Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Use of Praise and Reprimands as Critical Ingredients of Teacher Behavior Management: Effects on Children’s Development in the Context of a Teacher-Mediated Classroom Intervention

  • Published:
Prevention Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This intervention study examined teachers’ use of verbal praise and reprimands as specific components of teacher behavior management that can promote children’s development in schools. The impact of teacher praise and reprimands on children’s development was examined in the context of a teacher-mediated, classroom intervention. The sample involved 570 children and 30 teachers from second grade classrooms in 15 primary schools. The Good Behavior Game was implemented in half of the classrooms based on random assignment within schools. Teacher behavior management (praise for appropriate behavior and reprimands for inappropriate behavior) was observed during regular classroom lessons. Hyperactive, disruptive, and withdrawn child behavior were assessed using teacher and peer reports, global self-concept and emotional engagement were assessed using child self-reports. All variables were assessed at the beginning (pre-test) and at the end (post-test) of the school year. Multilevel regression models accounted for the nested structure of the data. The results suggested positive effects of fewer reprimands and more praise on child outcomes (except emotional school engagement), although the results differed by informant. We also found indirect effects of the Good Behavior Game (GBG) on child outcomes via teacher praise and reprimands. Overall, the study suggests that teachers’ use of praise and reprimands is a malleable classroom factor that influences children’s behavioral and socio-emotional development.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barrish, H. H., Saunders, M., & Wolf, M. M. (1969). Good Behavior Game: Effects of individual contingencies for group consequences on disruptive behavior in a classroom. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2, 119–124. doi:10.1901/jaba.1969.2-19.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Beaman, R., & Wheldall, K. (2000). Teachers’ use of approval and disapproval in the classroom. Educational Psychology, 20, 431–446. doi:10.1080/713663753.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belgium Federal Government (2009). Educational level of the Belgium population. Retrieved from http://statbel.fgov.be

