A Meta‐Analytic Review of Personality and Teacher–Student Relationships

ABSTRACT Objective This meta‐analysis provides the first comprehensive synthesis of associations between student and teacher personality traits and the quality of teacher–student relationships. Method Fifty‐five studies met the eligibility criteria, contributing a total of 238 effect sizes. We used multivariate meta‐analysis with robust variance estimation (RVE) to model the dependency of effect sizes. Results Student prosocial behavior (ρ = 0.59) and proactive personality (ρ = 0.48) were the strongest predictors of positive teacher–student relationship quality. All Big Five traits of students, except neuroticism, showed significant positive associations, with all correlations exceeding 0.4 when holding constant with all other moderators. Teacher agreeableness (ρ = 0.31) and conscientiousness (ρ = 0.29) yielded modest associations. Students with less emotional stability or aggressive behaviors were more likely to experience negative teacher–student relationships, such as conflict and dependency. Conclusion Our findings highlight the critical role of student personality in explaining the quality of teacher–student interactions. Multiple traits appear equally important, as indicated by comparable effect sizes. The literature is relatively limited when it comes to teacher personality. We were unable to examine teacher traits in relation to teacher–student conflict and dependency, but, overall, agreeable and conscientious teacher behaviors appeared to be important for favorable interactions, whereas teacher neuroticism may undermine the quality of such interactions.

• Publication year

  2024

• Venue

  Journal of Personality

• Publication date

  2024-10-29

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Education, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1111/jopy.12986PMID 39468899PMCID 12224568
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• The impact of teacher−student relationship on knowledge sharing among Chinese graduate students: The moderating roles of proactive personality

  2024cited by this paper
• Do you mind a closer look? A jingle-jangle fallacy perspective on mindfulness

  2023cited by this paper
• Impact of Personality Traits on Communication Effectiveness of Teachers: Exploring the Mediating Role of Their Communication Style

  2023cited by this paper
• Peer effects of depression between left-behind and non-left-behind children: quasi-experimental evidence from rural China

  2023cited by this paper
• The Relationship Between Teacher–Student Relationship and Adolescent Emotional Intelligence: A Chain-Mediated Mediation Model of Openness and Empathy

  2023cited by this paper
• Semantic and sentiment similarities contribute to construct overlaps between mindfulness, Big Five, emotion regulation, and mental health

  2023cited by this paper
• Autonomy support, personality, and mindset in predicting academic performance among early adolescents: The mediating role of self‐determined motivation

  2023cited by this paper
• Closeness and conflict in teacher-child relationships in preschool: the role of child personality types

  2023cited by this paper
• Meta-Analytic Associations Between the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale and Students’ Social Competence With Peers

  2023cited by this paper
• Construction and preliminary validation of an inconsistent responding scale for the HEXACO-100.

  2022cited by this paper
• Teacher Autonomy Support and Internalizing Problems of Adolescents from Divorced and Intact Families: Moderation by Personality Typologies

  2022cited by this paper
• Moderating Effects of Teacher–Child Relationship on the Association Between Unsociability and Play Behaviors

  2022cited by this paper
• The Role of Affective Teacher–Student Relationships in Bullying and Peer Victimization: A Multilevel Meta-Analysis

  2022cited by this paper
• A narrative review of school-based interventions measuring dyadic-level teacher-student relationship quality

  2022cited by this paper
• The interconnected school context: Meta-analyses of the associations between peer aggression involvement and teacher-student relationship closeness

  2022cited by this paper
• Exploring the Role of Play Behaviors in the Links between Preschoolers’ Shyness and Teacher-Child Relationships

  2021cited by this paper
• The Teacher’s Invisible Hand: A Meta-Analysis of the Relevance of Teacher–Student Relationship Quality for Peer Relationships and the Contribution of Student Behavior

  2021cited by this paper
• Week-to-week interplay between teachers’ motivating style and students’ engagement

  2021cited by this paper
• A teacher like me? Different approaches to examining personality similarity between teachers and students

  2021cited by this paper
• Proactive Personality and Academic Engagement: The Mediating Effects of Teacher-Student Relationships and Academic Self-Efficacy

  2021cited by this paper
• Measuring Teachers’ Social-Emotional Competence: Development and Validation of a Situational Judgment Test

  2020cited by this paper
• Student-teacher relationship quality and prosocial behaviour: The mediating role of academic achievement and a positive attitude towards school.

  2020cited by this paper
• Proactive personality and cross-cultural adjustment: Roles of social media usage and cultural intelligence

  2020cited by this paper
• Dependency in teacher–child relationships: deepening our understanding of the construct

  2020cited by this paper
• Meta-analysis with Robust Variance Estimation: Expanding the Range of Working Models

  2020cited by this paper
• Don’t forget student-teacher dependency! A Meta-analysis on associations with students’ school adjustment and the moderating role of student and teacher characteristics

  2020cited by this paper
• Grit and conscientiousness: Another jangle fallacy

  2020cited by this paper
• Student Version of the Teacher–Student Relationship Inventory (S-TSRI): Development, Validation and Invariance

  2020cited by this paper
• School adjustment of first-grade primary school students: Effects of family involvement, externalizing behavior, teacher and peer relations.

