Age Differences
Age may influence the connections between TCR and children’s
characteristics, and between children’s different behaviors (Nurmi,
2012). For example, there may be age variations in the patterns of
closeness TCR, whereas patterns of conflict TCR may remain consistent
across ages (Horn et al., 2021). This could be attributed to teachers
placing more emphasis on social emotions when interacting with younger
children (Jones & Bouffard, 2012). Younger children have more
opportunities to engage with teachers and discuss their feelings,
fostering a closer TCR. In contrast, older children might have fewer
interactions with teachers and rely more on peer support, potentially
affecting the closeness TCR. However, the absence of significant age
differences in conflict TCR might be due to younger children having
greater difficulties regulating their emotions, leading to a stronger
positive correlation between adjustment problems and conflict TCR
(Koepke & Harkins, 2008). In contrast, older children’s desire for
autonomy might contribute to conflicts with teachers (Rudasill, 2011).
Nevertheless, Mejia and Hoglund’s (2016) cross-lagged study did not find
age differences in TCR, and the contribution of adjustment problems to
TCR remained stable across children of different ages.
Children’s SR develops rapidly with age (Berti & Cigala, 2022), with
older children outscoring younger ones on SR measures. Younger children
also tend to benefit more from SR interventions compared to older ones
(Diamond & Lee, 2011). It has also been observed that age differences
moderate the link between SR and mathematics in children (Zhong et al.,
2022), as SR tends to improve with age, with inhibitory control and
working memory playing crucial roles in mathematics learning (Wang &
Sperling, 2020). Differences in young children’s SR can directly impact
mathematics.
Children’s SE becomes more pronounced with age (McTaggart et al., 2022).
The association between SE and academic achievement is moderated by age,
with older children achieving higher academic scores, possibly due to
increased exposure to social contexts facilitating learning (Curby et
al., 2015). The link between social behavior and language development is
also more robust in older children (Slot et al., 2020). Younger
children’s mathematics appears to develop separately from their SE
(Cameron et al., 2019). There is a bidirectional relationship between
children’s SE and language (Slot et al., 2020), but whether this
association is moderated by age is still unclear.
Children’s mathematics develops with age (Slot et al., 2020) and
associations between children’s mathematics and other variables remain
stable with age (Lin & Powell, 2023). However, the moderating effect of
age is no longer present in primary school (Hong et al., 2009). Young
children’s vocabulary and reading comprehension levels increase
significantly with age, with the most notable difference observed in
vocabulary (Below et al., 2010).
In sum, the literature highlights the impact of age on these variables
while also providing preliminary, albeit inconsistent, evidence of age
moderating the relationships between them. However, there is limited
systematic evidence regarding whether and how age moderates the
relationship between TCR and behavioral development and whether this
relationship varies across ages. Therefore, this study aims to explore
these interrelationships from the perspective of a moderating variable,
hypothesizing that grade plays a moderating role.