The power of CONNECTIONS in CLASS: Relationships with teachers and peers, their interplay, and their effects on adolescents' social-emotional development

Theorizing and research have emphasized the importance of positive teacher-student and peer relationships for adolescents’ social-emotional development. Yet, relationships with teachers and peers have been studied largely independently so far and research about their relative and joint contribution to adolescent social-emotional development is scarce. This project aims to extend and deepen our knowledge by addressing two main objectives: (1) to investigate the unique and joint effects of different dimensions of teacher-student relationships and peer relationships on different adolescent social-emotional adjustment outcomes, i.e., depressive symptoms and well-being at school; (2) to unravel the interplay among teacher-student relationships and peer relationships in adolescence. The project comprises a large-scaled, three wave longitudinal study in secondary schools and an experimental study in pre-service teacher training for elementary and secondary education.