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Teacher–student relationships and student outcomes: A systematic second-order meta-analytic review.

Valentin Emslander et al.

Psychological Bulletin2025https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000461review
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.69

Abstract

Teacher-student relationships (TSRs) play a vital role in establishing a positive classroom climate and promoting positive student outcomes. Several meta-analyses have suggested significant correlations between positive TSRs and, for example, academic achievement, motivation, executive functions, and well-being, as well as between negative TSRs that result in behavior problems or bullying. These meta-analyses have differed substantially in TSR-outcome relationships, moderators, and methodological quality, thus complicating the interpretation of these findings. In this preregistered systematic review of meta-analyses plus original second-order meta-analyses (SOMAs), we aimed to (a) synthesize the meta-analytic evidence on relations between TSRs and student outcomes, (b) map influential moderators of these relations, and (c) assess the methodological quality of the meta-analyses. We synthesized over 70 years of educational research across 26 meta-analyses encompassing 119 meta-analytic effect sizes based on approximately 2.64 million prekindergarten and K-12 students. We conducted several three-level SOMAs and found that TSRs had similar large significant relations with eight clusters of student outcomes: academic achievement, academic emotions, appropriate student behavior, behavior problems, executive functions and self-control, motivation, school belonging and engagement, and well-being. The link with bullying was only marginally significant. Our moderator analyses suggested a larger TSR-outcome link for middle and high school students. Although more recent meta-analyses fulfilled more methodological quality criteria, these differences were not associated with TSR-outcome relations. These results map the field of TSR research; present their relations, moderators, and methodological quality in meta-analyses; and show how TSRs are equally important for a wide range of student outcomes and samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000461

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@article{valentin2025,
  title        = {{Teacher–student relationships and student outcomes: A systematic second-order meta-analytic review.}},
  author       = {Valentin Emslander et al.},
  journal      = {Psychological Bulletin},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000461},
}

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Evidence weight

0.69

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.78 × 0.4 = 0.31
M · momentum1.00 × 0.15 = 0.15
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.