The effect of children’s family type on teachers’ stereotypes

The main purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ stereotypic perceptions of the effects of different family types on the functioning of children. Seventy-six Israeli teachers were asked to evaluate the academic, social and emotional levels of functioning of a fictitious fifth grade boy who was variously described to them as being from an intact, remarried, divorced or conflicted family. Three main results were obtained. First, teachers expected the child from the intact family to function better academically, socially, and emotionally than the child from the conflicted family. Second, teachers expected similar levels of academic, social, and emotional functioning in a case of both tne child of divorced parents and the child from the remarried family. Third, three dimensions differentiated beween teachers’ expectations when the child was described as coming from an intact, remarried or conflicted family but did not do so as regards the child of divorced parents. These results are discussed in the context of teacher-student interactions and their potential to trigger a process of self-fulfilling prophecy. The findings are also considered in reference to the doubtful validity of studies in which teachers’ evaluations are used as measures of children’s adjustment to the divorce or remarriage of their parents.