Examining the mediating role of teacher-related variables on the relationship between classroom management and student social--emotional and behavioral risk
Authors:   , Taylor Crystal Nichole 
Published: February 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] It is estimated that 20[percent] of school-aged children experience social-emotional and behavioral (SEB) difficulties in a given year (Perou et al., 2013). It is important to understand students' challenging behaviors in relation to their ability to regulate their emotions and begin to intervene to support those students. One way in which schools support students' emotion regulation is through multitiered systems of support (MTSS), which encourages early identification and intervention for those students in need of support. A fundamental aspect of MTSS is that broader environments contribute to risk. One major aspect of the broader classroom environment is the teacher. Teachers are responsible for a large amount of the implementation of MTSS in schools, yet 78[percent] of teachers feel they lack training for supporting student mental health (Reinke, Stormont, Herman, Puri, & Goel, 2011). When teachers are less confident in their classroom management abilities they give up when teaching disruptive students and are less likely to work to create order in the classroom (Brouwers & Tornic, 2000). In addition to classroom management practices, it is also important to consider teacher variables that may also influence student behavioral risk. Variables such as teachers' stress, burnout, relationships with students, and their sense of self-efficacy regarding their classroom management practices are predicted to influence student risk and teacher classroom management practices. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the extent to which teacher classroom management is related to student risk for social-emotional and behavioral difficulties and to further examine the extent to which teacher-student relationships, teacher stress, teacher burnout, and teacher self-efficacy mediate the relationship between classroom management and student SEB risk. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to test for direct effects between multiple classroom management practices and student SEB risk. HLM was also used to test the indirect effect of four classroom management practices (i.e., praise, reprimand, opportunities to respond, and communication) via the hypothesized mediating variables. Results indicated teacher stress mediated the relationship between (a) teacher praise and student SEB risk and (b) teacher reprimands and student SEB risk. Teacher self-efficacy mediated the relationship between three classroom management practices (i.e., praise, reprimand, and communication) and student SEB risk. Close teacher-student relationships mediated the relationship between (a) teacher reprimands and student SEB risk and (b) opportunities to respond and student SEB risk. Conflicting teacher-student relationships mediated the relationship between all aspects of classroom management tested and student SEB risk. Finally, teacher burnout mediated the relationship between praise and student SEB risk and reprimand and student SEB risk. A consistent finding was that all teacher-related variables of interest explained the relationship between reprimand and student SEB risk rates. Thus, one takeaway from these results is there is a need to support those teachers with increased negativity via examination and intervention relative to their affective functioning.