Who’s in charge? Child behavior predicts teacher subsequent classroom management practice for preschoolers reported to display disruptive behavior

Most research examining teacher-child interactions focuses on how aspects of the teacher influence children's skills and development. However, teachers report that children who display disruptive behaviors negatively impact their practice. In this study, we examined the within-day reciprocal associations between teachers' interaction quality at the classroom level and preschool children's task orientation and conflict behavior in a sample of children reported by their teachers to display disruptive behaviors. Participants were 300 preschool children (62% male) aged 30 - 66 months (M = 48.9, SD = 6.7) and their 155 teachers. Children and teachers were observed on individual child behavior and classroom level teacher-child classroom management interaction quality across multiple consecutive days within a baseline observation window. Cross-lag models showed acceptable to very good fit to the data and indicated that children's prior positive task orientation predicted teachers' subsequent higher quality classroom management interactions and children's prior conflict predicted teachers' subsequent lower quality classroom management interactions. Teachers' prior classroom management quality was not associated with subsequent child behavior. Results are discussed in terms of the reciprocal associations between teacher and child behaviors and how disruptive behavior may ultimately influence broader classroom interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).