  • Brown, J. L., Jones, S. M., LaRusso, M. D., & Aber, J. L. (2010). Improving classroom quality: Teacher influences and experimental impacts of the 4rs program. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 153. doi:10.1037/a0018160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burnett, P. C. (2002). Teacher praise and feedback and students’ perceptions of the classroom environment. Educational Psychology, 22, 5–16. doi:10.1080/01443410120101215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cadima, J., Doumen, S., Verschueren, K., & Buyse, E. (2015). Child engagement in the transition to school: Contributions of self-regulation, teacher–child relationships and classroom climate. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 32, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cappella, E., Hamre, B. K., Kim, H. Y., Henry, D. B., Frazier, S. L., Atkins, M. S., & Schoenwald, S. K. (2012). Teacher consultation and coaching within mental health practice: Classroom and child effects in urban elementary schools. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80, 597–610. doi:10.1037/a0027725.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cavanaugh, B. (2013). Performance feedback and teachers’ use of praise and opportunities to respond: A review of the literature. Education and Treatment of Children, 36, 111–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cillessen, A. H. N., & Bukowski, W. M. (2000). Recent advances in the measurement of acceptance and rejection in the peer system. New York: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clunies-Ross, P., Little, E., & Kienhuis, M. (2008). Self-reported and actual use of proactive and reactive classroom management strategies and their relationship with teacher stress and student behaviour. Educational Psychology, 28, 693–710. doi:10.1080/01443410802206700.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolan, L. J., Jaylan, T., Werthamer, L., & Kellam, S. G. (1989). The Good Behavior Game manual. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Prevention Research Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doumen, S., Buyse, E., Colpin, H., & Verschueren, K. (2011). Teacher–child conflict and aggressive behaviour in first grade: The intervening role of children’s self-esteem. Infant and Child Development, 20, 449–465. doi:10.1002/icd.725.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erasmus Medical Center. (2000). Problem Behavior at School Interview. Rotterdam: Erasmus University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, I. M., Harvey, S. T., Buckley, L., & Yan, E. (2009). Differentiating classroom climate concepts: Academic, management, and emotional environments. Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 4, 131–146. doi:10.1080/1177083X.2009.9522449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairchild, A. J., & McQuillin, S. D. (2010). Evaluating mediation and moderation effects in school psychology: A presentation of methods and review of current practice. Journal of School Psychology, 48, 53–84.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman-Krauss, A. H., Raver, C. C., Morris, P. A., & Jones, S. M. (2014). The role of classroom-level child behavior problems in predicting preschool teacher stress and classroom emotional climate. Early Education and Development, 25, 530–552. doi:10.1080/10409289.2013.817030.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gable, R. A., Hester, P. H., Rock, M. L., & Hughes, K. G. (2009). Back to basics: Rules, praise, ignoring, and reprimands revisited. Intervention in School and Clinic, 44, 195–205. doi:10.1177/1053451208328831.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gwet, K. L. (2008). Computing inter‐rater reliability and its variance in the presence of high agreement. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 61, 29–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2010). Classroom environments and developmental processes: Conceptualization, measurement, & improvement. In J. L. Meece & J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Handbook of research on schools, schooling and human development (pp. 25–41). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamre, B. K., Pianta, R. C., Downer, J. T., DeCoster, J., Mashburn, A. J., Jones, S. M., & Rivers, S. E. (2013). Teaching through interactions. Testing a developmental framework of teacher effectiveness in over 4,000 classrooms. The Elementary School Journal, 113, 461–487. doi:10.1086/669616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harter, S. (1985). Manual for the Self-Perception Profile for Children. Denver: University of Denver.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, J. N., & Barrois, L. K. (2010). The developmental implications of classroom social relationships and strategies for improving them. In B. Doll, W. Pfohl, & J. Yoon (Eds.), Handbook of youth prevention science (pp. 194–217). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, L. N., Floress, M. T., & Reinke, W. (2015). Rates and types of teacher praise: A review and future directions. Psychology in the Schools, 52, 463–476. doi:10.1002/pits.21835.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kellam, S. G., Ling, X., Merisca, R., Brown, C. H., & Ialongo, N. (1998). The effect of the level of aggression in the first grade classroom on the course and malleability of aggressive behavior into middle school. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 165–185. doi:10.1017/S0954579498001564.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kline, R. B. (2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ladd, G. W. (1990). Having friends, keeping friends, making friends, and being liked by peers in the classroom: Predictors of children’s early school adjustment? Child Development, 61, 1081–1100. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02843.x.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ladd, G. W., & Profilet, S. M. (1996). The Child Behavior Scale: A teacher-report measure of young children’s aggressive, withdrawn, and prosocial behaviors. Developmental Psychology, 32, 1008–1024. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.32.6.1008.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leff, S. S., Thomas, D. E., Shapiro, E. S., Paskewich, B., Wilson, K., Necowitz-Hoffman, B., & Jawad, A. F. (2011). Developing and validating a new classroom climate observation assessment tool. Journal of School Violence, 10, 165–184. doi:10.1080/15388220.2010.539167.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Leflot, G., Onghena, P., & Colpin, H. (2010a). Teacher–child interactions: Relations with children’s self-concept in second grade. Infant and Child Development, 19, 385–405. doi:10.1002/icd.672.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leflot, G., van Lier, P. A. C., Onghena, P., & Colpin, H. (2010b). The role of teacher behavior management in the development of disruptive behaviors: An intervention study with the Good Behavior Game. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 869–882. doi:10.1007/s10802-010-9411-4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leflot, G., van Lier, P. A. C., Onghena, P., & Colpin, H. (2013). The role of children’s on-task behavior in the prevention of aggressive behavior development and peer rejection: A randomized controlled study of the Good Behavior Game in Belgian elementary classrooms. Journal of School Psychology, 51, 187–199. doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2012.12.006.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacKinnon, D. P., Krull, J. L., & Lockwood, C. M. (2000). Equivalence of the mediation, confounding and suppression effect. Prevention Science, 1, 173–181.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998-2011). Mplus (Version 6.11). Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.

