Teachers’ Conflict-Inducing Attitudes and Their Repercussions on Students’ Psychological Health and Learning Outcomes

Abstract

This paper studied the causes and effects of negative teacher–student relationships on students’ psychological health and educational outcomes, primarily due to negative teacher–teacher interactions. Survey data were collected from 130 faculty members and 746 students of 10 higher educational institutions located in different cities of the Punjab province of Pakistan. Path analysis was used to estimate results. The findings revealed that incivility among faculty members and higher discontent with university resources generates a conflict-inducing attitude in faculty members, which subsequently creates negative behavior in teachers towards students. It was further observed that hostile attitudes of faculty members towards students adversely affects the psychological health and educational outcomes of students at universities. These findings suggest that students’ learning processes can be improved by controlling negative teacher–teacher interactions, which has important implications for institutions of higher learning.