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Frontiers in Psychology 01 frontiersin.org
The eect of the teacher-student
relationship on the academic
adjustment of returned migrant
children: the chain mediating role
of school attitude and resilience
ChuanyanWang *
The Institute of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
Introduction: Returned migrant children have not received widespread attention
in China, and research on their academic adjustment is still limited. Teachers
are important individuals who influence the academic development of returned
migrant children, and the aim of the study is to analyze the mechanism by which
the teacher-student relationship aects their academic adjustment.
Methods: This study followed a sample of 1921 returned migrant children across
8 counties in central and western China, using an academic adjustment scale,
a teacher-student relationship scale, a school attitude scale, and a resilience
scale. Pearson-moment correlations were used to analyze the the correlations
among all variables, and the PROCESS macro (Model 6) in SPSS was used to
examine the mediating eects.
Results: The findings indicated that the teacher-student relationship significantly
and positively predicted academic adjustment. Furthermore, the relationship
indirectly influenced academic adjustment through school attitude and
resilience, which acted as chain mediators.
Discussion: The findings highlight the importance of the teacher-student
relationship in development outcomes. Moreover, early intervention and
prevention eorts should be taken to improve their educational experience.
KEYWORDS
returned migrant children, academic adjustment, teacher-student relationship, school
attitude, resilience
1 Introduction
In recent years, return migration has gained considerable attention as a more challenging
process than simple reintegration into society (Markowitz and Stefansson, 2004). King (2000) has
dened return migration as the process whereby individuals return to their country or place of
origin aer spending a considerable amount of time in another country or region. For returned
migrant children, “return” means a new migration experience, and their “return” is atypical, as they
are relocating to a place that may never have been home to them (Knörr, 2005; King etal., 2014).
Earlier studies suggested that, due to cultural dierences, returned migrant children oen face
academic challenges as well as psychological issues (Ní Laoire, 2011; Vathi etal., 2016).
Returned migrant children in China face unique challenges. Due to factors such as the
depopulation policies of mega-cities and restrictions on post-compulsory education in inow
places, they oen lack the opportunity or academic competitiveness to attend regular high schools
and take college entrance exams. As a result, many migrant children are compelled to return to
OPEN ACCESS
EDITED BY
Matteo Angelo Fabris,
University of Turin, Italy
REVIEWED BY
Laura Migliorini,
University of Genoa, Italy
Carolina Beatriz Alzugaray,
Santo Tomás University, Chile
*CORRESPONDENCE
Chuanyan Wang
wangchuanyan@cug.edu.cn
RECEIVED 13 August 2024
ACCEPTED 09 December 2024
PUBLISHED 03 January 2025
CITATION
Wang C (2025) The eect of the
teacher-student relationship on the academic
adjustment of returned migrant children: the
chain mediating role of school attitude and
resilience.
Front. Psychol. 15:1464904.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1464904
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Wang. This is an open-access article
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TYPE Original Research
PUBLISHED 03 January 2025
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1464904
Wang 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1464904
Frontiers in Psychology 02 frontiersin.org
their hometowns for post-compulsory education (Ling, 2017). e “New
Citizen Program” reported that, 922,000 migrant children returned to
their hometowns in 2021 (Wei, 2023). Previous studies have demonstrated
that returned migrant children in China encounter academic adjustment
diculties due to disparities in educational systems, school settings,
teaching styles and content between the inow areas and their
hometowns, which leads to a decline in academic performance (Liu and
Zhu, 2011; Koo etal., 2014; Ling, 2017).
Academic adjustment is generally described as the extent to which
a student successfully addresses various educational demands and
diculties (Baker etal., 1985). Teachers, as “signicant others” in
students’ lives, play a crucial role in helping returned migrant children
enhance their academic adaptability, and a positive teacher-student
relationship is key to fullling this role. However, existing research has
shown that teachers oen perceive returned migrant children as low
achievers, troublemakers, undisciplined, rude, and lacking identity
(Hazzichristou and Hopf, 1995). In turn, returned migrant children
and their parents also view teachers as more authoritarian, with some
making oensive remarks and showing little respect for the diversity
of their students (Vathi etal., 2016). is discordant relationship
clearly impacts their academic adjustment. School attitude, as a
potential predictor of the impact of teacher-student relationships on
academic adjustment (Roeser and Midgley, 1996), and may operate
through psychological resilience, an internal factor (Sanders etal.,
2016). is study aims to explore the associations among teacher-
student relationship, school attitude, resilience and academic
adjustment, and further investigate their underlying mechanisms. e
ndings can help identify eective strategies to improve the academic
adjustment of returned migrant children.
