Rural Chinese Preschool Children’s School Liking: Examining Its Relational Correlates and Longitudinal Relations to Early Academic Skills

School liking has long been considered critical to school-aged children’s social adjustment and academic performance; however, limited empirical research has explored the predictors and outcomes of school liking among preschool children. Additionally, there is scant evidence concerning these dynamics among children from families with low socio-economic backgrounds. This longitudinal study investigated whether parent- and teacher-child relationships were associated with school liking and whether school liking was further related to early academic skills among a sample of rural Chinese preschool children. A total of 247 children participated and were followed up for three years. Children reported their school liking and the quality of their relationships with parents and teachers and were tested individually on word reading, receptive vocabulary, and mathematical achievement. Results showed that parent- and teacher-child warmth were positively associated with school liking, while parent- and teacher-child conflict were negatively associated with school liking. School liking was positively associated with word reading but not with receptive vocabulary or mathematical achievement. Our findings underscore the importance of rural Chinese preschool children’s school liking in the development of children’s early academic skills and emphasize the roles of parent- and teacher-child relationships in shaping children’s school liking. Practical implications are discussed.