  2019cited by this paper
• Associations between teacher–child relationships, children’s literacy achievement, and social competencies for struggling and non-struggling readers in early elementary school

  2019cited by this paper
• The impact of school climate on trait creativity in primary school students: the mediating role of achievement motivation and proactive personality

  2019cited by this paper
• Direct and interactive effects of perceived teacher-student relationship and grit on student wellbeing among stay-behind early adolescents in urban China

  2019cited by this paper
• Student and teacher perceptions on student-teacher relationship quality: A middle school perspective

  2018cited by this paper
• Prosocial pathways to positive adaptation: The mediating role of teacher-child closeness

  2018cited by this paper
• Teacher and child perceptions of relationship quality and ethnic minority children's behavioral adjustment in upper elementary school: A cross-lagged approach.

  2018cited by this paper
• Student–teacher relationships in elementary school: The unique role of shyness, anxiety, and emotional problems

  2018cited by this paper
• Flexible Imputation of Missing Data, Second Edition

  2018cited by this paper
• Gender as a moderator of the association between teacher–child relationship and social skills in preschool

  2018cited by this paper
• Teacher Personality and Teacher Effectiveness in Secondary School: Personality Predicts Teacher Support and Student Self-Efficacy but Not Academic Achievement

  2017cited by this paper
• Concurrent and longitudinal associations between early adolescents' experiences of school climate and cyber victimization

  2017cited by this paper
• Much Ado About Grit: A Meta-Analytic Synthesis of the Grit Literature

  2017cited by this paper
• Shyness and School Adjustment in Chinese Children: The Roles of Teachers and Peers

  2017cited by this paper
• Is teacher knowledge associated with performance? On the relationship between teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge and instructional quality

  2016cited by this paper
• Searching for the Prosocial Personality

  2016cited by this paper
• Teacher-child relationships and friendships and peer victimization across the school year

  2016cited by this paper
• Examining the role of social relationships in the association between neuroticism and test anxiety – results from a study with German secondary school students

  2015cited by this paper
• Child Aggression as a Source and a Consequence of Parenting Stress: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

  2015cited by this paper
• Exploring the Relationship between Teacher Effectiveness and Personality Traits

  2015cited by this paper
• Student-teacher relationships and achievement goal orientations : Examining student perceptions in an ethnically diverse sample

  2015cited by this paper
• Teacher–child relationship quality and academic achievement in elementary school: Does gender matter?

  2015cited by this paper
• Shyness, Child-Teacher Relationships, and Socio-Emotional Adjustment in a Sample of Italian Preschool-Aged Children.

  2014cited by this paper
• Teacher-child relationships and behavioral adjustment: transactional links for preschool boys at risk.

  2014cited by this paper
• A person-centred analysis of teacher-child relationships in early childhood.

  2014cited by this paper
• Students' Big Three Personality Traits, Perceptions of Teacher Interpersonal Behavior, and Mathematics Achievement: An Application of the Model of Reciprocal Causation

  2014cited by this paper
• Students' Perceptions of Relatedness in the Classroom: The Roles of Emotionally Supportive Teacher–Child Interactions, Children's Aggressive–Disruptive Behaviors, and Peer Social Preference

  2014cited by this paper
• The Role of Preschool Relational and Physical Aggression in the Transition to Kindergarten: Links With Social-Psychological Adjustment

  2014cited by this paper
• How pre-service teachers' personality traits, self-efficacy, and discipline strategies contribute to the teacher-student relationship.

  2014cited by this paper
• Lifelong pathways to longevity: personality, relationships, flourishing, and health.

  2014cited by this paper
• Who cares when nobody is watching? Psychopathic traits and empathy in prosocial behaviors

  2014cited by this paper
• The Influence of Student Personality and Teacher-student Interactions on Teacher-student Relationship Quality

  2013cited by this paper
• Student-teacher relationship quality and academic adjustment in upper elementary school: the role of student personality.

  2013cited by this paper
• Links Among Italian Preschoolers’ Socioemotional Competence, Teacher–Child Relationship Quality, and Peer Acceptance

  2013cited by this paper
• Recent trends in research on teacher–child relationships

  2012cited by this paper
• Changes in teacher-student relationships.

  2012cited by this paper
• Teacher–student relationships and school adjustment: progress and remaining challenges

  2012cited by this paper
• Identifying Configurations of Perceived Teacher Autonomy Support and Structure: Associations with Self-Regulated Learning, Motivation and Problem Behavior.