1.1 Association between teacher-student
relationship and academic adjustment
e Coleman Report highlighted teachers as one of the most
inuential school factors aecting students’ academic performance
(Coleman etal., 1966). Pianta (1999) has described a positive teacher-
student relationship as open communication, emotional support, and
academic guidance. Heassessed the quality of the relationship through
dimensions of closeness, conict, and dependence. When the teacher-
student relationship is marked by closeness, children tend to exhibit
higher levels of overall academic adjustment compared to peers with
lower levels of closeness (Birch and Ladd, 1997). Negative relational
styles, characterized by high levels of conict and dependence, are
consistently associated with academic adjustment problems and play
a signicant role in predicting future school outcomes (Harmre and
Pianta, 2011). Granot (2014) found that children with secure teacher-
student attachments demonstrated fewer behavior problems, greater
frustration tolerance, and better academic performance. Teachers also
impact students’ long-run academic outcomes by fostering
relationships that endure over time and inuence broader aspects of
their social capital, aspirations and life choices (Kra etal., 2023).
From the students’ perspective, students who feel that their eorts are
recognized by their teachers are more motivated to explore and learn,
exhibit higher self-esteem and condence in their academic abilities, are
more receptive to instruction and criticism, and cope better with
challenges (Roorda et al., 2011). Certain personality traits, such as
motivational beliefs, values, and goals, are shaped and internalized
through social forces, including teacher-student relationship in the
classroom. ese internalized resources help students adjust their
academic behaviors and actively engage in the classroom, thereby
enhancing academic adjustment (Zee etal., 2013). From the teachers’
perspective, positive relationships with students can motivate them to
invest extra time and energy into promoting students’ success, while
negative relationships are oen linked to eorts to exclude students from
the classroom (Pianta etal., 1995). Vathi (2015) pointed out in his research
on Albania that teachers are crucial to returned migrant children’s
progress in school, and a positive relationship with teachers can provide
them with greater academic support.
Based on the above review, we propose Hypothesis H1: e
teacher-student relationship is positively associated with the academic
adjustment of returned migrant children.
1.2 Association between teacher-student
relationship, school attitude, and academic
adjustment
School attitude refers to students’ evaluations and behavioral
tendencies toward school life, encompassing both school liking and
school avoidance (Ladd, 1990). Teachers’ perceptions of support,
satisfaction, and conict signicantly predict students’ attitudes
toward school (Huan et al., 2012). When the teacher-student
relationship is positive, students tend to bemore actively involved in
school activities, leading to a greater liking for school. In contrast,
students would beschool avoidant (Martin and Collie, 2018). Conict
in the teacher-student relationship is positively associated with school
avoidance and negatively related to school liking, self-regulation, and
cooperation in the classroom (Birch and Ladd, 1997).
Previous research has demonstrated that students’ school attitudes are
closely linked to their academic adjustment (Filippello etal., 2020). A
strong sense of belonging to school serves as a protective factor against
learned helplessness, whereas a sense of school rejection acts as a risk
factor, triggering stress and hindering academic adjustment (Arslan, 2016;
Raufelder and Kulakow, 2022). Without an appropriate attitude toward
school, students may struggle to adapt to changing environments and
acquire the new knowledge and skills necessary for academic success
(Raabe, 2019). In turn, highly positive school attitudes can boost students’
internal motivation and interest in learning, ultimately leading to better
academic performance (Kpolovie etal., 2014). Szydłowska etal. (2019)
found that returned migrant children in Polish experiencing critical
comments from teachers, who appeared unaware of their challenges, may
adopt a passive attitude and struggle with low self-esteem, which could
further complicate their integration into new environments.
Based on these ndings, wepropose Hypothesis H2: e eect of
the teacher-student relationship on returned migrant children’s
academic adjustment is mediated by their school attitudes.
1.3 Association between teacher-student
relationship, resilience, and academic
adjustment
Resilience is the process, ability, or outcome of adapting well
despite dicult or threatening situations (Masten et al., 1990).