  • Nolan, J. D., Houlihan, D., Wanzek, M., & Jenson, W. R. (2014). The Good Behavior Game: A classroom-behavior intervention effective across cultures. School Psychology International, 35, 191–205. doi:10.1177/0143034312471473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ponitz, C. C., Rimm‐Kaufman, S. E., Brock, L. L., & Nathanson, L. (2009). Early adjustment, gender differences, and classroom organizational climate in first grade. The Elementary School Journal, 110, 142–162. doi:10.1086/605470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raver, C. C., Jones, S. M., Li-Grining, C., Zhai, F., Metzger, M. W., & Solomon, B. (2009). Targeting children’s behavior problems in preschool classrooms: A cluster-randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 302–316. doi:10.1037/a0015302.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Raver, C. C., Jones, S. M., Li-Grining, C. P., Metzger, M., Champion, K. M., & Sardin, L. (2008). Improving preschool classroom processes: Preliminary findings from a randomized trial implemented in Head Start settings. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 10–26. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2007.09.001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reinke, W. M., Lewis-Palmer, T., & Merrell, K. (2008). The Classroom Check-Up: A classwide teacher consultation model for increasing praise and decreasing disruptive behavior. School Psychology Review, 37, 315–332.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Reyes, M. R., Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., White, M., & Salovey, P. (2012). Classroom emotional climate, student engagement, and academic achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 700–712. doi:10.1037/a0027268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Curby, T. W., Grimm, K. J., Nathanson, L., & Brock, L. L. (2009). The contribution of children’s self-regulation and classroom quality to children’s adaptive behaviors in the kindergarten classroom. Developmental Psychology, 45, 958–972. doi:10.1037/a0015861.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., & Sawyer, B. E. (2004). Primary-grade teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, attitudes toward teaching, and discipline and teaching practice priorities in relation to the “Responsive Classroom” approach. The Elementary School Journal, 104, 321–341. doi:10.2307/3202945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roorda, D. L., Koomen, H. M., Spilt, J. L., Thijs, J. T., & Oort, F. J. (2013). Interpersonal behaviors and complementarity in interactions between teachers and kindergartners with a variety of externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Journal of School Psychology, 51, 143–158.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rucker, D. D., Preacher, K. J., Tormala, Z. L., & Petty, R. E. (2011). Mediation analysis in social psychology: Current practices and new recommendations. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5, 359–371. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00355.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rusby, J. C., Crowley, R., Sprague, J., & Biglan, A. (2011). Observations of the middle school environment: The context for student behavior beyond the classroom. Psychology in the Schools, 48, 400–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, J., Low, S., Schultz, T., Barner, S., Moreno, D., Garst, M., & Schrepferman, L. (2011). The impact of brief teacher training on classroom management and child behavior in at-risk preschool settings: Mediators and treatment utility. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 32, 336–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stormont, M. A., Smith, S. C., & Lewis, T. J. (2007). Teacher implementation of precorrection and praise statements in Head Start classrooms as a component of a program-wide system of positive behavior support. Journal of Behavioral Education, 16, 280–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland, K. S., Wehby, J. H., & Copeland, S. R. (2000). Effect of varying rates of behavior-specific praise on the on-task behavior of students with EBD. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 8, 2–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, D. E., Bierman, K. L., Powers, C. J., & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2011). The influence of classroom aggression and classroom climate on aggressive–disruptive behavior. Child Development, 82, 751–757.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Van Acker, R., & Grant, S. H. (1996). Teacher and student behavior as a function of risk for aggression. Education and Treatment of Children, 19, 316–335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Water, G., Buyse, E., & Verschueren, K. (2004). Dutch translation of the School Liking and Avoidance Questionnaire (internal report). Leuven: University of Leuven.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Sar, A. M. (1999). Instrument for observations in the Good Behavior Game (in Dutch). Rotterdam: CED.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Sar, A. M., & Goudswaard, M. (2001). Teachers’ manual for the Good Behavior Game in elementary schools (in Dutch). Rotterdam: CED.

    Google Scholar 

  • Witvliet, M., Van Lier, P. A., Cuijpers, P., & Koot, H. M. (2009a). Change and stability in childhood clique membership, isolation from cliques, and associated child characteristics. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 39, 12-24.

  • Witvliet, M., Van Lier, P. A. C., Cuijpers, P., & Koot, H. M. (2009b). Testing links between childhood positive peer relations and externalizing outcomes through a randomized controlled intervention study. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 77, 905-915.

  • Wilson, H. K., Pianta, R. C., & Stuhlman, M. (2007). Typical classroom experiences in first grade: The role of classroom climate and functional risk in the development of social competencies. The Elementary School Journal, 108, 81–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven—University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Jantine L. Spilt, Patrick Onghena & Hilde Colpin

  2. Applied Psychology, University College Thomas More Antwerpen, Antwerpen, Belgium

    Geertje Leflot

Authors
  1. Jantine L. Spilt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Geertje Leflot
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Patrick Onghena
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hilde Colpin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jantine L. Spilt.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

Funding

This study was funded by the Research Foundation—Flanders (G.0380.06).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Spilt, J.L., Leflot, G., Onghena, P. et al. Use of Praise and Reprimands as Critical Ingredients of Teacher Behavior Management: Effects on Children’s Development in the Context of a Teacher-Mediated Classroom Intervention. Prev Sci 17, 732–742 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-016-0667-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-016-0667-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation