The Relationship Among The Perception Of Teacher Care,General Self-efficacy And Mental Health Of High School Students

Teacher care is an important part of teachers’ professional ethics.The quality of teacher care partially depends on whether students can perceive it.Undoubtedly,as long as students truly perceive teacher care,teachers are likely to walk into their heart,obtain their trust,and then exert influence on their growth.In fact,the guidance and support of important others play a protective role for students in the "stormy period".Perceived teacher care can not only help high school students alleviate academic stress and achieve high scores,but also benefit the development of self-efficacy and mental health.Therefore,carrying out research on perceived teacher care is of great practical significance for promoting teacher-student relationships as well as students’ physical and mental development.The present study explores perceived teacher care from the perspective of high school students.The sample comprises high school students mainly from Fujian,Jiangxi,Hubei and Shanghai.Qualitative research,questionnaire surveys and other valid methods are adopted to compile The High School Students’ Perceived Teacher Care Questionnaire;show the current situation and the characteristics of high school students’ perceived teacher care and test the relationship between perceived teacher care,general self-efficacy and mental health.The major findings are listed as follows:Firstly,The High School Students’ perceived Teacher Care Questionnaire consists of three dimensions: cognitive care,emotional care,and behavioral care as well as 12 items.The reliability and validity of this questionnaire is satisfactory,it can be used to measure the perception of teacher care research.Secondly,high school students’ perceived teacher care is generally at the upper middle level.There is no significant difference in terms of gender.However,there is a significant difference in grades.While,there is significant difference in place of birth.Additionally,there exists a significant difference in whether students serve as class cadres.Thirdly,perceived teacher care is positively associated with general self-efficacy;perceived teacher care is negatively related to mental health;general self-efficacy is negatively correlated with mental health.Fourthly,general self-efficacy is positively predicted by perceived teacher care;mental health is negatively predicted by perceived teacher care and general self-efficacy;general self-efficacy plays a partial mediating role between perceived teachers’ care and mental health.This study indicates that perceived teacher care can directly impact high school students’ mental health and can indirectly affect students’ mental health through general self-efficacy.Based on the above findings,this study puts forward a series of corresponding educational recommendations accordingly.On the one hand,teachers,students and school should work together to improve students’ mental health via enhancing perceived teacher care.At the teacher level: teachers ought to establish caring educational concept;meet the needs of students and grasp practical caring skills.At the student level: it is prudent to create situations which focused on awakening students’ caring experience and organize group counseling to improve perception.Holding“teacher-student exchange days” is another valuable method.At the school level: school leaders should vigorously advocate caring education;integrate teacher care into daily curriculum;and carry out home-school communication frequently.On the other hand,teachers and students are bound to collaborate closely so as to improve mental health via reinforcing general self-efficacy.