Resilience theory posits that children experiencing even extreme
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adversity can achieve positive outcomes through various resources
that buer or mitigate stressors (Masten, 2014). However, children
cannot achieve resilience on their own, and teachers are a signicant
resource for promoting resilience in at-risk children (Neville etal.,
2019). Attachment research has proved teachers to bea secure base for
high-risk children (Pianta etal., 1995). A constructive, trustful, and
supportive teacher-student relationship is the foundation for resilient
development, and high-risk children are likely to become or remain
resilient to adversity as long as they have reliable teacher-student
relationships (Diers, 2020). A longitudinal study also revealed that
children and adolescents with high resilience identify teachers as their
main attachment gures outside the family (Werner, 2006).
In general, individuals with higher resilience are better equipped to
adapt to changing or stressful environments, adjust their behaviors as
needed, employ problem-solving strategies exibly, and recover from
traumatic experiences (Block and Block, 2006). Research concerning
high school students showed a moderate, positive relationship between
resilience and active coping (Ahin and Hepsütlü, 2018). Vathi etal.
(2016) reported that discriminatory reactions from teachers appears as
an important factor upon returned migrant children’s ability to adapt to
a new environment. A study of Latino migrant children revealed that
resilience was positively associated with academic ecacy and negatively
associated with academic adjustment problems (Taylor etal., 2019).
Based on these studies, wepropose Hypothesis H3: e eect of
the teacher-student relationship on returned migrant children’s
academic adjustment is mediated by their resilience.
1.4 Association between school attitude
and resilience
Schools not only serve as protective environments for children in
need, but also play a vital role in their social and academic
development. Students who perceive positive teacher-student
relationships in school—characterized by respect, support, and care—
tend to report a stronger sense of school belonging. Positive attitudes
toward school enhance their academic self-ecacy and self-
consciousness (Roeser and Midgley, 1996). School attitudes are shaped
by a complex interplay of cognitive, emotional, and social factors and
are closely related to the psychological environment (Moè etal., 2009).
Positive attitudes toward school improve children’s emotional
regulation, self-condence and the development of a broader support
network (Wright, 2013). Sun and Wu (2011) have found that middle
school students’ school attitudes signicantly and positively predict
resilience. e more favorable the school climate students perceive,
the easier it is for them to develop psychologically resilient traits that
build their internal resources, such as a strong sense of purpose and a
positive outlook on life (Li etal., 2022). Students with positive school
attitudes are more likely to exhibit resilient behavior in
communication, self-esteem, help-seeking, goal-setting and
aspirations, and are better equipped to cope with academic challenges
(Stewart and Sun, 2004). In addition, educational activities in schools
do not occur in isolation, and various elements of the school settings
inuence students’ social and emotional development, playing a
crucial role in fostering resilience (Wright, 2013). us, school attitude
serves as a protective factor for resilience.
On the base of the above review, we propose Hypothesis H4:
School attitude is positively associated with resilience, and both factors
acted as chain mediators between teacher-student relationship and
returned migrant children’s academic adjustment.
1.5 Current study
Returned migrant children have received limited attention in
China, and the impact of the teacher-student relationship on their
academic adjustment has not been widely researched, as reected in
the scarcity of published research on this topic. e purpose of this
study is to examine how the teacher-student relationship inuences
returned migrant children’s school adjustment, with a focus on the
roles of school attitude and resilience in a chain mediating model.
Wespecically focus on returned migrant children in middle and high
schools in China. On the basis of the review above, wehypothesize
that the teacher-student relationship is signicantly associated with
returned migrant children’s academic adjustment and exerts an
indirect eect through school attitude and resilience, with these two
factors acting as chain mediators in the mechanism (see Figure1).
2 Methods
2.1 Participants
e participants were returned migrant children from 32 middle
schools and high schools across eight counties in four provinces in central
and western China in 2023. Aer reading and signing the informed
consent form, the participants completed the questionnaire. A total of
1988 returned migrant children voluntarily participated in the study, with
67 protocols excluded due to missing or invalid responses, leaving 1,912
valid data. e sample included 48.2% boys, 55.5% middle school
students, and 45.1% born in the inow areas. e majority of participants
were inter-provincial migrants (75.8%), with 61.3% having returned to
rural schools in their hometowns. e average of age at return was
11 years, and the average duration of return was 3.9 years.
