The cross-lagged associations between classroom interactions and children’s achievement behaviors

•Teacher’s low emotional support predicted children’s subsequent high passive avoidance.•High classroom organization and instructional support predicted children’s social dependence.•Children’s high task avoidance predicted high-quality classroom interactions later on.•The findings emphasize the importance of classroom interactions for achievement behaviors.•Teachers adapt their classroom interactions in respect to children’s achievement behaviors.

This study examined the cross-lagged associations between the quality of classroom interactions and children’s behaviors in achievement situations. The achievement behaviors in challenging test situations of 166 Finnish children from 70 classrooms were rated by trained testers in grades 1 and 2. The quality of classroom interactions in terms of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support were observed in 25 classrooms (out of 70) in grades 1 and 2. The results of multilevel modeling showed that classroom teachers’ low emotional support predicted children’s subsequent high passive avoidance, whereas high classroom organization and instructional support predicted children’s high social dependence. Furthermore, the more children showed active task avoidance, the more emotional and instructional support and classroom organization teachers showed later on in the classroom. The findings emphasize the importance of warm and supportive classroom interactions for children’s adaptive achievement behaviors. The results also suggest that teachers adapt their classroom interactions with respect to children’s active task avoidance.