Teacher support is key to self-esteem

Students who feel supported by their teachers tend to have higher self-esteem, researchers in the United States, Canada and China said.

Researchers at Southeast University in Nanjing, China, New York University, the Educational Testing Service, Harvard University, the University of Western Ontario and Nanjing Brain Hospital looked at nearly 1,500 urban middle school students in China and the United States.

They considered students’ perceptions of three aspects of school climate: teacher support, student support and opportunities for autonomy in the classroom.

The study, published in Child Development, found that for both Chinese and American middle schoolers, students who felt supported by their teachers were more likely to have higher self-esteem.

The researchers also found that students in China got more support from teachers and other students and more opportunities for autonomy than students in the United States.