2.2 Procedure
Data were collected between March and September 2023, following
approval from the local education authorities’ ethics committee.
Weselected eight counties in four central and western provinces as the
survey areas. e migration trend in China typically ows from
economically underdeveloped central and western provinces to more
FIGURE1
The hypothesized model of the teacher-student relationship
associated with academic adjustment.
Wang 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1464904
Frontiers in Psychology 04 frontiersin.org
economically developed eastern provinces. Consequently, returned
migrant children are predominantly found in central and western
provinces (Koo etal., 2014). e cities under study vary in terms of
location and economic conditions, collectively reecting the diverse
circumstances of returned migrant children. e local education authority
recommended four middle and high schools for participation: one middle
school and one high school from a township, and the other two from
urban areas. is proposal was based on the distribution of returned
migrant children in the region. In each school, participants were recruited
following the principle of cluster sampling. To ensure the authenticity and
reliability of the questionnaire, the respondents were guided by trained
research assistants when the questionnaire was completed (30–40 min).
e participants were assured that their responses would remain
anonymous and that they could withdraw from the study at any time. As
a token of appreciation, each child received a small gi upon completing
the survey.
2.3 Measures
2.3.1 Academic adjustment
Academic adjustment was student-reported using items from the
academic adjustment sub-scale of the School Life Adjustment Scale for
children of migrant workers (Xu, 2010). e scale consists of 12 items,
including three dimensions: adjustment to the learning environment,
adjustment to the learning methodology and academic outcomes. e
items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very much
so). e items related to “adjustment to the learning environment” were
scored in the reverse, meaning a response of “1” on item like “I do not t
in here” was scored as “5” in the nal aggregation. A higher total score
indicates a higher level of academic adjustment. In this study, the
Cronbach’s alpha coecient of the scale was 0.836.
2.3.2 Teacher-student relationship
Teacher-student relationship was student-reported via four items
from the teacher-student relationship sub-scale of the School
Adjustment Scale (Cui, 2008). Students rated items such as “I try to
avoid contact with teachers” and “1 do not think my teachers
understand me” on a ve 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all, 5 = very
much so). All the items were reverse-scored and then converted to
positive scores in the nal aggregation. A higher score indicates a
better teacher-student relationship. e Cronbach’s alpha coecient
of the scale in this study was 0.799.
2.3.3 School attitude
School attitude was student-reported using 4 items from the
school attitude sub-scale of the School Adjustment Scale (Cui, 2008).
e items included: “I amcomfortable at school,” “I hate going to
school” “1 am depressed at school” and “I amsatised with my school
life.” e scale was rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not
at all) to 5 (very much so). e reverse-scored items were converted
to positive scores when calculating the total score. A higher score
indicated more positive school attitudes. e Cronbach’s alpha
coecient for the scale in this study was 0.787.
2.3.4 Resilience
e Chinese version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale
(CD-RISC, Connor and Davidson, 2003) was used, revised by Yu a n d
Zhang (2007). e 25-item questionnaire included items such as “1 have
a strong sense of purpose in life,” and “Good or bad, Ibelieve that most
things happen for a reason.” e scale covers psychological characteristics
that are relevant to the Chinese population (Yu and Zhang, 2007) and
have been widely used in research across various groups in China. Items
were rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (true nearly
all the time). Higher scores represented higher levels of resilience. e
Cronbach’s alpha coecient for this scale in this study was 0.929.
2.3.5 Control variables
Previous research has shown that returned migrant children’s
academic adjustment may beinuenced by their age (Hazzichristou
and Hopf, 1995), family structure (Ní Laoire, 2011) and family
relations (King et al., 2014). us, we measured age, family
structure and family relations as control variables in the
current study.
2.4 Data analyses
Descriptive and correlational statistics were rst calculated for all
the variables. Pearson product–moment correlations were used to
assess the strength and direction of the linear relationships between
pairs of variables. Next, weanalyzed the inuence of the teacher-
student relationship on returned migrant children’s academic
adjustment and investigated the chain mediating roles of school
attitude and resilience. In accordance with Hayes (2013), PROCESS
programmed Model 6 to estimate the indirect eect of the independent
variable (X) on the dependent variable (Y) through two mediators
(M1 and M2). e SPSS macro program PROCESS was used for
testing the proposed mediating eects.
