Author:

Keywords:

Social Sciences, Psychology, Developmental, Psychology, Teacher-child relationships, CARTS, dependency, attachment, STRS, RELATIONSHIP SCALE, STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS, MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE, SCHOOL, ACHIEVEMENT, ENGAGEMENT, ATTACHMENT, PRESCHOOL, ASSOCIATIONS, CONSISTENCY, Humans, Object Attachment, Perception, Reproducibility of Results, School Teachers, Schools, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, Developmental & Child Psychology, 5201 Applied and developmental psychology, 5202 Biological psychology, 5203 Clinical and health psychology

Abstract:

This study examines teachers' and children's perceptions of dependency, and their linkages with other relationship dimensions, in a cultural context with a more collectivistic orientation. Additionally, it examines the factorial validity and reliability of the Greek version of the Child Appraisal of Relationship with Teacher Scale (CARTS) and teacher-child perceptions' convergence of relationship quality. Participants were 348 kindergarten students and 35 teachers from Greek kindergarten classrooms. The measures used were the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) and CARTS. Results verified the factorial validity and internal consistency of the Greek CARTS. Results replicated previous findings suggesting a positive association between Closeness and Dependency in both teachers' and children's perceptions. The finding about the positive association between closeness and dependency in a cultural context with a more collectivistic orientation, challenges the cultural universality of the construct of dependency and highlights the need for a more in-depth examination of the construct of dependency.