Preschool structural quality and student–teacher closeness are related to children's adjustment: sibling-informed design

The purpose of the study is to investigate whether children’s adaptation, social play behaviour and well-being in kindergarten can be associated with the quality of the relationship between children and kindergarten teachers, as well as the structural quality in kindergarten. The researchers address literature gaps by: 1) investigating developmental outcomes such as children’s well-being in kindergarten, social play and sociocognitive aspects of adaptation to kindergarten; 2) checking for potential unobserved confounding factors through a sibling analysis; 3) investigating the indirect correlations between structure and process in relation to children’s outcomes.

Firstly, the results show that the closeness of the relationship between children and kindergarten teachers is associated with children’s adaptation, well-being in kindergarten and social play behaviour. Secondly, the family analyses show that this close relationship still has a significant association with children’s adaptation and well-being in kindergarten, even after the factors shared by the children’s siblings have been investigated. Thirdly, the results show that structural quality indicators are related to children’s outcomes primarily via the quality of the relationship between children and the kindergarten teacher.

The study is based on the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) The study sample includes 7436 five-year-old children born in 2006–2009, and 195 siblings participating in the MoBa study. The children were distributed across 1441 kindergartens. The data material is based on information from parents, as well as kindergarten teachers who completed a questionnaire about the children when they were five years old. Firstly, the researchers investigated the associations between the child–kindergarten teacher relationship and the children’s outcomes, such as well-being in kindergarten, play behaviour, and adaptation to the kindergarten environment. An analysis of the children’s family relationships was then conducted to determine whether these associations remained significant after checking for factors shared by the children’s siblings. Finally, the researchers investigated the degree to which the structural quality in kindergarten and children’s outcomes were indirectly linked to the closeness of the relationship between the child and the kindergarten teacher.

Alexandersen, N., Zachrisson, H. D., Røysamb, E., Wilhelmsen, T., Wang, M. V., & Brandlistuen, R. E. (2023). Preschool structural quality and student–teacher closeness are related to children's adjustment: sibling-informed design. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 66, 48–60.

Online year: 2023

Issue year: 2024

Review year: 2023