Teachers’ Interpersonal Styles and Academic Performance of Students with Special Educational Needs in Chinese Inclusive Schools: The Mediating Role of School Adjustment

Teachers’ interpersonal styles and students’ school adjustment are important for the academic performance of students with special education needs (SEN). This study aimed to develop an instrument to measure the school adjustment of students with SEN and investigate its mediating role in the relationship between teachers’ interpersonal styles and students’ academic performance. Six hundred and twenty-five valid questionnaires were collected from inclusive primary and junior high school teachers in China. The findings suggested that the four-factor model of school adjustment (i.e. behavioural, emotional, peer, and learning adjustment) showed good reliability and validity. Teachers’ positive interpersonal styles positively predicted students’ school adjustment and academic performance, and negative interpersonal styles negatively predicted students’ school adjustment. School adjustment positively predicted academic performance. Furthermore, school adjustment partially mediated the effect of teachers’ positive interpersonal styles on academic performance.