Reciprocal links between student disengagement and teacher–student relationships: A four‐wave longitudinal study

Disengagement and teacher-student relationships were relatively stable over time, with modest within-year fluctuations. The absence of significant cross-lagged effects suggests that, within a year timeframe, temporary within-person deviations in disengagement were not followed by systematic changes in teacher-student relationships, nor were within-person improvements followed by subsequent reductions in disengagement. Instead, the constructs showed concurrent covariation only at the end of the school year, consistent with a predominantly stable rather than lagged interplay.