Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-cmjwd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-12-10T03:42:40.701Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Teacher and peer relationships and life satisfaction: Mediating the role of student resilience in south korean elementary schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2020

Minyoung Lee  and
Sang Min Lee Open the ORCID record for Sang Min Lee [Opens in a new window]
Minyoung Lee
Affiliation:
1Brain and Motivation Research Institute (bMRI), Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
Sang Min Lee*
Affiliation:
2Department of Education, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
*
*Address for correspondence: Sang Min Lee, Department of Education, Korea University, Anam-Dong, Sungbuk-Gu, Seoul, South Korea. Email leesang@korea.ac.kr
Get access

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between life satisfaction and positive student-teacher and peer relationships. Further, we aimed to test the mediating effects of student resilience in a multilevel model. The data were collected from elementary students in South Korea. To examine the mediating effects of student resilience, multilevel structural equation modelling was conducted. The results indicated that schools with positive student-teacher relationships correlated with higher life satisfaction for children. This relationship was fully mediated by student resilience. However, the mediating effects of student resilience in the relationship between peer relationships and life satisfaction was found to be at the individual level rather than by school climate. Practical implications on ways to improve students’ life satisfaction within the school and classroom settings are discussed.

Keywords

life satisfactionteacher relationshipspeer relationshipsstudent resilienceschool climatemultilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM)

Information

Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , June 2023 , pp. 13 - 25
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Barcikowski, R.S. (1981). Statistical power with group mean as the unit of analysis. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 6, 267–285.10.3102/10769986006003267CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, R.M., & Kenny, D.A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.1173CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blue Ltd, Beyond. (2017). Building resilience in children aged 0–12: A practice guide. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/who-does-it-affect/children/building-resilience-in-children-aged-0-12 Google Scholar
Blair, C. (2002). School readiness: Integrating cognition and emotion in a neurobiological conceptualization of children’s functioning at school entry. American Psychologist, 57, 111–127.10.1037/0003-066X.57.2.111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, J. (Originator). (1965). Ego Resilience Scale (ER89). [Psychological questionnaire].Google Scholar
Block, J., & Block, J. (1980). The role of ego-control and ego resiliency in the organization of behavior. In Collins, W.A. (Ed.), The Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology: Vol. 13. Development of cognition, affect, and social relations (pp. 39–101.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Block, J., & Block, J.H. (2006). Venturing a 30-year longitudinal study. American Psychologist, 61, 315–327.10.1037/0003-066X.61.4.315CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Block, J., & Kremen, A.M. (1996). IQ and ego-resiliency: Conceptual and empirical connections and separateness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 349–361.10.1037/0022-3514.70.2.349CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradshaw, J., Martorano, B., Natali, L., & Nueboug, C. (2013). Children’s subjective well-being in rich countries. Child Indicators Research, 6, 619–635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chu, B.W. (2015). Teachers’ roles for improving students’ resilience in moral education. Journal of Ethics Education Studies, 37, 51–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chuang, S.S., Lamb, M.E., & Hwang, C.P. (2006). Personality development from childhood to adolescence: a longitudinal study of ego-control and ego-resiliency in Sweden. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 30, 338–343.10.1177/0165025406072795CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. (2013). Creating a positive school climate: A foundation for resilience. In Goldstein, S. & Brooks, R. (Eds.), Handbook of resilience in children (pp. 411–423). Boston, MA: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currie, C., Zanotti, C., Morgan, A., Currie, D., Looze, M., Roberts, C., Samdal, O., Smith, O.R.F., & Barnekow, V. (2012). Social determinants of health and well-being among young people. Health behaviour in school-aged children (HBSC) study: International report from the 2009/2010 survey. Copenhagen, Denmark: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
