Cumulative Child Risk and Early Childhood Teacher Job Commitment: The Mediating Roles of Depression and Exhaustion

• In Event: Workforce Wellbeing and Retention in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Using data from a Happy Teacher Project sample of early childhood teachers, this study examined the associations between teachers’ perceptions of cumulative child risk in the classroom and their well-being, including depressive symptoms, emotional exhaustion, and job commitment. This study investigated both the direct and indirect associations between cumulative child risk and teacher job commitment with potentially sequential mediating roles of depressive symptoms and emotional exhaustion. Findings show that cumulative child risk was not directly associated with teachers’ job commitment. However, these higher levels of perceived child risk were indirectly associated with lower job commitment through increased depressive symptoms and emotional exhaustion.

Authors

• Weiyi Cheng, University of Oklahoma

• Kyong-Ah Kwon, University of Oklahoma