Moderating effects of education on the problem behavior trajectories of high SES children: a secondary data analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study

Thesis

The purpose of this study is to find the potential moderating effects of student-teacher relationships on the problem behavior trajectories of children using the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a nationally representative longitudinal survey following the development of over 19,000 UK children. Latent growth curve (LGC) modeling within the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed with an analytic sample of 11,796 children. First, findings suggest that children’s problem behavior decreases linearly over time, but that significant levels of individual variations exist across children. Second, the findings also show that children with higher initial problem behavior levels at age three display steeper drops in problem behavior over time than those who have low initial levels of problem behavior. Third, student-teacher relationships and problem behavior have a transactional and negative relationship. Implications for teachers, policy makers, and early intervention designers to improve children’s socio-emotional development and lifelong outcomes, and study limitations are further discussed.

Authors: Lee, JJ

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-vgo9x9xx9
• Type of award: MSc by Research
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Structural equation modeling; Problem behavior; Latent growth curve modeling; Millennium Cohort Study; Student-teacher relationships
• Subjects: Child development; Socioeconomic status; Mental health