ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Bidirectional and Longitudinal Associations among Teacher–Student Relationships, Peer Relationships, and Learning Engagement in Chinese Primary School Students: A Cross-lagged Panel Model
Provisionally accepted
Jing Zhang1
Chuanshi Liu2*- 1Nanjing Vocational University of Industry Technology, Nanjing, China
- 2Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
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Introduction: In this study we aimed to investigate the longitudinal relationships among peer relationships, teacher–student relationships, and learning engagement in Chinese primary school students. Methods: This longitudinal study tracked 460 third-grade primary school students (mean age at T1 = 9.43 ± .68 years, 210 boys) through three waves of data collection (T1: June 2022, T2: January 2023, T3: October 2023) to assess their peer relationships, teacher-student relationships, and learning engagement. Results: The results revealed a persistent bidirectional relationship between peer relationships and learning engagement from grades 3 to 5. In contrast, the bidirectional relationship with teacher-student relationships was present only in grades 3 to 4 and disappeared by grade 5. Discussion: These results support the theory of developmental systems, suggesting that teacher-focused interventions in middle primary years and peer-mediated approaches in upper grades may optimize developmental outcomes.
Keywords: Cross-lagged panel model, Learning engagement, longitudinal study, Peerrelationships, Primary school student, teacher–student relationships
Received: 28 Jul 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chuanshi Liu, chuanshil@sina.cn
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