Academic Competence, Teacher–Student Relationship, and Violence and Victimisation in Adolescents: The Classroom Climate as a Mediator

Teresa I. Jiménez, David Moreno-Ruiz, Estefanía Estévez, Juan Evaristo Callejas-Jerónimo, Ginesa López-Crespo and Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas
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Teresa I. Jiménez: Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
David Moreno-Ruiz: Department of Social Psychology, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
Estefanía Estévez: Department of Health Psychology, Miguel Hernández University, 03202 Alicante, Spain
Juan Evaristo Callejas-Jerónimo: Department of Applied Economics I, University of Sevilla, 41018 Sevilla, Spain
Ginesa López-Crespo: Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Sonsoles Valdivia-Salas: Department of Psychology and Sociology, University of Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: School violence is a serious social and public health problem prevalent worldwide. Although the relevance of teacher and classroom factors is well established in the literature, few studies have focused on the role of teacher perceptions in school violence and victimisation and the potential mediational role of classroom climate in this relationship. A total of 2399 adolescents (50% girls), aged between 11 and 18 years (M = 14.65, SD = 1.78) and enrolled in five Spanish Secondary Compulsory Education schools completed measures of classroom climate, school violence towards peers and perception of peer victimisation, and their teachers informed about their academic competence and the teacher–student relationship. Correlational analyses revealed that whereas academic competence perceived by the teacher was negatively related to overt violence and victimisation, its relationship with pure relational violence was positive. Structural equation modelling analyses showed that variables of classroom climate (involvement, affiliation, and teacher support) perceived by the students functioned as partial mediators between teacher perceptions of academic competence and of teacher–student relationship and violence and victimisation. In the mediational model, teacher perception of academic competence acted as a direct protective factor against violence and victimisation, and teacher perception of teacher–student relationship acted as a direct risk for violence, as well as an indirect protective factor through classroom climate for victimisation. The interpretation of these results points to the importance of the teacher’s subjective perceptions in the prevention of violence and victimisation problems and their practical implications for the classroom climate perceived by students.

Keywords: school violence; school victimisation; classroom climate; academic competence; teacher–student relationship; adolescents; mediation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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