EXAMINING THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN INTERNALIZING SYMPTOMS, STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIP QUALITY, AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

This study used archival data from a study that was conducted to evaluate a school-based social emotional learning intervention. The sample included 532 adolescents in sixth and seventh grades and their teachers from 18 public schools in New York City?. The associations between internalizing symptoms and (a) academic performance and (b) student-teacher relationship quality were investigated as well as the potential mediating role of student-teacher relationship quality between internalizing symptoms and academic performance. The results did not support the mediating role. However, a regression analysis seemed to indicate that student-teacher relationship quality and internalizing symptoms had a major impact on academic grades. Boys seemed to have a better student-teacher relationship quality while girls showed more internalizing symptoms. However, the negative correlation between depression and grades was significant for both genders. Because this sample came from an understudied population, more research with children from minorities is essential to understand the interplay between different factors in an urban school setting and their impacts on students’ academic success.