Don’t forget student-teacher dependency! A Meta-analysis on associations with students’ school adjustment and the moderating role of student and teacher characteristics

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics for moderator variables

		engagement	achievement	externalizing	internalizing	prosocial
Categorical moderator variable
		k	k	k	k	k
Problem sample	no risk partly at-risk full risk	6 0 3	5 2 1	12 2 5	10 1 5	6 0 1
Continuous moderator variables
		M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)	M (SD)
Average grade level		0.88 (1.71)	1.03 (2.44)	0.50 (2.04)	0.61 (1.91)	−0.17 (0.75)
Student gender (% girls)		45.27 (11.43)	47.40 (3.22)	46.40 (11.67)	43.68 (14.43)	41.97 (18.61)
Student ethnicity (% Caucasian)		58.04 (29.87)	63.08 (22.93)	59.99 (28.65)	64.94 (23.66)	73.78 (13.71)
Teacher gender (% female)		97.50 (4.18)	88.30 (10.52)	91.58 (12.37)	94.47 (9.91)	95.00 (11.18)
Teacher ethnicity (% Caucasian)		86.33 (17.43)	96.15 (5.44)	70.75 (41.26)	84.90 (25.03)	100.00 (-)
Teaching experience (in years)		12.17 (6.02)	11.80 (2.12)	14.50 (3.19)	12.51 (4.39)	15.16 (1.68)

Table 2. Overall effect sizes

	effect size (SE)	95% confidence interval	k	N
r engagement	−.13 (.02)	−.17 – −.09	9	2510
r achievement	−.12 (.02)	−.15 – −.09	8	3808
r externalizing behavior	.27 (.01)	.25 – –.30	19	5313
r internalizing behavior	.32 (.02)	.28 – –.35	16	3482
r prosocial behavior	−.17 (.03)	−.23 – −.11	7	1167

Note. All correlations are significant at p < .001.

Table 3. Effects of moderator variables on associations between dependency and school adjustment

	r engagement				r achievement
	b (SE)	95% CI	β	k	b (SE)	95% CI	β	k
Student characteristics
Average grade level	.01 (.01)	−.01 –.03	.34	8	.01 (.01)	−.01 –.02	.23	8
Student gender (% girls)	.01 (.00)	−.00 –.01	.50	9	.01 (.01)	−.01 –.04	.20	8
Student ethnicity (% Caucasian)	.00 (.00)	−.00 –.00	.23	7	.01 (.00)**	.002 –.009	.77	5
Problem sample (1 = full risk)	−.03 (.06)	−.16 –.09	−.12	9	.08 (.07)	−.05 –.21	.23	8
Teacher characteristics
Teacher gender (% female)	.02 (.01)*	.00 –.04	.94	6	−.01 (.00)*	−.02 – −.0002	−.61	4
Teacher ethnicity (% Caucasian)	−.00 (.00)	−.01 –.00	−.59	3	-	-	-	-
Teaching experience (in years)	.01 (.01)	−.00 –.02	.63	5	-	-	-	-
	r externalizing				r internalizing				r prosocial
	b (SE)	95% CI	β	k	b (SE)	95% CI	β	k	b (SE)	95% CI	β	k
Student characteristics
Average grade level	.01 (.01)	−.00 –.03	.27	18	.05 (.01)**	.03 –.07	.62	14	.07 (.05)	−.03 –.17	.54	6
Student gender	.00 (.00)	−.00 –.00	.10	19	.00 (.00)	−.00 –.00	.01	16	.00 (.00)	−.00 –.00	−.00	7
Student ethnicity	−.00 (.00)*	−.003 – −.0001	−.31	15	.00 (.00)	−.00 –.00	.22	11	.00 (.00)	−.00 –.01	.57	5
Problem sample	.02 (.03)	−.04 –.09	.10	19	−.00 (.04)	−.08 –.07	−.01	16	.01 (.08)	−.15 –.18	.07	7
Teacher characteristics
Teacher gender	−.00 (.00)	−.01 –.00	−.22	13	−.00 (.00)	−.00 –.00	−.02	12	.01 (.00)	−.00 –.02	.76	5
Teacher ethnicity	−.00 (.00)	−.00 –.00	−.06	6	.003 (.001)*	.001 –.006	.65	5	-	-	-	-
Teaching experience	.00 (.01)	−.02 –.02	−.00	9	.01 (.01)	−.00 –.02	.17	9	−.02 (.03)	−.08 –.04	−.41	3

Note. *p < .05, **p < .01; Both standardized (β) and unstandardized (b, SE = standard error) regression coefficients are reported.; 95% CI = 95% confidence interval.