Associations Among Early Childhood Educator Skills, Mindsets, Well-Being, and Social and Emotional Learning Practices: The Importance of Reappraisal and Emotional Exhaustion

• In Event: What We Learned Measuring Educator Well-Being During the 2021–2022 School Year: Social and Emotional Learning Assessment Science and Practice

Abstract

Perspective. Early childhood educators' skills, mindsets, and well-being have been considered key in creating environments optimal for social and emotional learning (SEL) and in teaching social and emotional skills (Buettner et al., 2016; Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). In the context of a community-based initiative supporting educators through coaching and professional development, we examine associations among educator skills, mindsets, well-being, and SEL practices. Method and Data. In the winter of 2022, 154 educators from center- and school-based programs participated in a survey that included seven SEL-related scales and six educator well-being scales (Table 2.1). Approximately 42% of educators described themselves as Black/African American, 32% as Hispanic/Latino, 27% as White, and 10% as another race or ethnicity; 45% had a Bachelor’s degree or higher; and 73% had more than 5 years of experience working with young children. Results. Scales were reliable with the exception of Personal Accomplishment, which was dropped from subsequent analyses. Correlations revealed moderate to large associations among SEL scales, rs(137–152)=.29–.86, ps<.001, aligned with Paper 1’s sample of K–12 educators. Associations among reappraisal, mindset, and stress were mostly not statistically associated, ps=.070–.785, with exceptions, including (1) emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, r(141)=.41, p<.001, (2) emotional exhaustion and job-related stress, r(144)=.25, p=.002, (3) emotional exhaustion and reappraisal, r(144)=-.26, p=.002, and (4) depersonalization and mindset, r(142)=.38, p<.001. Reappraisal and emotional exhaustion were associated with three SEL scales. Reappraisal was (1) weakly associated with classroom culture, r(145)=.17, p=.048, (2) moderately associated with supports for SEL implementation, r(137)=.33, p<.001, and (3) moderately associated with perceived effectiveness of their program’s SEL approach, r(145)=.31, p<.001. Emotional exhaustion was weakly associated with supports for SEL implementation, r(136)=-.18, p=.032, and perceived effectiveness of their program’s SEL approach, r(144)=-.28, p=.001. The remaining associations were not statistically significant, ps=.114–.926. Significance. The importance of reappraisal and the deleterious effects of emotional exhaustion were not surprising and inform our community-based programming, but in light of the ECE literature, we hypothesized additional aspects of well-being would be associated with multiple domains of SEL practices. For example, Buettner and colleagues (2016) found educators’ psychological load (i.e., depression, stress, and emotional exhaustion) and emotion regulation (i.e., reappraisal and problem-focused coping) associated with classroom emotion socialization, an aspect of SEL. Stress and burnout have also been associated with teacher-child interactions (e.g., Li-Grining et al. 2010; Whitaker et al., 2015; Zinsser et al., 2016), of which SEL is a component. But as noted by Jennings and colleagues (2020), contextual factors of well-being should be considered as predictors of and moderators between well-being and SEL practices, including the composition of children, program quality, culture and climate, and poverty (e.g., Berlin et al. 2020; Jeon et al., 2014; Johnson et al. 2020; Friedman-Krauss et al., 2014; Roberts et al., 2016; Schaack et al., 2020); these factors were not collected in our community-based initiative. Our results may be related to the particular measures used as well as the realities of the childcare crisis impacting the community and sweeping the nation.

Authors

• Craig Steven Bailey, Yale School of Medicine
  Presenting Author

• Joanna L. Meyer, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Michael Strambler, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Whitney Sanders, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sevi Burget-Foster, Yale University
  Non-Presenting Author