A high-quality teacher–student relationship (TSR) is widely regarded as a key contributor to students’ academic achievement, motivation, and socioemotional well-being, particularly during the early years of schooling (McCormick et al., 2015). From the perspective of attachment theory, relationships with teachers provide students with emotional security that supports exploration, engagement, and learning within the school context. Similar to early attachment experiences, students develop internal working models of their relationships with teachers based on repeated classroom interactions (Pianta, 1999).

Empirical research conceptualizes TSR along the dimensions of closeness and conflict (Roorda et al., 2011). Closeness reflects warmth, trust, and perceived emotional support, whereas conflict captures negative interactions, relational tension, and a lack of harmony. A substantial body of research indicates that students’ externalizing behaviors are associated with higher levels of conflict and lower levels of closeness in the TSR (Hajovsky et al., 2020). Behavioral problems therefore represent a major challenge for the development and maintenance of positive teacher–student relationships. Teachers may perceive both externalizing behaviors (e.g., oppositional or disruptive behavior) and internalizing behaviors (e.g., social withdrawal or anxious-depressive symptoms) as demanding and may respond in ways that are insufficiently attuned to students’ needs (McGrath & van Bergen, 2015). Importantly, prior research suggests a reciprocal association between behavioral problems and TSR quality: strained relationships may exacerbate behavioral difficulties, which in turn may further undermine the relationship and contribute to escalating cycles of conflict. Internalizing behaviors have also been linked to reduced closeness, although their associations with conflict appear less consistent (Shi & Ettekal, 2021).

This dynamic highlights the importance of identifying teacher-level relational resources that may buffer or attenuate the negative effects of students’ behavioral problems on relationship quality. One such resource may be teacher humor. In educational settings, humor has been associated with a more positive classroom climate, reduced negative emotions, and increased student engagement (St-Amand et al., 2024). Moreover, teacher humor has been described as a component of effective teaching behavior and as an instructional resource for relationship building (Fovet, 2009).

Despite these potential benefits, teacher humor has rarely been examined as an independent construct moderating the association between behavioral problems and TSR quality, particularly in elementary school contexts. The present study addresses this gap by pursuing three objectives: (1) to examine the associations between externalizing and internalizing behavioral problems and the TSR dimensions of closeness and conflict, (2) to investigate the direct associations between perceived teacher humor and TSR quality, and (3) to test whether teacher humor moderates the relationship between behavioral problems and TSR quality, possibly functioning as a protective factor.

This cross-sectional study included 654 students from 17 third-grade and 17 fourth-grade classes (M = 9.25 years, SD = 0.81; 50% female) and their classroom teachers (N = 34; M = 41.56 years, SD = 9.76; 85% female) in Germany. Students’ behavioral problems were assessed using teacher reports. A shortened version of the Integrated Teacher Report Form (ITRF; Casale et al., 2023) was used to assess school-related behavioral problems, capturing both externalizing and internalizing dimensions across four subscales. Internal consistencies (Cronbach’s α) ranged from .72 to .87. Students’ perceptions of their emotional relationship with their teachers were measured using a shortened German version of the Student Perception of Affective Relationship with Teacher Scale (SPARTS; Koomen & Jellesma, 2015; Leidig et al., 2019). This version consists of seven items each for the two dimensions of closeness (e.g., “My teacher understands me”) and conflict (e.g., “My teacher treats me unfairly”), rated on a five-point Likert scale. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the two-factor structure, indicating acceptable model fit. Teacher humor was assessed using a newly developed scale based on Bieg and Dresel (2016), with simplified item wording to ensure suitability for the younger age group. Students rated their perception of their teacher’s humor using three items (e.g., “Our teacher makes a lot of jokes”) on a four-point scale. The scale demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .83). As a first step, descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations were computed. To address the research objectives, direct effects of behavioral problems and teacher humor on closeness and conflict were estimated. Moderation effects were examined by including interaction terms between teacher humor and each behavioral problem dimension, using path analysis in R Studio (lavaan, Rosseel et al., 2025). Closeness and conflict were modeled simultaneously as correlated outcome variables. To account for the nested data structure (students nested within classes), robust standard errors were applied. Missing data were handled using full information maximum likelihood estimation under the assumption of missing at random.

Descriptive analyses indicated generally low to moderate levels of behavioral problems, accompanied by relatively high levels of perceived closeness and low levels of conflict in teacher–student relationships. Path analysis revealed differentiated associations between behavioral problems and TSR quality. Oppositional and disruptive behavior was negatively associated with closeness (β = −.11, p = .007) and strongly positively associated with conflict (β = .33, p < .001). Social withdrawal was negatively related to closeness (β = −.10, p = .006) but was not significantly associated with conflict. Academic productivity problems were positively associated with conflict (β = .13, p < .001) but showed no association with closeness. Anxious-depressive behavior was not significantly related to either TSR dimension. Teacher humor demonstrated robust main effects on relationship quality. Higher levels of perceived teacher humor were associated with higher closeness (β = .41, p < .001) and lower conflict (β = −.17, p < .001), even when controlling for behavioral problems and student characteristics. Moderation analyses revealed selective buffering effects. Teacher humor moderated the association between social withdrawal and closeness (β = −.09, p = .011), indicating that the negative relationship between withdrawal and closeness was weaker when teachers were perceived as more humorous. In addition, teacher humor moderated the association between oppositional behavior and conflict (β = −.13, p = .027), attenuating the positive link. No significant moderation effects were found for academic productivity problems or anxious-depressive behavior. Overall, these results that teacher humor not only contributes directly to higher-quality teacher–student relationships but also serves a protective function in challenging relational contexts. This highlights its potential in low profile relationship-focused interventions.

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