Bio-ecological processes in schools: The role of teachers, peers, and genes in children's and adolescents' psychological and academic development

Throughout late childhood and adolescence, there is a general increase in adjustment problems, including an increase in psychosocial problems, such as externalizing behavior, and an increase in academic problems, such as declining levels of behavioral school engagement. The present doctoral dissertation offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the development of externalizing behavior and behavioral engagement, guided by the bio-ecological model of human development (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), which explains individual differences in development in terms of both environmental and biological influences and interactions between them. We focused on how the affective quality of teacher-student relationships, peer likeability and peer popularity impact children’s and adolescents’ behavioral school engagement and externalizing behavior. In addition, we revealed the bi-directional effects and transactional processes between teacher-student relationships and peer relationships in elementary school, and between teacher-student relationships and adolescent adjustment problems in secondary school. Based on the biological side of Bronfenbrenner’s model – which suggests that biologically-based factors may join with environmental factors to shape development – we investigated whether dopaminergic genes moderate the effect of teacher-student relationships on adolescents’ adjustment problems. Four empirical studies are included. The first two are based on a longitudinal project which includes 586 children from Grade 4, followed for three years (Sample 1). The second two are based on the longitudinal project Studying the Transition to Adolescence: Testing Genes, Interactions, and Environments (STRATEGIES) which includes 1116 adolescents from Grade 7 to 9, followed for three years (Sample 2). Several self-reported, parent-reported, and peer-reported measures were used to assess our research variables. To analyse the data, we used parallel latent growth curve analyses, cross-lagged analyses, multigroup analyses, and hierarchical regression analyses in the framework of structural equation modelling (SEM) using Mplus version 6 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2010). In the first study, we examined the reciprocal associations among teacher-student and peer relationships in late elementary school (Sample 1) and found that higher peer likeability predicted more teacher-student support, which in turn predicted higher peer likeability, beyond changes in children’s prosocial behavior. Higher peer popularity predicted more teacher-student conflict (driven by children’s aggressive behavior), which, in turn and in itself, predicted higher perceived popularity. The second study investigated whether teacher-student and peer relationships may buffer or exacerbate the normative declines in behavioral engagement in late elementary school (Sample 1)and showed that high initial and increasing levels of teacher-student support and high initial levels of peer likeability independently reduce the normative declines in children’s behavioral engagement. Children who were perceived as more popular in Grade 5 were less engaged in school in Grade 6. The third study aimed to test whether adolescents’ genotype for the dopamine transporter (DAT1) or receptor (DRD4) moderates the effect of teacher-student relationship quality on adolescents’ rule-breaking behavior and behavioral engagement (Sample 2). It seems that DAT1-10R homozygotes were more affected by the negative effect of lower teacher-student affiliation on behavioral engagement and that DRD4 non-long carriers were more affected by the adverse effect of teacher-student dissatisfaction on rule-breaking behavior. In the fourth study (Sample 2), we examined bidirectional relations between teacher-student relationship quality and adolescent rule-breaking behavior and behavioral engagement throughout secondary school. In addition, we investigated whether the effects of teacher-student relationship quality on subsequent adolescent behavior were moderated by a biologically informed polygenetic score (BIMPS) for dopamine signalling. We found that adolescents who displayed more rule-breaking behavior and less behavioral engagement experienced increased subsequent dissatisfaction with their teachers, which in turn further increased their adjustment problems. Also, adolescents with more adjustment problems experienced decreased subsequent affiliation with their teachers. The other way around, adolescents’ behavioral engagement also benefitted from positive relationships with teachers. In addition, adolescents who had a BIMPS score coding for moderate levels of dopamine signalling (instead of high or low signalling) were most affected in their behavioral engagement when they experienced dissatisfaction with their teachers.

Publication year:2016

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