The Mediating Role of Emotions in the Relationship Between Teacher-Student Relatedness and Emotional Exhaustion in Teachers

• In Event: "Why Do I Feel This Way?" Recursive and Reinforcing Antecedents of Emotions in the Classroom

Abstract

The importance of positive and supportive teacher-student relationships for school aged children is widely recognized and researched (see Roorda, Koomen, Spilt, & Oort, 2011); however, teacher-student relationships from the perspective of the teacher has so far received little research attention. In their review Spilt, Koomen, and Thijs (2011) speculated that teacher-student relationships influence teachers’ well-being by enhancing teachers’ emotional experiences. These relationships were, however, not empirically tested. This study attempted to address this research gap by investigating whether teachers’ positive and negative emotions mediate the relationship between teacher-student relatedness and teachers’ emotional exhaustion.

Methods. A total of 266 American secondary teachers rated their feelings of relatedness towards their students (4 items, taken from Klassen, Perry, & Frenzel, 2012, Cronbach’s Alpha=.78), their level of emotional exhaustion (9 items, taken from Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996, Cronbach’s Alpha=.89), and how frequently they experienced several positive and negative emotions in the classroom (4 positive emotions, 7 negative emotions, adapted from Glomb & Tews, 2004, Cronbach’s Alpha=.76/.81 for positive and negative emotions, respectively).

Results. As a first step, we examined the latent correlations among the variables. Teacher-student relatedness was positively correlated to positive emotions (r=.68, p<.001) and negatively correlated to emotional exhaustion (r=-.36, p<.001) and negative emotions (r=-.22, p=.02). Emotional exhaustion was negatively correlated to positive emotions (r=-.18, p=.01) and positively correlated to negative emotions (r=.39, p<.001).

Next, a latent path analysis in Mplus was conducted to examine if teachers’ experiences of positive and negative emotions mediated the effect between teacher-student relatedness and emotional exhaustion. The model yielded a good fit (χ²/df =1.42, CFI=.95 TLI=.94, RMSEA=.040). Teacher-student relatedness was significantly related to positive (β=.71, p<.001) and negative (β=-.33, p<.001) emotions and teachers’ emotions in turn were significantly related to their emotional exhaustion (positive emotions: β=-.24, p=.03; negative emotions: β=.42, p<.001). The direct effect of teacher-student relatedness on emotional exhaustion was not significant with the mediators in the model. The model explained 32% of the variability in teachers’ emotional exhaustion. The total indirect effect of teacher-student relatedness on emotional exhaustion was significant (β=-.31, p=.001). However, teachers’ positive emotions (β=-.17, p=.07; 99% bias-corrected bootstrap CI=-0.653, 0.057) did not significantly mediate the relationship between teacher-student relatedness and emotional exhaustion. Teachers’ negative emotions (βindirect=-.14, p<.001; 99% bias-corrected bootstrap CI=-0.372, -0.058) did significantly mediate this relationship.

Discussion. Overall, our results support the assumptions made by Spilt et al. (2011). However, negative emotions appear to play a more influential role than positive emotions in the relationship between teacher-student relatedness and teachers’ level of emotional exhaustion. The more related teachers feel to their students, the more positive and the fewer negative emotions they experience. It is this decrease in negative emotional experiences rather than the increase in positive emotional experiences that appears to protect teachers from emotional exhaustion. A clear implication of these results is that teacher-student relationships should be fostered. Positive teacher-student relationships not only benefit students, as has been shown by previous research, but also emotionally benefit teachers, which is related to teachers’ experiencing lower levels of emotional exhaustion.

Authors

• Jamie Taxer, Stanford University

• Anne C. Frenzel, University of Munich (LMU)