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Toward a Comprehensive Assessment of Relationships with Teachers and Parents for Youth with Intellectual Disabilities

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Abstract

This study proposes a multi-informant (youth, teachers, and parents) measure of relationship quality with adults for youth with intellectual disabilities (ID). A sample of 395 youth with mild (49.15%) and moderate (50.85%) ID, aged 11–22 (M = 15.82) was recruited in Canada (French-speaking, N = 142), and Australia (English-speaking, N = 253). Results support the reliability, factor validity, discriminant validity (in relation to sex, ID level, country, and comorbidity), convergent validity (depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, and prosocial behaviors), and one-year longitudinal stability of the measure. Youth self-reports provide a complementary perspective on relationship quality with adults relative to teachers’ or parents’ reports, whereas teachers and parents seem unable to differentiate their own perspective from that of the target youth.

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Notes

  1. The original Student–Teacher Relationship Scale also includes a Dependency subscale. However, compared to the Warmth and Conflict subscales, the dependency subscale is rarely used in part due to its poorer psychometric properties (Pianta, 2001). For this reason, it was also not included in the current validation study.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council (DP140101559) and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (430-2012-0091, 435-2014-0909). In the preparation of this paper, the second author was also supported by funding from the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR), and the third author by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (435-2018-0368).

Funding

This study was supported by grants from the Australian Research Council (DP140101559) and from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (430-2012-0091, 435-2014-0909). In the preparation of this paper, the first author was also supported by funding from the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR), and the second author by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (435-2018-0368).

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  1. The order of appearance of the first and second authors (C.D. and E.O.) was determined at random: Both should be considered first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Substantive-Methodological Synergy Research Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke W, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada

    Céleste Dubé & Alexandre J. S. Morin

  2. Département de psychopédagogie et d’andragogie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Canada

    Elizabeth Olivier

  3. School of Education, Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia

    Danielle Tracey

  4. Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, Australia

    Rhonda G. Craven

  5. Cyberpsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO|Campus de Saint-Jérôme), Saint-Jérôme, Canada

    Christophe Maïano

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  1. Céleste Dubé
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Contributions

CD, EO, AJSM and CM have contributed for Conceptualization and Methodology. CD, EO and AJSM have contibuted for Analyses. All the authors have contributed for Writing (original draft, review, editing). AJSM, DT, RGC and CM have contributed for Funding (both countries), Study Design (both countries), and Data Collection (Australia).

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Correspondence to Alexandre J. S. Morin.

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Dubé, C., Olivier, E., Morin, A.J.S. et al. Toward a Comprehensive Assessment of Relationships with Teachers and Parents for Youth with Intellectual Disabilities. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 2670–2688 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05117-2

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