Associations of Peer and Student-Teacher Relations to Well-Being in Middle School Students

Early adolescence is a critical period marked by significant social, emotional, and cognitive changes, alongside growing concerns about mental health and well-being, highlighting the need for effective support systems. Supportive student-teacher relationships and peer acceptance are essential for early adolescent development and well-being. However, much of the existing research examines these relationships separately or fails to consider both perspectives simultaneously. The current study examined the alignment between students’ ratings of teacher supportiveness and teachers’ ratings of relationship closeness. It also explored the combined contributions of student-teacher and peer relationships to students’ overall well-being. Data were collected from 252 6th and 7th-grade students from 15 middle school classrooms in a large urban public school district in Western Canada. Measures included students’ reports of their well-being and ratings of supportive student-teacher relationships, teachers’ ratings of close student-teacher relationships, and peer nominations of peer acceptance. Results from multi-level modeling showed that students’ ratings of supportiveness significantly predicted teachers’ ratings of closeness, though this explained a small portion of the variance. Notably, although teachers’ ratings did predict student well-being, students’ ratings of a supportive relationship were the strongest predictor of well-being. Additionally, girls and those identifying outside the binary reporting lower well-being. These results together shed light on the importance of students’ subjective experience and the importance of supportive student-teacher relationships through an ecological, strengths-based lens. Limitations, future directions, and educational applications are discussed.