title: Preschoolers' academic readiness: What role does the teacher-child relationship play?
abstract: We examined the role of the teacher-child relationship quality (close, dependent, and conflictive) on preschoolers' (N= 95) academic readiness for kindergarten, and we tested children's prosocial and aggressive behavior and peer group exclusion as mediators of this relation. A unique feature of this study is the ethnically and socio-economically diverse preschool-aged sample. The association between close teacher-child relationships and academic readiness was partially mediated by prosocial behavior and peer group exclusion. There was also evidence of a transactional association between close teacher-child relationships and children's behavior. Additionally, children's behavior and peer group exclusion mediated the relation between negative teacher-child relationships (dependent and conflictive) and academic readiness. The findings suggest that teacher training, education, and support for establishing close teacher-child relationships may maximize preschoolers' academic readiness by promoting social adaptation.
authors: School of Social and Family Dynamics, Program in Family and Human Development, Arizona State University, Box 873701, Tempe, AZ 85287-3701, United States.
authors: Francisco
authors: F
authors: Palermo
authors: Laura D
authors: LD
authors: Hanish
authors: Carol Lynn
authors: CL
authors: Martin
authors: Richard A
authors: RA
authors: Fabes
authors: Mark
authors: M
authors: Reiser
keywords: Academic readiness; Preschool; Teacher–child relationship