3 Results
3.1 Preliminary analysis
Table1 presented the means and standard deviations of the variables.
e academic adjustment, teacher-student relationship, school attitudes,
and resilience of the returned migrant children were found to beat
moderate levels. e survey revealed signicant variability among
individuals. Some returnees expressed dissatisfaction with schools in their
hometowns, citing the superior school environments they experienced in
inow cities. In contrast, other returnees reported a strong attachment to
their hometowns schools, having resided there at an early age. is
variability likely explains why the mean values of these variables were
close to moderate.
e correlations between all the variables were calculated using
Pearson’s product correlation coecient (see Table 1). e results
revealed that the teacher-student relationship was signicantly
positively associated with school attitude (r = 0.502, p < 0.01),
resilience (r = 0.373, p < 0.01), and academic adjustment (r = 0.498,
p < 0.01). Furthermore, school attitude was signicantly positively
associated with resilience (r = 0.450, p < 0.01), and resilience was
signicantly positively associated with academic adjustment
(r = 0.614, p < 0.01). All four primary variables were positively
correlated and reached statistical signicance, which provided
preliminary evidence for the hypotheses.
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Furthermore, the results showed that individual characteristic
variables, such as age and family structure were negatively correlated
with the primary variables, while family relations showed a positive
correlation with the primary variables. us, these variables were
included as control variables in the subsequent path analysis.
Harman’s single-factor test was conducted to examine the
presence of common method bias. Seven common factors with
eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted, with the rst factor
explaining 30.79% of the variance, which was below 40% threshold.
is suggests that common method bias is not a signicant issue in
this study.
3.2 Multiple mediation eect analysis
Using the PROCESS 4.1 plug-in in SPSS, the direct and indirect
eects of the teacher-student relationship on academic adjustment
were tested (see Figure1). A bias-corrected non-parametric percentile
bootstrap method was applied, with 5,000 repetitions and a 95%
condence intervals. In this analysis, the teacher-student relationship
was the independent variable, academic adjustment was the dependent
variable, and school attitude and resilience served as the mediating
variables. e analysis controlled for gender, family structure, and
family relations as covariates (see Table2).
Cook’s distance was used to assess potential outliers in the
regression models. e results showed that the maximum Cook’s
distance values for the four models were 0.020, 0.014, 0.018 and 0.023
respectively, all of which were smaller than the critical value of “1.”
is indicated that there were no inuential outliers in the models,
suggesting the reliability of the regression analyses (Figure2).
First, in the direct eect model, where the independent variable
(teacher-student relationship) was correlated with the dependent variable
(academic adjustment), and aer controlling for demographic variables,
the teacher-student relationship signicantly and positively predicted
academic adjustment (β = 0.439, p < 0.001). Second, in the model
examining the relationships between the independent variable and the
mediating variables, with the inclusion of control variables, the teacher-
student relationship signicantly and positively predicted school attitude
(β = 0.462, p < 0.001) and resilience (β = 0.168, p < 0.001), and school
attitude was positively associated with resilience (β = 0.348, p < 0.001).
ird, in the indirect eect model, where both the independent variable
and mediating variables (school attitude and resilience) were correlated
with the dependent variable, with control variables included, both school
attitude (β = 0.223, p < 0.001) and resilience (β = 0.416, p < 0.001)
signicantly and positively predicted academic adjustment. Even in this
model, the teacher-student relationship remained a signicant predictor
of academic adjustment (β = 0.209, p < 0.001). ese results suggested
school attitude and resilience play a signicant chain-mediating role in
the relationship between the teacher-student relationship and academic
adjustment (Figure2).
e results of the mediating eect test showed that (see Table3), the
value of the direct eect of the teacher-student relationship on academic
adjustment was 0.152, accounting for 46.8% of the total eect, thus
conrming Hypothesis H1. Additionally, the teacher-student relationship
inuenced academic adjustment through the chain mediation of school
attitude and resilience, and the total mediating eect was 0.173,
accounting for 53.2% of the total eect. Specically, the mediating eect
was divided into three paths: indirect eect through the teacher-student
relationship → school attitude → academic adjustment (0.075), and
research Hypothesis H2 was veried; indirect eect through the teacher-
student relationship → resilience → academic adjustment (0.050),
conrming Hypothesis H3; indirect eect through teacher-student
relationship → school attitude → resilience → academic adjustment
(0.048), which supported Hypothesis H4. e 95% condence intervals
of the mediation eects for all the above paths did not contain “0,”
indicating that all the mediation eects were statistically signicant.
