Children’s narrative representations of peers and teachers in 3 new classroom scenarios

ABSTRACT

Narrative Story-Stem Tasks (NSST) assess young children’s perceptions of close relationship qualities via the spontaneous narratives they create in response to story beginnings using doll-like figures. Most NSST research to date has focused on family relationships. This study extends this research to children’s perceptions of relationships with teachers (caregiving and attachment) and peers (exploration, mutuality, and aggression) in school settings. Three new story-stems were created for this purpose. A racially and economically diverse sample (n = 39) was recruited from two school systems in the U.S. As predicted, girls were more likely to enact relational aggression in their narratives. Children attending the higher SES school were significantly more likely to enact representations of teachers as caregivers, and representations of parental and teacher caregiving were significantly associated. Parent-reported perceptions of their children’s teachers were significantly associated with children’s narrative representations of attachment behaviour directed toward teachers. Implications for policy and services are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• narrative
• story-stem assessment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Timothy Page

Timothy Page is Professor Emeritus at Louisiana State University School of Social Work in Baton Rouge. He is formerly the Betty J. Stewart Professor of Social Work Practice with Children and director of the Ph.D. Program in Social Work. He has authored or co-authored over 35 journal articles and book chapters, primarily related to attachment theory and the use of narrative story-stem assessments with young children.

Danielle Eugene

Danielle R. Eugene, LCSW, is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Social Work at Louisiana State University where she is also a Research Assistant with the Social Research and Evaluation Center. Her research interests include adolescent and youth development, school social work, and intervention programs for underserved and vulnerable populations.

Christine Morgan

Christine G. Morgan is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in social work from Louisiana State University. Her research interests include attachment and trauma-related intervention and assessment. Clinical interests include working with all members of the adoption/foster care triad in order to improve relationships and psychological well-being.