Introduction
Over the past two decades, researchers have diligently sought to
identify the crucial factors for ensuring children’s long-term success
in school. Among these factors, teacher-child relationship (TCR) stands
out as a proximal predictor of early education outcomes, ultimately
influencing children’s developmental trajectories (Sankalaite et al.,
2021). Gender differences in TCR have also garnered attention within
this research landscape (Acar et al., 2022). Notably, girls tend to
exhibit more closeness in TCR than boys (Cadima et al., 2019). This
heightened closeness TCR, in turn, corresponds to greater
self-regulation (SR) and positive social emotions (SE) among girls,
while boys are more likely to experience conflict in TCR (Yang et al.,
2022), potentially impeding the development of SR and SE. Furthermore,
teachers adopt different focuses when interacting with children of
varying ages (Koepke & Harkins, 2008). Younger children typically
receive more social-emotional support (Horn et al., 2021), whereas
teachers’ interactions with older children may center more on academic
achievement (Jones & Bouffard, 2012).
SR and SE represent pivotal priorities in preschool due to their
profound influence on children’s academic success and social adaptation
(Esenturk & Asi, 2022). Girls have demonstrated significant advantages
in SR (Reilly et al., 2019) and SE development (Karaca & Bektas, 2022),
with these advantages becoming more pronounced as they grow older (Berti
& Cigala, 2022).
However, the intricate relationships between TCR and SR and SE, and the
associations between SR, SE, and academic achievement have received
limited attention across different genders (Cameron et al., 2019) and
ages (Lin & Powell, 2023). Questions such as whether TCR consistently
predicts SR and SE across ages, whether boys’ SR and SE disadvantages
hinder their academic achievement (Arnold et al., 2012), whether SR and
SE predict academic achievement consistently in younger versus older
children, and whether there exists a universally predictive variable
across genders and ages remain largely unexplored (Hong et al., 2009).
To address the gaps, the current study explored whether gender and age
differences would moderate the relationships between TCR, SE, SR, and
academic achievement. By doing so, it seeks to provide implications for
targeted interventions for children of different genders and ages,
optimizing the beneficial impacts of TCR, SR, and SE on academic
achievement.