes. This research is part of the 4U Study, and has been financially supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO (program number NL28706.097.09). Participating centers of the 4U Study include two departments of the Yulius Mental Health Organization (Yulius Academy and Yulius Education), the CED-Group Rotterdam, the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam, the Utrecht University, and the VU University Amsterdam, all located in the Netherlands. We thank all students, their teachers, and their parents who participated in this study and everyone who worked on the 4U Study.

Abstract

Students exhibiting challenging externalizing behaviors may benefit from supportive interactions with teachers. However, if students show high levels of externalizing behaviors, this may negatively impact on student–teacher interactions, and vice versa. We therefore examined bidirectional developmental links between student–teacher interactions and externalizing behavior of male adolescents placed in special education because of psychiatric disabilities. Participants were 584 adolescents (M_age = 15.0 years, SD = 1.7) and their teachers from 14 Dutch special education schools. At 3 time points, student-reports of student–teacher interactions and teacher-reports of adolescents' externalizing behavior were collected. Using autoregressive cross-lagged models, results indicate that externalizing behavior predicted decreases in supportive interactions (β = −.09, p = .02), but not in negative interactions. Student–teacher interactions did not show a significant influence on externalizing behavior. Our results highlight externalizing behavior as an important target for interventions intended to improve student–teacher interactions.

Keywords:

• student–teacher relationships
• special education procedures

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juliette A. B. Hopman

Juliette A. B. Hopman obtained an MSc in developmental psychology and in social and organizational psychology at Leiden University. She worked on her PhD project at the Yulius Academy and the VU Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her research focuses on disruptive behavior of adolescents who are placed in special education due to their psychiatric disabilities.

Nouchka T. Tick

Nouchka T. Tick received her PhD in child and adolescent psychiatry at Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, the Netherlands. She conducted various research projects focusing on the application and effects of mental health care in special and general education at the Yulius Academy. She currently works as an assistant professor at Utrecht University.

Jan van der Ende

Jan van der Ende is a researcher at the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology at Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital. His main field of research is child and adolescent psychiatric epidemiology, with a focus on children's problem behavior assessment and the long-term development and consequences of children's emotional and behavioral problems.

Theo Wubbels

Theo Wubbels is a professor in education at Utrecht University, national coordinator for the innovation of teacher education, and president of the European Education Research Association. He was associate editor of Teaching and Teacher Education and Learning Environments Research, among others. His research focuses on interpersonal relationships in education, social climate in the classroom, and teaching and learning in higher education.

Frank C. Verhulst

Frank C. Verhulst is a professor in child and adolescent psychiatry/psychology at Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital. His main research interest is in child psychiatric epidemiology. He is editor-at-large of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and author of over 500 peer-reviewed articles.

Athanasios Maras

Athanasios Maras is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the director of the Yulius Academy, the research department of Yulius, a large mental health organization in the Netherlands. He is responsible for various research programs including studies on neurodevelopmental disorders and school interventions for children with special educational needs.

Linda D. Breeman

Linda D. Breeman received her PhD in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, the Netherlands, based on research she conducted at the Yulius Academy. Her doctoral research focused on social, emotional, and behavioral problems of children with psychiatric disabilities and their teachers in special primary education. She now works as an assistant professor at Utrecht University.

Pol A. C. van Lier

Pol A. C. van Lier is a professor in developmental psychology at VU Amsterdam. Together with his team, he conducts various large-scale longitudinal and experimental studies, examining the pathways through which social peer relations influence children's psychopathology development and broader maladjustment from early childhood onward.