Abstract
Guided by the school climate and social-emotional learning literature, this study explored math self-concept in relation to student-teacher relationships and students’ sense of school belonging while accounting for sex differences. Participants included two random subsamples (Ns = 532; 558) of 15-year-old Canadian students who participated in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Results indicated that while student-teacher relationships were positively associated with math self-concept among boys, sense of school belonging was positively associated with math self-concept among girls. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that the indirect association between student-teacher relationships and math self-concept via the sense of school belonging was significant only among girls; the total effects model was only significant among boys. These findings were evidenced in both subsamples. Findings suggest the importance to not only enhance student-teacher relationships and students’ sense of school belonging, but also to recognize how intervention efforts might vary depending on students’ sex.
Acknowledgements
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.