The Role of Teacher Emotional Support in Children's Cross-ethnic Friendship Preferences

Abstract

The present study examined the role of observed teacher emotional support in children's preferences for cross- over same-ethnic friendships in elementary school classrooms. Grade, gender, and ethnic differences in the relations between teacher emotional support and children's friendship preferences were also examined. Participants were 1227 1st, 3rd, and 5th grade European American and African American students from 80 classrooms and their teachers followed longitudinally for one academic year. Our results revealed that teacher emotional support was positively associated with mean levels of cross-ethnic friendship preferences across the year among fifth grade boys only. Ethnicity did not moderate the relation between teacher emotional support and cross-ethnic friendship preferences. This study provides some of the first evidence that the positive effects of teacher warmth and responsiveness may extend to children's cross-ethnic sentiments.

Publisher

Elsevier

Publication Date

1-1-2019

Publication Title

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2018.10.003

Keywords

Teacher emotional support, Cross-ethnic friendships, Same-ethnic friendships, Elementary school

Language

English

Format

text

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