Longitudinal association between teacher–parent relationship and well-being in children and adolescents: mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction in parent–child dyads

Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for psychological development, and promoting well-being across these developmental stages is an important goal in psychology and education. Guided by family–school partnerships theory and self-determination theory, the present study examined the association between teacher–parent relationship and well-being in children and adolescents, the mediating role of basic psychological needs satisfaction, as well as whether these associations differed by gender (girls vs. boys) and grade (elementary school vs. middle school). Using a two-wave longitudinal design, data were collected from 1,009 parent–child dyads at two time points six months apart. The results showed that, after controlling for covariates and autoregressive effects, teacher–parent relationship at T1 significantly and positively predicted well-being at T2. Mediation analyses further revealed that autonomy, competence, and relatedness need satisfaction at T2 each significantly mediated the association between teacher–parent relationship at T1 and well-being at T2. Multigroup analyses revealed no significant gender or grade differences in the proposed mediation model. Overall, the present study advances our understanding of family–school partnerships and offers practical implications for strengthening family–school collaboration and promoting well-being in children and adolescents.