Student–teacher relationships and classroom climate in first grade: how do they relate to students’ stress regulation?

Abstract

The present study involved 105 German students at the end of their first semester in elementary school in order to explore the stress that students may experience within the school environment, and how the relationship with the teacher buffers or exacerbates the stress. Student–teacher relationships were explored on both classroom and individual interaction levels. Classrooms were described by external observers in terms of teachers’ support and classroom organization. Teachers reported on the relationships with their students regarding closeness, conflict, and dependency, which determined four specific patterns of student–teacher relationships. Furthermore, saliva samples were taken on a Monday and a Friday of the same week (four times each day) to display diurnal cortisol profiles. These profiles were later evaluated by means of slopes and intercepts, reflecting students’ daily stress regulation. Comparisons between Monday and Friday profiles of the same student served as an estimate for the stress regulation throughout the week. Finally, associations between the profiles and the specific relationship patterns provided information on significant environmental conditions for students’ stress. Students in non-supportive, as compared to supportive, classrooms had flatter cortisol profiles, suggesting that classrooms of low quality hindered sufficient down-regulation of cortisol levels at both the beginning and the end of the week. Moreover, students with conflict-loaded relationships with their teachers were less able to appropriately down-regulate stress (especially on Fridays) than students with proximal-balanced relationships, showing the most optimal cortisol profiles.

Keywords:

• relationship patterns
• diurnal cortisol profiles
• slopes
• intercepts
• interaction levels

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the German research council (DFG/Az.: Ah 55/13–1) to Lieselotte Ahnert. We would like to thank students from the Applied University of Magdeburg-Stendal and the University of Cologne for collecting the data, and are especially grateful to Janine Diederich, Nathalie Esser, Nicole Grombach, Silke Handtke, Anne-Kathrin Kloss, Diana Krogmann, Daniel Kwiecinski and Katrin Mueller.