4 Discussion
e results suggested that the teacher-student relationship had a
direct eect on returned migrant children’s academic adjustment. Ryan
and Patrick (2001) indicated that the quality of the teacher-student
relationship promotes and shapes students’ academic expectations by
inuencing their learning goals, engagement, interest in learning, and
values, as well as attributions to sources of success or failure. When
students perceive that teachers promote communication and mutual
respect, their motivation to learn changes positively, favoring a more
adaptive mode of learning. Upon returning to their hometowns, children
encounter numerous challenges in adapting to their new school, such as
adjusting to dierences in curriculum, teaching styles, and scheduling.
Additionally, these children oen bring with them habits developed in
inow areas, such as speaking Mandarin, which can bedierent from the
practices in their hometowns. In this context, a harmonious teacher-
student relationship is crucial in helping them overcome challenges and
adapt to their new educational environment.
As hypothesized, the study revealed that school attitude
partially mediated the eect of the teacher-student relationship on
TABLE1 Descriptive statistics and correlations between all variables.
MSD 1 2 3 4 5 6
Age 14.94 1.787 –
Family structure 1.92 1.037 −0.107** –
Family relations 3.95 0.925 −0.074** −0.056*–
Academic adjustment 3.49 0.700 −0.171** −0.052*0.228** –
Teacher-student relationship 3.78 0.977 −0.094** −0.046*0.171** 0.498** –
School attitude 3.43 1.010 −0.185** −0.002 0.217** 0.538** 0.502** –
Resilience 3.28 0.735 −0.075** −0.080** 0.246** 0.614** 0.373** 0.450**
Family structure: 1 = nuclear family, 2 = stem family, 3 = single-parent family, 4 = combined family, 5 = other; Family relations: 1 = very bad, 2 = not so good, 3 = average, 4 = better, 5 = very
good; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.
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Frontiers in Psychology 06 frontiersin.org
returned migrant children’s academic adjustment. A positive
teacher-student relationship, characterized by perceived teacher
support, is a strong predictor of students’ increased interest in
learning and improved school behavior (Woolley and Bowen,
2007). Murdock (1999) identied teachers’ support and
expectations as the strongest and most consistent predictors of
students’ school engagement and compliance in his study of school
alienation. Similarly, Wan et al. (2010) found that conicting
student-teacher relationships have a detrimental eect on students’
attitudes toward school, fostering an environment of
disengagement. In this study, returned migrant children who
reported positive relationships with their teachers felt supported
both academically and personally by their teachers. is support
helped them integrate quickly into their schools and make progress
in their studies. On the other hand, returned migrant children with
negative teacher-student relationships oen felt that teachers held
prejudices against them, perceiving them as problematic students
who returned due to poor academic performance. ese children
received little additional support and were sometimes treated
unfairly, leading to negative perceptions of their new schools and
exacerbating their sense of maladjustment. ese ndings
underscore the signicant role teachers play in shaping returned
migrant children’s school attitudes, which in turn aect their
academic adjustment.
Resilience also played a partially mediating role in the
relationship between the teacher-student relationship and returned
migrant children’s academic adjustment. Positive interpersonal
relationships at school are considered a critical resilience resource
for high-risk adolescents (Noltemeyer and Bush, 2013). Resilience
acts as a protective factor for academic adjustment by help
individuals adopt positive thinking, problem-focused coping
strategies, and a proactive approach to seeking support. ese
traits enable them to better adapt to changes in the learning
environment and achieve academic success (Meneghel etal., 2019).
TABLE2 Results of multiple mediation model analysis.
