Linguistics

Mathematics education

Philosophy

Neuroscience

School teachers

Stress (linguistics)

Social psychology

Social skills

Social change

Psychiatry

Developmental psychology

Economics

Early childhood

Anxiety

Anger

Social competence

Emotional intelligence

Psychology

Social functioning

Social emotional learning

Economic growth

Clinical psychology

Perception

Emotional competence

Aggression

Interpersonal relationship

Competence (human resources)

Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology

Early childhood teachers play a key role in promoting children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning. We investigated how preschool lead and assistant teachers' personal and job-related stress are, collectively and separately, associated with their perceptions of children's anger-aggression, anxiety-withdrawal, and social competence. Using a sample of 103 teachers from 54 classrooms serving 329 children, we conducted three-level multilevel analyses. Lead and assistant teachers' cumulative personal stress was significantly associated with teachers' evaluations of children's anger-aggression, and cumulative job-related emotional exhaustion was significantly associated with teachers' evaluations of children's anxiety-withdrawal and social competence. Exploring lead and assistant teachers' stress separately, the results showed that lead teachers with higher levels of stress perceived children as having higher levels of anger-aggression and anxiety-withdrawal. On the other hand, assistant teachers' stress was associated with teacher-reported children's social competence. We suggest ways to support children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning through intervening with teachers' stress.

Early childhood teachers' stress and children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning