Parent–teacher relationship and students' learning engagement in China: A longitudinal study considering urban–suburban differences

Abstract Background The importance of parent‐teacher relationships has been well‐discussed in Western contexts. It’s still unclear whether and how parent‐teacher relationships affect students’ academic development, especially in the context of China's uneven development between urban and suburban areas. Aims This study examined the urban–suburban differences in the influence of the parent–teacher relationships on students' learning engagement during the last 3 years of primary school to contribute to related policy and practice. Sample and Methods Data were collected annually during the summer period in three waves from Grades 4 to 6. The sample included 1408 students ( M age = 10.35, SD = .48; 49.1% boys) paired with their mothers ( M age = 38.82, SD = 3.54), with 643 pairs from urban areas and 765 pairs from suburban areas in China. In each wave, the parents reported the frequency of contact with their child's teacher during the previous school year as well as the quality of their relationship, and the students reported their learning engagement. Latent growth models were used to examine the hypotheses. Results A statistically significant decline in learning engagement was seen only in suburban students, while the parent–teacher relationships seemed to increase for both suburban and urban participants. Latent growth modelling showed that the increasing levels of relationship quality reduced the decline in the suburban students' learning engagement, although the contact between parents and teachers did not play such a positive role for both urban and suburban students. Conclusions The findings reveal a compensatory effect of the quality of the parent–teacher relationship on suburban students' learning engagement. Considering the difference in students' learning engagement between urban and suburban students, increased effort on high‐quality parent–teacher relationships for suburban students is required to better support their academic development.