Adaptation of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale questionnaire and the investigation of its structure with factor analysis

Abstract

Attachment relationships that develop in childhood significantly determine an individual’s future social behavior. The beginning of the school years results great changes in the development of the child's social relations (Vajda, 1997). Regarding the basic safety needs of children, Brent (2010) emphasizes the importance of teacher support in addition to parental support. In the last decade, the investigation of the student-teacher relationship, which is often measured using the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS, Pianta, 2001), has become a central theme of many researches. The applicability of the questionnaire has already been examined in several European countries, involving societies with considerable social, cultural and educational differences (e.g. Greece, the Netherlands). The current study presents the reliability, validity and applicability of the Hungarian version of the STRS questionnaire. In our research, 14 teachers, who are teaching in the lower grades of primary schools in Hungary and Vojvodina filled out the STRS questionnaire about 183 students. Exploratory factor analyzes showed that an appropriate and acceptable factor structure can be achieved through leaving out five items of the instrument. Excluding five questionnaire items, the reliability of the questionnaire (α = 0.82) is adequate, and all three subscales identified in the theoretical model (conflict, closeness and dependency) are reliable. Based on our results, STRS also proves to be a suitable tool in the Hungarian educational environment in the study of the student-teacher relationship.