Relationship between preschool teachers’ reports of children’s behavior and their behavior toward those children.

Abstract

The relationships between preschool children and their teachers are an important component of the quality of the preschool experience. This study used attribution theory as a framework to better understand these relationships, examining the connection between teachers' perceptions of children's behavior and teachers' behavior toward those children. One hundred seven preschool children and 24 preschool teachers participated in this study. Two teachers reported on each child's behavior using the Teacher Report Form of the Child Behavior Checklist. Commands and praise directed toward children by the teachers in the study were coded from classroom videotapes. Teachers gave more commands to children they perceived as having greater general behavior problems, even after controlling for the shared variance in the other classroom teacher's report of the child's behavior. Implications for school psychologists, teachers, and researchers are discussed.