Association between children’s temperament and learning behaviors: contribution of relationships with parents and teachers

Abstract

The present study is an investigation of the contributions of child temperament (persistence and reactivity), parent-child (closeness and conflict), and teacher-child relationship (closeness and conflict), to pre-school children's learning behaviours with a focus on the moderating role of these relationships between child temperament and learning behaviours. Participants were 140 children (59 girls) aged 39 to 77 months (M = 62.57, SD = 8.53). Child temperament and parent-child relationships were reported by parents. Teacher-child relationships and learning behaviours were reported by teachers. Results from regression analyses accounting for the nesting structure of the data showed that reactivity, parent-child conflict, and teacher-child conflict were negatively, and persistence and teacher-child closeness were positively related to children’s learning behaviours. In addition, when the parent-child conflict was at average or high levels, children with higher reactivity displayed lower levels of learning behaviours. The findings highlight that both temperament and relationships with parents and teachers are important for children’s learning behaviours.