Student representations of dyadic and global teacher-student relationships: Perceived caring, negativity, affinity, and differences across gender and race/ethnicity

This mixed-method study (N = 657) explores high school students' representations of their relationships with teachers in both dyadic teacher-student pairs and on a “global” level with all teachers at a focal school, as well as differences in these representations by student gender and race/ethnicity. The goals are to provide greater insight into how students represent both types of relationships, blending approaches in teacher-student relationship and school climate research, and to explore the ways in which individual student differences may be associated with trends in students' representations. Specifically, students' representations of their dyadic relationships with teachers are explored through content analysis of qualitative student survey data, while a global measure of students' relationships with teachers across the school are modeled through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of quantitative survey items. Both sets of data are then disaggregated by student gender and race/ethnicity. Key findings include the multidimensionality of students' perceptions of teacher caring, the distinction of negative relationship characteristics, and the potentially unique role that perceived affinity may have in students' representations, particularly across student sub-groups. Implications include the need for greater attention to and articulation of students' representations of their relationship in both research and practice.