Teacher-child relationships in Turkish and United States schools: A cross-cultural study

Abstract

Recent educational research utilising Bowlby’s attachment theory has focused on children’s interpersonal relationships with their teachers. Research in this area has indicated that the security of the teacher-child relationship influences children’s development in many of the same ways as secure parent-child attachments. The purpose of this study is to examine and compare a United States and Turkish sample of teachers and their perceived relationships with their students. It was hypothesised that because teachers in the United States receive more information related to the developmental needs of children, they would be more sensitive to the need for closeness in teacher-child relationships. Results indicate that, in fact, Turkish teachers report less conflict and more closeness to their students than did United States teachers. Attachment, relationships, multicultural, teachers, children Recent educational research has focused on children’s interpersonal relationships with their teachers. As in the study of parent-child relations, this research has utilised Bowlby’s (1973; 1980; 1982) attachment theory as a framework for understanding the interpersonal dynamics of this relationship. This is a departure from traditional teacher-child research, which has tended to focus on the relationships between teacher and child related to instruction. Teacher-child attachment research is primarily focused on the interpersonal relationship between a teacher and child. Research in this area has indicated that the security of the teacher-child relationship influences children’s development in many of the same ways as secure parent-child attachments (Goosen and

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