  2012cited by this paper
• Teacher–child relationships from an attachment perspective

  2012cited by this paper
• Interrater reliability: the kappa statistic

  2012cited by this paper
• The Contribution of Teachers' Emotional Support to Children's Social Behaviors and Self-Regulatory Skills in First Grade

  2012cited by this paper
• Students’ characteristics and teacher–child relationships in instruction: A meta-analysis

  2012cited by this paper
• Child temperament, teacher–child interactions, and teacher–child relationships: A longitudinal investigation from first to third grade

  2011cited by this paper
• Recommendations for examining and interpreting funnel plot asymmetry in meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials

  2011cited by this paper
• Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package

  2010cited by this paper
• Shyness, teacher-child relationships, and socio-emotional adjustment in grade 1

  2010cited by this paper
• Child Effortful Control, Teacher-student Relationships, and Achievement in Academically At-risk Children: Additive and Interactive Effects.

  2010cited by this paper
• The significance of insecure attachment and disorganization in the development of children's externalizing behavior: a meta-analytic study.

  2010cited by this paper
• Robust variance estimation in meta‐regression with dependent effect size estimates

  2010cited by this paper
• Components of Negative Affectivity and Marital Satisfaction: The Importance of Actor and Partner Anger.

  2010cited by this paper
• Social withdrawal in childhood.

  2009cited by this paper
• Personality development at school: Assessing a reciprocal influence model of teachers’ evaluations and students’ personality

  2009cited by this paper
• Examining Associations Between Effortful Control and Teacher–Child Relationships in Relation to Head Start Children's Socioemotional Adjustment

  2009cited by this paper
• Teacher–child relationship quality: The roles of child temperament and teacher–child interactions

  2009cited by this paper
• Prediction of Children's Academic Competence From Their Effortful Control, Relationships, and Classroom Participation.

  2008cited by this paper
• Relationships Between Teachers and Preschoolers Who Are At Risk: Contribution of Children's Language Skills, Temperamentally Based Attributes, and Gender

  2008cited by this paper
• Sex differences in school achievement: what are the roles of personality and achievement motivation?

  2008cited by this paper
• The prediction of Honesty–Humility-related criteria by the HEXACO and Five-Factor Models of personality

  2008cited by this paper
• Peer Victimization in Korean Preschool Children

  2008cited by this paper
• The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies.

  2008cited by this paper
• The relationship between the big-five model of personality and self-regulated learning strategies.

  2007cited by this paper
• Preschoolers' academic readiness: What role does the teacher-child relationship play?

  2007cited by this paper
• Two Sides of the Same Coin? The Relations between Prosocial and Physically Aggressive Behaviors

  2007cited by this paper
• The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement: Guidelines for Reporting Observational Studies

  2007cited by this paper
• Examining Teacher–Child Relationships and Achievement as Part of an Ecological Model of Development

  2007cited by this paper
• Personality and intelligence as predictors of academic achievement : A cross-sectional study from elementary to secondary school

  2007cited by this paper
• The role of emotion regulation in children's early academic success.

  2007cited by this paper
• Linking proactive personality and the Big Five to motivation to learn and development activity.

  2006cited by this paper
• Attachment dimensions and the big five personality traits: Associations and comparative ability to predict relationship quality

  2006cited by this paper
• Classroom engagement mediates the effect of teacher-student support on elementary students' peer acceptance: A prospective analysis.

  2006cited by this paper
• Improving student professionalism during experiential learning.

  2006cited by this paper
• Inference by eye: confidence intervals and how to read pictures of data.

  2005cited by this paper

• Pathways to Persistence: Extending the Role of Academic Resilience in Autonomous Supportive Teaching Environment

  2026cites this paper
• Well-being of preschool teachers and their work engagement: cross-cultural differences between Russian and Serbian samples.

  2026cites this paper
• The more similar the better? Investigating the role of personality traits and personality similarity in student–teacher relationships in upper elementary schools

  2026cites this paper
• Unraveling the dynamics of online learning engagement: a Cambodian perspective

  2025cites this paper
• Teacher-Student Relationships, Empathy, and Prosocial Behaviors: Examining Between- and Within-Person Relations.

  2025cites this paper
• Sense of responsibility mediates proactive personality and prosocial behavior in nursing undergraduates: a cross-sectional study

  2025cites this paper
• PENGARUH BIG FIVE PERSONALITY GURU TERHADAP PENCAPAIAN MURID

  2025cites this paper
• From Conscientiousness to Conduct Problems: A Serial Mediation Analysis of Student-Teacher Closeness and Self-Control.

  2025cites this paper
• Personality Characteristics of Orthopedic Surgery Residents and Faculty: Cross-Sectional Study From the Profiling Orthopaedic Surgery Trainees (POST) Study Group.

  2025cites this paper
• Complex Relationship of Personality Traits on Teachers' Perceptions of Sustainable Careers: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis With the Big Five

  2025influential citation