Teacher-Student relationships and academic grades in Chinese high schools: the roles of perceived teaching quality and students’ mental health symptoms

BMC Psychol. 2025 May 20;13(1):530. doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-02843-5.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Teacher-student relationships (TSRs) are recognized as playing an important role in students’ academic success. However, the potential mechanisms linking TSRs to academic grades remain underexplored, particularly in non-Western contexts such as China, where academic achievement is highly emphasized, and grades play a critical role in determining students’ college entrance opportunities.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the associations among TSRs, perceived teaching quality, students’ mental health symptoms, and academic grades among Chinese high school students. Specifically, it examined the potential indirect role of perceived teaching quality in linking TSRs to academic grades, and the moderating role of mental health symptoms on the association between perceived teaching quality and academic grades.

METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted with Chinese high school students. Validated self-report measures were used to assess TSRs, perceived teaching quality, and mental health symptoms, while academic grades were obtained from official school administrative records. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the associations and test moderation effects.

RESULTS: The findings indicated that TSRs were positively associated with students’ perceptions of teaching quality, and that perceived teaching quality was significantly associated with academic grades. However, TSRs were not directly associated with academic grades. Students’ mental health symptoms moderated the association between perceived teaching quality and academic grades.

PMID:40394667 | DOI:10.1186/s40359-025-02843-5