DeRosier, M.E. (2019). Peer relations research. Retrieved from https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/peer-relations-research Google Scholar
Diener, E., Suh, E.M., Lucas, R.E., & Smith, H.L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farkas, D., & Orosz, G. (2015). Ego-resiliency reloaded: A three-component model of general resiliency. PLoS ONE, 10, e0120883.10.1371/journal.pone.0120883CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Felner, R.D., Favazza, A., Shim, M., Brand, S., Gu, K., & Noonan, N. (2001). Whole school improvement and restructuring as prevention and promotion: Lessons from STEP and the project on high performance learning communities. Journal of School Psychology, 39, 177–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furrer, C., & Skinner, E. (2003). Sense of relatedness as a factor in children’s academic engagement and performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95, 148–162.10.1037/0022-0663.95.1.148CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gjerde, P.F., Block, J., & Block, J.H. (1986). Egocentrism and ego resiliency: personality characteristics associated with perspective-taking from early childhood to adolescence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 423–434.10.1037/0022-3514.51.2.423CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodenow, C. (1993). Classroom belonging among early adolescent students: Relationships to motivation and achievement. Journal of Early Adolescence, 13, 21–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamre, B.K., & Pianta, R.C. (2007). Learning opportunities in preschool and early elementary classrooms. In Pianta, R., Cox, M., & Snow, K. (Eds.), School readiness & the transition to kindergarten in the era of accountability (pp. 49–84). Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Hamre, B.K., Pianta, R.C., Mashburn, A.J., & Downer, J.T. (2007). Building a science of classrooms: Application of the CLASS framework in over 4,000 U.S. early childhood and elementary classrooms. New York, NY: Foundation for Child Development.Google Scholar
Han, J. (2013). Mediation effect of ego-resilience in the relationship between the teacher’s facilitative communication perceived by children and school happiness (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Gyeongin National University of Education, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.Google Scholar
Hong, S. (2000). The criteria for selecting appropriate fit indices in structural equation modeling and their rationales. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 19, 161–177.Google Scholar
Huebner, E.S., Suldo, S.M., Smith, L.C., & McKnight, C.G. (2004). Life satisfaction in children and youth: Empirical foundations and implications for school psychologists. Psychology in the Schools, 41, 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jang, S.H., Choi, E.H., & Lee, J.Y. (2016). The mediating effect of ego-resilience in the effect of elementary students’ psychological well-being on adjustment to school life and everyday life stress. The Journal of Child Education, 25, 353–364.Google Scholar
Jeong, H.S. (2009). the influence of attachment to mother and school life adjustment on elementary school students’ optimism (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Dankook University, Gyeonggi-do.Google Scholar
Jeong, Y., & Kim, J. (2015). A concept analysis of ego-resiliency. Korean Journal of Adult Nursing, 27, 644–655.10.7475/kjan.2015.27.6.644CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jo, S. (2014). Resilience improvement program on the school adjustability and stress of elementary school students (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Busan National University, Busan, South Korea.Google Scholar
Klohnen, E.C. (1996). Conceptual analysis and measurement of the construct of ego-resiliency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 1067–1079.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, H.S. (2013). The effects of ego-resilience in the relationship between the daily stress and psychological maladjustment of elementary school students (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Ajou University, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.Google Scholar
Kim, S., Im, J., Kim, S., Park, S., Yoo, S., Choi, J., & Lee, G. (2006). Korea Youth Development Indicators Survey I: Verification of measurement indicators in result. Seoul, South Korea: Nation Youth Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Kim, S., Kang, K., & Bang, K. (2010). Contents analysis of meaning in life of higher grade elementary school students. Child Health Nursing Research, 16, 287–296.Google Scholar
Koth, C.W., Bradshaw, C.P., & Leaf, P.J. (2008). A multilevel study of predictors of student perceptions of school climate: The effect of classroom-level factors. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 96–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwon, J.E. (2002). The relation of ego-resilience, parent and peer attachment, and problem-solving. (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Ewha Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea.Google Scholar
