Research findings indicate that executive function (EF) is crucial for children’s learning and academic achievement. Moreover, the development of EF is closely related to environmental factors such as parental and educational support. Xu and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the associations between EF and teacher-student relationships (TSR) at the dyadic level (one-on-one) and classroom level, and explore the roles of cultural characteristics as moderators.
A total of 84 studies were included, involving participants attending regular preschool or primary education across 18 cultural regions. About 50% of the studies originated from the US and 25% including at least one non-Western sample population. Guided by Hofstede’s classifications, the authors assigned scores of cultural factors (individualism, power distance, and agentic goals) to each region. The results of the three-level meta-analysis were as follows:
- A significant correlation was found between dyadic TSR and EF (r = +0.25). Regarding dyadic TSR subdimensions, positive effects were observed for closeness (r = +0.18), while negative effects were noted for conflict (r = -0.26) and dependency (r = -0.17). Classroom level TSR showed a rather weak link with EF (overall r = +0.09), with classroom management showing the strongest association (r = +0.14), followed by emotional support (r=+0.09) and instructional support (r=+0.08).
- Culturally, individualism significantly moderated the TSR-EF link at both dyadic and classroom level negatively, indicating that the higher the degrees of individualism, the smaller the TSR-EF correlation. Power distance (refers to the extent to which individuals with less power in the organisation) only moderated the classroom-level TSR-EF link positively.
- Several significant moderators were identified. Adult-reported EF measures yielded larger effect sizes compared to direct assessments. Hot EF (emotion and motivation-related) showed a stronger link with closeness than cool EF (cognitive-related). SES enhanced the classroom TSR-EF link.
Notably, after taking into account for the effect of EF instrument, the extent of individualism no longer moderated the dyadic TSR-EF link significantly. Similarly, after considering the type of EF instrument, the closeness-EF association showed no significant difference between hot EF and cool EF.
Source: Xu, C., Huizinga, M., Tekelia Ekubagewargies, D., Soetaert, J., Van Den Noortgate, W., & Baeyens, D. (n.d.). The relation between teacher–student interaction and executive function performance in children: A cross-cultural meta-analysis. Educational Psychologist, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2024.2315527