A meta-analysis of the association between teacher-child interaction quality and young children’s social skills

Early childhood is a critical period for the development of children’s social skills. As a core element of early childhood education, teacher-child interaction quality is highly relevant, and variations in this quality are associated with the development of young children’s social skills. To synthesize the correlational evidence relevant to fostering the development of young children’s social skills, this study focused on the strength of the association between teacher-child interaction quality and young children’s social skills, as well as the moderating factors. Through systematic literature search and screening, 42 studies (42 effect sizes) were finally included, and a random-effects model was used for the meta-analysis. The results showed that there was a significant moderate positive correlation between teacher-child interaction quality and young children’s social skills (r = 0.21, 95% CI = [0.16, 0.26]). Tests of moderating effects revealed that the correlation between the two variables was significantly moderated by the measurement tool of teacher-child interaction quality and regional culture, but not by the sex ratio of young children, the mean age of young children, or the measurement tool of social skills. The observed positive correlation suggests that higher quality teacher-child interactions co-occur with stronger social skills in young children.