Influence of problematic child-teacher relationships on future psychiatric disorder: population survey with 3-year follow-up

Abstract

Background: Teacher-pupil relationships have been found to mediate behavioural, social and psychological outcomes for children at different ages according to teacher and child report, but most studies have been small.

Aims: To explore later psychiatric disorder among children with problematic teacher-pupil relationships.

Method: Secondary analysis of a population-based cross-sectional survey of children aged 5-16 with a 3-year follow-up.

Results: Of the 3799 primary-school pupils assessed, 2.5% of parents reported problematic teacher-pupil relationships; for secondary-school pupils (n = 3817) this rose to 6.6%. Among secondary-school pupils, even when children with psychiatric disorder at baseline were excluded and we adjusted for baseline psychopathology score, problematic teacher-pupil relationships were statistically significantly related to higher levels of psychiatric disorder at 3-year follow-up (odds ratio (OR) = 1.93, 95% CI 1.07-3.51 for any psychiatric disorder, OR = 3.00, 95% CI 1.37-6.58 for conduct disorder). Results for primary-school pupils were similar but non-significant at this level of adjustment.

Conclusions: This study underlines the need to support teachers and schools to develop positive relationships with their pupils.