Lee, M.J. (2010). The relationship between elementary school children’s academic stress, ego-resilience, social support and their adaptation (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Daegu University, Daegu, South Korea.Google Scholar
Lewis, A.D., Huebner, E.S., Malone, P.S., & Valois, R.F. (2011). Life satisfaction and student engagement in adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 249–262.10.1007/s10964-010-9517-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lim, S.H. (2005). The effect of children’s ego-resilience on stress on stress and stress-coping style (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Sookmyung, Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea.Google Scholar
Lynch, M., & Cicchetti, D. (1997). Children’s relationships with adults and peers: An examination of elementary and junior high school students. Journal of School Psychology, 35, 81–99.10.1016/S0022-4405(96)00031-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellor, D., Stokes, M., Firth, L, Hayashi, Y., & Cummins, R. (2008). Need for belonging, relationship, satisfaction, loneliness, and life satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 213–218.10.1016/j.paid.2008.03.020CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Midgley, C., Feldlauffer, H., & Eccles, J. (1989). Student/teacher relations and attitudes toward mathematics before and after the transition to junior high school. Child Development, 60, 981–992 10.2307/1131038CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Min, B. (1991). The effect of school adjustment and self-concept on academic achievement (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea.Google Scholar
Moos, R.H. (1979). Evaluating educational environments. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Morrison, G.M., & Allen, M.R. (2009). Promoting student resilience in school context. Theory Into Practice, 46, 162–169.10.1080/00405840701233172CrossRefGoogle Scholar
School Climate Council, National. (2007). The School Climate Challenge: Narrowing the gap between school climate research and school climate policy, practice guidelines and teacher education policy. Retrieved from http://www.schoolclimate.org/ climate/advocacy.php.Google Scholar
Ng, Z.J., Huebner, E.S., Hills, K.J., & Valois, R.F. (2018). Mediating effects of emotion regulation strategies in the relations between stressful life events and life satisfaction in a longitudinal sample of early adolescents. Journal of School Psychology, 70, 16–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
No, U., Lee, H., Lee, E., & Hong, S. (2017). Changes in students’ school violence during middle school: Applying multivariate multilevel growth models to testing individual and school effects. Studies on Korean Youth, 28, 37–65.Google Scholar
Park, Y. (2010). The mediating effects of ego-resiliency, social support in the relation between stress and school adjustment: With its focus on adolescents living in orphanages (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Kyungpook National University, Daegu, South Korea.Google Scholar
Paulson, B.L., & Everall, R.D. (2001). The teen suicide research project. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 47, 91–94.Google Scholar
Peugh, J.L. (2010). A practical guide to multilevel modeling. Journal of School Psychology, 48, 85–112.10.1016/j.jsp.2009.09.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piko, B.F., & Hamvai, C. (2010). Parent, school and peer-related correlates of adolescents’ life satisfaction. Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 1479–1482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preacher, K.J., Zhang, Z., & Zyphur, M.J. (2011). Alternative methods for assessing mediation in multilevel data: The advantages of multilevel SEM. Structural Equation Modeling, 18, 161–182.10.1080/10705511.2011.557329CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preacher, K.J., Zyphur, M.J., & Zhang, Z. (2010). A general multilevel SEM framework for assessing multilevel mediation. Psychological Methods, 15, 209–233.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richardson, G.E. (2002). The metatheory of resilience and resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 307–321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rubin, K.H., Bukowski, W.M., & Parker, J.G. (2006). Peer interactions, relationships, and groups. In Eisenberg, N., Damon, W., & Lerner, R.M. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (pp. 1–81). