Self-Worth as a Mediator and Moderator Between Teacher-Student Relationships and Student Engagement in Rural Schools

Abstract

This study examined how self-worth of students mediated and moderated their perceived positive teacher-student relationships and student engagement among middle-school students from rural China. Eighth graders (N = 838) completed surveys measuring their perceived relationships with teachers, their self-worth, and engagement. Statistical analyses revealed significant correlations among all three variables, with the strongest being between teacher-student relationships and student engagement. The structural equation modeling indicated that self-worth partially mediated the effect of teacher-student relationships on student engagement; however, positive teacher-student relationships were a stronger predictor. Multigroup analyses identified self-worth as a moderator, whereby students with lower self-worth were more reliant on positive teacher-student relationships to enhance their engagement. This study provides insights into how self-worth of students and their perceived positive teacher-student relationships influence their academic engagement in disadvantaged rural areas of China.

Relationship between perceived teacher support and learning engagement among adolescents: Mediation role of technology acceptance and learning motivation

“…In Wentzel's study, perceived teacher support can facilitate students' willingness to cognitively and behaviorally engage in academic tasks, teacher support was positively related to students' interest in engaging in interactive classroom tasks (Wentzel, 1997). Another research found that teacher support may generate good teacher-student connections that can improve students' social interaction and intellectual skills within a classroom environment (Huang et al, 2022). Positive relationships between teachers and students can be a key source of supporting students' academic efforts and, motivating them to engage more in academic activities and learning tasks (Cooper, 2014).…”

The relationship between basic psychological needs satisfaction and university students’ academic engagement: The mediating effect of emotional intelligence

“…Engagement is not only highly motivated state, but also strongly affected by emotions, which are an inherent part of the human existence in any context ( Brackett et al, 2021 ). Thus, while examining intrinsic factors, researchers also have found emotional intelligence (EI) to be an important predictor of academic engagement (e.g., Sinclair et al, 2003 ; Mavroveli et al, 2009 ; Durlak et al, 2011 ; Huang et al, 2022 ).…”

Impact of Competency and Self-esteem on the Teacher Engagement at Jinja City Primary Schools, Uganda

“…In addition, there are also studies that supported the above findings such as Rama and Sarada (2017), Sahay (2020), Singh (2018), Srinivasan and Pugalenthi (2020) who also reported that teacher competence significantly predicted self-esteem. On the other hand, the findings revealed that self-esteem partially mediated the link between teacher competence and engagement such as, Gebresilase and Zhao (2023), Huang et al (2022), Li et al (2022), Chang et al (2022), Achmad et al (2023), Kim et al (2017), Liu et al (2023) whose findings revealed that self-esteem mediated the link between teacher competence and engagement. Since the findings are in line with the majority of researchers, it can be inferred that self-esteem partially mediated the link between teacher competence and engagement.…”

“…Self-esteem has been considered as the mediator of teacher engagement because teachers feel engaged when they exhibit a high level of selfesteem (Pathardikar et al, 2022). Researchers (Gebresilase & Zhao, 2023;Huang et al, 2022;Li et al, 2022;Pathardikar & Srivastava, 2022;Mai, 2016;Chang et al, 2022;Achmad et al, 2023;Kim et al, 2017;Liu et al, 2023) tried to use selfesteem to mediate the relationship between teacher competence and engagement in their investigations. However, conceptual and population gaps emerged from the above investigations.…”