Association Between Teacher Educational Practices and Behaviors of Preschool and School-Aged Children

Abstract

Behavior problems and social skills are inversely related variables and can be influenced by teachers’ educational practices. There is a lack of studies that simultaneously evaluate these variables, distinguishing types of behavior problems: internalizing, externalizing, and those with comorbidity of both internalizing and externalizing problems. The objective was to examine the associations between teachers’ educational practices (positive and negative) and behaviors (social skills and behavior problems) of preschool and school-aged children, divided into groups of children with internalizing problems (G-Inter), externalizing problems (G-Exter), and combined internalizing and externalizing problems (G-Inter+Exter), compared to matched non-clinical groups for these problems. Furthermore, we sought to identify, through univariate and multivariate analyses, how the variables of interest were associated with the children’s behavioral problems. A cross-sectional, correlational design was adopted. Participants included teachers of 262 children, distributed into groups differentiated by types of behavior problems and their non-problematic peers, using the Teacher’s Report Form (TRF) as the criterion. Teachers responded about educational practices and children’s behaviors. The data were processed using correlation analyses and univariate and multivariate associations (p<0.05). It was found that positive practices, contextual variables, and children’s social skills were associated, as well as positive associations between negative practices and behavior problems. For all three groups studied, social skills were negatively associated with behavior problems, and for the G-Exter and G-Inter+Exter groups, educational practices were also associated. These findings contribute to identifying risk and protective factors for specific problems, informing interventions aimed at children and teachers.