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Ryan, R.M., & Grolnick, W.S. (1986). Origins and pawns in the classroom: Self-report and projective assessments of individual differences in children’s perceptions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 550–558.10.1037/0022-3514.50.3.550CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, R.M., Stiller, J.D., & Lynch, J.H. (1994). Representations of relationships to teachers, parents, and friends as predictors of academic motivation and self-esteem. Journal of Early Adolescence, 14, 226–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwabe, F., Korthals, R., & Schils, T. (2019). Positive social relationships with peers and teachers as moderators of the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect. Learning and Individual Differences, 70, 21–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwarz, B., Mayer, B., Trommsdorff, G., Ben-Arieh, A., Friedlmeier, M., Lubiewska, K., Mishra, R., & Peltzer, K. (2012). Does the importance of parent and peer relationships for adolescents’ life satisfaction vary across cultures? The Journal of Early Adolescence, 32, 55–80.10.1177/0272431611419508CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shim, J.H., & Yi, K. (2018). A longitudinal analysis of the determinants of the life satisfaction among adolescents: Focusing on gender and academic characteristics. The Korea Educational Review, 24, 199–225.10.29318/KER.24.1.8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shin, Y.J. (2005). Study on relationships among parental child-rearing attitude, self-resilience and school adjustment of elementary school students (Unpublished master’s dissertation). Gongju National University, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea.Google Scholar
Stephens, T.M. (2013). Nursing student resilience: A concept clarification. Nursing Forum, 48, https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12015 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suldo, S.M., Riley, K.N., & Shaffer, E.J. (2006). Academic correlates of children and adolescents’ life satisfaction. School Psychology International, 27, 567–582.10.1177/0143034306073411CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, R.F., & Shek, D.L. (2013). Longitudinal influences of positive youth development and life satisfaction on problem behavior among adolescents in Hong Kong. Social Indicators Research, 114, 1171–1197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sung, H., & Choi, H. (2018). The relationship among teacher burnout, students’ school adjustment and academic burnout: Multilevel mediation of ego resilience. The Korean Journal of School Psychology, 15, 27–50.Google Scholar
Swanson, J., Valiente, C., & Lemery-Chalfant, K., & O’Brien, T.C. (2011). Predicting early adolescents’ academic achievement, social competence, and physical health from parenting, ego resilience, and engagement coping. Journal of Early Adolescence, 31, 548–576.10.1177/0272431610366249CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Z.E., Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T.L., Eggum, N.D., & Sulik, M.J. (2013). The relations of ego-resiliency and emotion socialization to the development of empathy and prosocial behavior across early childhood. Emotion, 13, 822–831.10.1037/a0032894CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Z.E., Sulik, M.H., Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T.L., Silva, K.M., Lemery-Chalfant, K., … Verrelli, B.C. (2014). Development of ego-resiliency: Relations to observed parenting and polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene during early childhood. Social Development, 23, 433–450.10.1111/sode.12041CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vitto, J.M. (2003). Relationship-driven classroom management: Strategies that promote student motivation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.Google Scholar
Vygotsky, L.S. (1991). Genesis of the higher mental functions. In Light, P., Sheldon, S. & Woodhead, M. (Eds.), Learning to think (pp. 32–41). Florence, KY: Taylor & Frances/Routledge.Google Scholar
Wang, M., & Eccles, J.S. (2012). Social support matters: Longitudinal effects of social support on three dimensions of school engagement from middle to high school. Child Development, 83, 877–895.10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01745.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wentzel, K.R. (2017). Peer relationships, motivation, and academic performance at school. In Elliot, A. & Dweck, C. (Eds.), Handbook of competence and motivation (2nd ed., pp. 586–603). New York, NY: Guilford.Google Scholar
Westling-Allodi, M.W. (2002). A two-level analysis of classroom climate in relation to social context, group composition, and organization of special support. Learning Environments Research, 5, 253–274.10.1023/A:1021972206111CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Windle, G., Bennett, K.M., & Noyes, J. (2011). A methodological review of resilience measurement scales. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 9, Article no. 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yoo, S.K., & Shim, H.W. (2002). Psychological protective factors in resilience adolescents in Korea. The Korean Journal of Educational Psychology, 16, 189–206.Google Scholar