Regression equation Fit index Regression coecients and
significance
Outcome
variables
Predictor
variables R R2Fβt
Academic adjustment
Age
0.529 0.280 149.090***
−0.136 −6.172***
Family structure −0.062 −2.842**
Family relations 0.138 6.240***
Teacher-student
relationship 0.439 20.287***
School attitude
Age
0.532 0.283 150.852***
−0.132 −6.026***
Family structure 0.002 0.918
Family relations 0.128 5.803***
Teacher-student
relationship 0.462 20.929***
Resilience
Age
0.515 0.265 110.326***
−0.003 −0.116
Family structure −0.075 −3.390**
Family relations 0.141 6.279***
Teacher-student
relationship 0.168 6.604***
School attitude 0.348 13.452***
Academic adjustment
Age
0.719 0.504 259.303***
−0.086 −4.659***
Family structure −0.032 −1.744
Family relations 0.032 1.696
Teacher-student
relationship 0.209 9.908***
School attitude 0.223 9.904***
Resilience 0.416 19.811***
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.
FIGURE2
The chain mediating model.
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Frontiers in Psychology 07 frontiersin.org
e current research revealed that some respondents had complex
migration experiences, initially being le behind in their
hometowns, later joining their parents in the cities, and eventually
returning to their hometowns alone. is series of migration-
related challenges exposed them to multiple cumulative risks. In
such cases, positive teacher-student relationships can serve as a key
internal resource, strengthening resilience and helping returned
migrant children navigate these diculties. Returned migrant
children with high resilience tend to activate their internal
motivation, adopt eective learning strategies, and seek help from
others when needed. For instance, some participants described
how they coped with academic adjustment barriers using phrases
like “make the rst move,” “self-planning,” “put myself in one’s
shoes” and “gure it out.” ese expressions indicate a proactive,
solution-focused approach to overcoming challenges, highlighting
how resilience, fostered through positive teacher-student
relationships, can drive academic adjustment.
e study also revealed that school attitude and resilience act
as chain mediators of the eect of the teacher-student relationship
on the academic adjustment of returned migrant children. is
nding highlights that a positive school attitude can improve
children’s resilience, and that the process of academic adjustment
is inuenced by a multitude of factors, both external to the school
and internal to the individual. A longitudinal study by Read etal.
(2015) found that a school’s intentional eorts to make students
feel welcomed, connected, and belonged through a cross-cultural
approach signicantly improved students’ perceptions of the
school atmosphere, as well as their resilience and wellbeing
18 months later. Castro-Olivo etal. (2013) also emphasized the
importance of school belonging as a resource for resilience,
suggesting that when students feel a sense of school belonging,
they are less likely to experience maladjustment or engage in risky
behaviors, and they tend to demonstrate better emotional self-
regulation and academic achievement. For returned migrant
children, establishing positive interpersonal relationships at school
increases their satisfaction with the school environment, which in
turn helps them adjust their mindset and focus on their
academic pursuits.
In addition, control variables such as age, family structure,
and family relations also play significant roles in the academic
adjustment of returned migrant children. Hazzichristou and Hopf
(1995) found that older returned migrant children tend to face
greater challenges in school, with those who return after the age
of nine having a much lower likelihood of academic success.
Similarly, Kunuroglu et al. (2018) emphasized that migrant
parents place great importance on the critical age for their
children’s return. While perceptions of this “critical age” vary,
there is a general consensus that children should return before
puberty to have sufficient time to adjust to the educational
environment. For returned migrant children in China, the older
they return, the greater the academic discrepancies they
encounter in terms of curriculum and teaching methods.
Furthermore, children from divorced families or those with poor
relationships with their parents or guardians, they may struggle
to receive the necessary family support to develop their resilience
or positive school attitudes, further hindering their
academic adjustment.
4.1 Limitations
One of the most notable limitations of this study was the absence
of repeated measures of the main variables. As time progresses,
factors such as the teacher-student relationship, school attitude,
resilience and academic adjustment are likely to change. Future
research could benet from repeated measures or longitudinal
studies. Second, the cultural context of resilience measurement may
introduce variability. Since resilience is inuenced by cultural factors,
it would bebenecial for future research to develop a resilience scale
specically designed for Chinese students to better capture cultural
nuances and provide more accurate insights into resilience in this
population. ird, the utilization of a self-reported survey
methodology may introduce a degree of bias due to social desirability.
e bias could be reduced by using observational measures or
teacher-reported or peer-reported data. Additionally, it is necessary
to further explore the mechanism through which the teacher-student
relationship aect academic adjustment. Previous research has
demonstrated that students with greater teacher-student relationships
display better emotional and behavioral engagement in school and
develop a sense of control (Skinner etal., 1998; Zimmer-Gembeck
etal., 2006). Future studies could further explore the mediating roles
of emotional engagement, behavioral regulation, and perceived
TABLE3 Eect values and 95% confidence intervals for each path.
