Emotion-related socialization in the classroom: Considering the roles of teachers, peers, and the classroom context

Abstract

The goal of this study was to apply aspects of the heuristic model advanced by Eisenberg, Cumberland, and Spinrad (1998) to the study of socialization that takes place in preschool and elementary school classrooms. Investigating socialization in this context is important given the number of hours students spend in school, the emotional nature of social interactions that take place involving teachers and students, and the emotions students often experience in the context of academic work. Guided by Eisenberg, Cumberland, et al.'s (1998) call to consider complex socialization pathways, we focus our discussion on ways teachers, peers, and the classroom context can shape students' emotion-related outcomes (e.g., self-regulation, adjustment) and academic-related outcomes (e.g., school engagement, achievement) indirectly and differentially (e.g., as a function of student or classroom characteristics). Our illustrative review of the intervention literature demonstrates that the proposed classroom-based socialization processes have clear applied implications, and efforts to improve socialization in the classroom can promote students' emotional and academic competence. We conclude our discussion by outlining areas that require additional study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1.

Heuristic model depicting emotion-related socialization in the classroom. The associations between the socialization agent and outcomes may be moderated by emotion-related interactions, classroom context, and student characteristics. To ease the presentation, not all all potential pathways and moderating effects are shown, and we recognize other factors (e.g., student IQ, family SES, teacher education, teachers’ personal life, peer experiences and expectations) are also relevant to student outcomes.