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

Abstract

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. To explore later psychiatric disorder among children with problematic teacher-pupil relationships. Secondary analysis of a population-based cross-sectional survey of children aged 5-16 with a 3-year follow-up. 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. This study underlines the need to support teachers and schools to develop positive relationships with their pupils.