Intermediary path Eect value Boot SE 95% CI Eect percentage
Direct eect Teacher-student relationship → academic
adjustment 0.152 0.153 [0.122, 0.182] 46.8%
Indirect eect
Total indirect eect 0.173 0.014 [0.148, 0.200] 53.2%
Teacher-student relationship → school
attitude → academic adjustment 0.075 0.009 [0.057, 0.093] 23%
Teacher-student
relationship → resilience → academic
adjustment
0.050 0.010 [0.032, 0.071] 15.4%
Teacher-student relationship → school
attitude → resilience → academic adjustment 0.048 0.006 [0.038, 0.060] 14.8%
Total eect 0.325 0.016 [0.294, 0.357]
Wang 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1464904
Frontiers in Psychology 08 frontiersin.org
control in the associations between the teacher-student relationship
and academic adjustment.
4.2 Implication
e ndings of this study have important implications for early
intervention eorts. To improve the educational experiences of
returned migrant children, Education institutions, schools and
teachers should take proactive measures to enhance both their school
attitudes and resilience.
First, education institutions should give high priority to returned
migrant children in their daily management. Schools should establish
a systematic approach to track the movement of these children,
documenting essential information such as the time of their return,
the identity of their guardians, academic performance in the inow
areas, and the specic academic challenges they encounter upon
returning. is data can beused to tailor interventions and ensure a
smoother transition into the local school system.
Second, schools should organize integration activities designed to
help returned migrant children feel welcomed and connected.
Activities like cultural and sports events, essay-writing contests,
campus tours, and presentations about the school history can help
these students develop a sense of belonging. Many respondents
reported that they made friends and adjusted to their new schools
through sports and group activities.
ird, it is essential for educational institutions to support faculty
members in creating bridging materials, developing school-based
curricula and conducting professional development seminars aimed
at improving pedagogical strategies for teaching returned migrant
children. Given that these children come from diverse educational
backgrounds and have faced varying academic challenges, teachers
should betrained to recognize the unique needs of these students and
use culturally sensitive, inclusive teaching techniques. rough
personalized counseling and targeted support, educators can help
them to ll these gaps and ensure that returned migrant children have
the tools they need to succeed academically. Additionally, performance
evaluations for educators should include criteria related to the care
and support of returned migrant children, encouraging educators to
prioritize their needs.
Lastly, schools should implement programs designed to enhance
the resilience of returned migrant children. Group counseling,
psychological workshops, anti-stress and self-regulation training can
provide essential emotional support, helping them cope with the
stressors they face in adapting to a new academic environment. Such
programs can promote resilience by helping students build coping
mechanisms, foster emotional self-regulation, and strengthen their
academic self-ecacy.
5 Conclusion
In conclusion, these ndings suggest that the teacher-student
relationship plays a crucial role in the academic adjustment of
returned migrant children. A positive and harmonious teacher-
student relationship is directly associated with improved academic
adjustment. Additionally, this relationship’s eect is medicated by
school attitude and resilience, which act as chain mediators. ese
ndings highlight the importance of fostering strong teacher-student
bonds and addressing both emotional and academic needs to facilitate
the successful adjustment of returned migrant children to their new
educational environments.
Data availability statement
e raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will
bemade available by the authors without undue reservation.
Ethics statement
e studies involving humans were approved by Ethics Committee
of the Institution of Psychology, China University of Geosciences. e
studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and
institutional requirements. Written informed consent for participation
in this study was provided by the participants’ legal guardians/
next of kin.
Author contributions
CW: Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology,
Writing– original dra, Data curation, Conceptualization, Project
administration, Investigation, Resources.
Funding
e author(s) declare that nancial support was received for the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. is work was
supported by grants from the National Education Science Planning
Foundation of China (General Program, No. BFA210074).
Acknowledgments
e author is grateful to the respondents, research assistants and
ocers of the local education authorities who were involved in the
data collection.
Conflict of interest
e author declares that the research was conducted in the
absence of any commercial or nancial relationships that could
beconstrued as a potential conict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of their aliated organizations,
or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product
that may beevaluated in this article, or claim that may bemade by its
manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Wang 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1464904
Frontiers in Psychology 09 frontiersin.org
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